After all of the trouble I had getting back to America {read here} and the excitement of THE Wedding {read here} we were ready for some down time. Of course Orlando is never going to be a lay-by-the-pool, doze off, super-relaxing holiday spot, but we knew we would have some much needed Jack time and just be US!
Anyone who meets Ethan for even five minutes will know that SeaWorld was simply a no-brainer for our little family. Dave and I have dreamed of taking him there since he was 2 years old and he wore out his first Finding Nemo DVD. The allure of the ocean has never faded, nor has his love for the creatures that live there.
We weren’t let down in the slightest, which is pretty amazing considering there were 5 years + of expectations to live up to. The park itself was beautiful, smoke free and easy to navigate. We never had to wait in line longer than 15 minutes {and that was only once}. We quickly figured out that going Single Rider eliminates all wait times. We were also there mid-week and at the very end of summer vacation, so it was just an all round score!
Ethan fed sharks and stingrays, we sat in the splash zones at the Orca and Dolphin shows, I got to see my beloved Beluga whales and we stumbled into every feeding in the whole park – with no crowds. The rides were amazing, E was still too short for the two big roller coasters, which was just fine by him, so Dave and I took turns braving those. We did and saw everything there was to do and hopped on the bus to head to Wet ‘n Wild around 6pm.
We had planned a night visit to this legend water park for two reasons; the first being that out trip was slap bang in the middle of summer so any water park was going to be nuts during the day, secondly, admission is half price after 5pm. Yes we are cheap. We arrived at the entry at 7pm. We had two hours until closing and after some discussion decided to charge it. Such a wicked decision. We ran around that park like mad people, we ran between all of the slides and managed to ride EVERYTHING with time to spare for about 5 laps along the lazy river before the park closed at 9pm. We and a blast. 90% of the rides are raft rides so we could all ride together which just mad everything that much more special. E was such a trooper, he must have been exhausted but he loved every second of our time there and was definitely braver than I. He took great pleasure in watching my discomfort as I emerged from the pool after the scariest slide in the park {he went first of course and declared it the best thing ever!}.
Our first day in O-Town was ridiculously fun and equal parts exhausting.
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