What an amazing weekend! On Friday we picked up the kids from the bus stop and drove straight to Orlando. That night, Brielle had a Girl Scout sleepover at Sea World - an experience the girls earned by selling their Girl Scout cookies. And I got to go with them! We all drove there together, and Kraig and Ronan stayed at a hotel, enjoying an evening of swimming and miniature golf, then they joined us the next day. All seven members of Brielle's troop were able to attend.
Before we went, I thought that the sleepover was the main attraction. But it turned out that we had two tour guides who provided non-stop educational and behind-the-scenes experiences from the time we arrived until a late-night bedtime. Katie and Michael walked our group all around the park in the evening after it closed, showing us most of the animal exhibits and teaching us interesting facts. The girls marched as a group, singing songs along the way.
It was really cool to be there during and after sunset. The group consisted of the girls and mothers in Brielle's troop, as well as members from another smaller troop. We sometimes ran into a group of high schoolers who were also having an overnight experience, but other than that we seemed to have the park to ourselves.
One special moment was visiting the harbor seal lake, where the seals were generally sleeping for the night. Possibly because it was nighttime and quiet, a mom seal had her baby pup (one week old) sleeping with her right next to the outside of the enclosure. Look at that face! The girls were thrilled.
After an evening of exploring, we finally settled in for the night, sleeping with the penguins! My only worry was how cold it was going to be...but I LOVE penguins! Who doesn't? And it was pretty chilly, but only 50-something degrees, because we were settled in the underwater viewing area. If we had been upstairs in the open air area with them, it would have been 32 degrees! We were fine with our sleeping bags, blankets, and cozy jammies.
We finally got into bed at 10, and they had provided so many evening activities that the girls seemed ready to conk out. Plus, there was no activity in the water, so we figured the penguins were asleep. But after lying down for a few minutes, a little penguin suddenly dived into the water and started darting around. Then two penguins...then three...then four! Suddenly an amazing swimming show was going on and all of us watched in awe, feeling so honored to be so close to them during the night. It was really magical.
I had heard that the next morning we were going to be woken up at 6 a.m. sharp, but I wasn't sure why that pain was necessary. We did need time to run to the restroom to change for the day and pack up our stuff. But it turned out that they also had an early morning surprise for us. We all got to pet a penguin!
We had some breakfast, then the educational opportunities continued again! I was amazed at how much was included in this experience. We had done so much the night before, then here we were again, doing more touring of the park early in the morning. They took us through the shark exhibit.
We finally packed up and loaded our things into our cars just before the park opened. Kraig and Ronan showed up at that point to join us and experience Sea World as a family.
Since we were there as soon as it opened, we first focused on jumping on rides that would be busy later in the day. As it turned out, it was actually a pretty slow day there. Maybe it was the forecast of 90 degree + weather with humidity at first. But early in the morning it also started raining, so that may have kept some of the locals away.
We took a ride up the "tower" to get a view of the park. You can see the Antarctic area where Brielle and I stayed, as well as the Atlantis water ride (with a big flume-like drop) and the Kraken rollercoaster (turquoise). We all rode the Atlantis ride together. Brielle is more nervous about roller coasters than Ronan is, but she decided to be brave and give it a try. After going down the huge drop, she complained to me about it, and I congratulated her on doing it and said it was done. Little did I know that the ride had a later roller-coaster-type experience behind the building that was kind of crazy. Luckily we all laughed it off. The lines were so short that Kraig and I were able to take turns going on the Kraken roller coaster as the kids watched. Super fun.
A highlight for the kids was seeing the shows. We've been to various attractions in Florida, but this was really the first time they've gotten to see animal shows. They were pleasantly surprised. (Ronan is wearing my shirt in this shot because it was surprisingly chilly with the rain that morning!)
The first show was a (delightfully) corny performance about sea lions going to high school and having to complete certain courses/challenges to graduate.
And, of course, we caught the Shamu-type (Shamu's friends?) show, which was really impressive.
And, finally, we saw the dolphin show, which the kids probably enjoyed the most.
We also explored the exhibits, including the ones Brielle and I saw earlier. During the day, some of the animals who had been sleeping were finally out and about. The kids played in a pretend polar bear den.
Brielle absolutely loved the penguins. But at the the end of the day, she had also fallen in love with the dolphins. During their performance, she had learned about how intelligent they are. Then when we went to the underwater viewing area, the kids experienced the dolphins coming right up to them to interact. A couple of dolphins seemed really interested in another kid's toy, so Brielle showed them the new dolphin toy she got from the gift shop. This dolphin took notice and showed them some love.
We had an amazing 24 hours at Sea World, and the kids and Kraig gave me a wonderful, relaxing Mother's Day after we got home.
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