San Antonio - Sea World

Our after Thanksgiving trip this year was to San Antonio.  We were planning on going there sometime anyway, but when I found out last year that there was a Sea World there, we made it more of a priority.

Holiday hours meant the park didn't open until noon on Friday, so we packed up the kids and left our house by 7 and got to the park shortly after they opened.  We stayed all day until 9.  It is the first time in our family's road trip history when the kids have crashed fast and easy in a hotel room. Except Lee, of course. 

Holiday time also meant Christmas decorations and holiday shows.  Since the most important and awesome part of Sea World is the shows, we planned out which ones to see as soon as we got there and were able to see 5 different shows throughout the day.  It paid off because that was what The Captain said he enjoyed most.  And even though Joy fell asleep before the last one and slept through it, she still plays Sea World at home and makes her giant dolphin jump and spin around on its tail.

Waiting for the first show

Pacific dolphins = great jumpers

Learning to flip

The first Dolphin/Beluga and Orca shows were less entertaining and more educational.  I'm pretty sure Sea World is recovering from the bad press the Black Fish movie generated.  So we got to see some training and learn about husbandry practices.  

At least the light was good so I got all my jumping shots in early.

After the first shows we went to see the dolphin encounter.

And the rays

And the sharks

Then we rode some rides.  That's me, Joy and The Captain on the Shamoo Roller Coaster, or as the guy operating it said, "the most exciting roller coaster in the world!"  Pretty much everyone who worked there was great.

Joy climbing through 2 story tunnels

While the kids were climbing around, Lee got to have some Muppet encounters

It's your furry pal, Grover

Laughing with Zoe

We convinced the kids to ride Elmo's Blast Off.  They only dropped you a few feet at a time, but the lady running it would ask them how they were doing, and scream with them.  She was great.  I forgot to mention that Sea World and Sesame Place are run by the same people.  So there were a lot of Sesame themed things around.  We ate dinner at Rosita's Cafe, which was surprisingly affordable and a buffet, so definitely better than the pb&j disaster a few years ago.

the dolphin Christmas show had awesome divers, synchronized swimmers, and acrobats.  And it was all to Nutcracker music, so I was happy.

They put 3 guys on the swing you see in the corner then rocked until they launched the first guy up.  Ridiculous.

We walked around to the big roller coasters that Johnny was pining over because I couldn't go with him and The Captain wouldn't.  While we were walking we saw a nativity display with the lights and I thought, we must be in the Bible Belt because they would never put religious decor in amusement parks in the North or the West.  

We saw the penguins and puffin, who were mostly asleep

The dude on the hill was standing right beneath the falling snow
hogging the cold to himself.

Then we saw a pet show with ridiculously well trained animals.  Had time for one more ride before we went to the last show of the night.  The one Joy slept through.

Did we love Sea World?  I think so.