Having spent a day at our Florida house with workmen (oh the joys of being a villa owner! ), we decided at the last minute to take a trip to Seaworld for the evening, and what a good decision, it was a lovely evening.
We arrived at approximately 7. 30 pm and a lot of people were leaving, so hopefully it wasn’t going to be too busy. We easily managed to get parked close to the entrance and made our way to the turnstiles and went through without any queues.
First stop (of course) was the new ride Manta. We nervously got to the front of the queue where my youngest (aged 8) was measured (after being told to breathe in and stand tall! ). The height restriction is 54 inches, and ever since we have been coming to Florida he has had to watch with a sad, envious face while his sister has gone on all the exiting rides – well finally his day has come, he is tall enough. Accompanied by great whoops of excitement he is presented with a wrist band that proclaims 54 inches tall, and says he will keep it forever!
The queue seemed to move incredibly quickly, it was 25 minutes in total, but we were all fascinated by the huge displays of tropical fish, stingrays, mantas as we made our way round - they do so everything so well here in Orlando. Finally our time to join the ride came, and we were shown to our ‘gate’, took our seats and braced ourselves. This ride is incredibly fast with lots of steep drops, turns and surprises – we loved it, especially Sam, which was great news as that was quite an introduction to roller coasters! Manta is now officially number one on our list of favourite rides.
Feeling exhilarated (if a little wobbly), it was a quick dash to Journey to Atlantis. Again the queue wasn’t too bad at all (about half an hour). Amazingly we didn’t get too wet this time, and enjoyed the ride as usual.
A quick time check told us it was now after 9. 00pm, so we decided to take a walk via the dolphin nursery to Bayside Stadium to take a seat for the firework display, ‘After Dark’. We easily found seats close to the front, got a drink and settled down to watch the lightening (just love natures own show) and wait for the display. All of a sudden the heavens opened, so it was a quick dash to seats further back under cover. The rain didn’t last long, and was lovely and cooling. The firework display was superb. It told a story about water and the sea, and used music, fireworks and water fountains in the lake (with lasers to show films of sea creatures), and lasted quite a long time. We all thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend it.
The park was now closing, so we made our towards the exit, and stopped on the way at the Polar Express for a waffle cone ice cream – the perfect end to a perfect evening. We all agreed it had been great, especially as it wasn’t planned, and we will be back again in a few days.
We arrived at approximately 7. 30 pm and a lot of people were leaving, so hopefully it wasn’t going to be too busy. We easily managed to get parked close to the entrance and made our way to the turnstiles and went through without any queues.
First stop (of course) was the new ride Manta. We nervously got to the front of the queue where my youngest (aged 8) was measured (after being told to breathe in and stand tall! ). The height restriction is 54 inches, and ever since we have been coming to Florida he has had to watch with a sad, envious face while his sister has gone on all the exiting rides – well finally his day has come, he is tall enough. Accompanied by great whoops of excitement he is presented with a wrist band that proclaims 54 inches tall, and says he will keep it forever!
The queue seemed to move incredibly quickly, it was 25 minutes in total, but we were all fascinated by the huge displays of tropical fish, stingrays, mantas as we made our way round - they do so everything so well here in Orlando. Finally our time to join the ride came, and we were shown to our ‘gate’, took our seats and braced ourselves. This ride is incredibly fast with lots of steep drops, turns and surprises – we loved it, especially Sam, which was great news as that was quite an introduction to roller coasters! Manta is now officially number one on our list of favourite rides.
Feeling exhilarated (if a little wobbly), it was a quick dash to Journey to Atlantis. Again the queue wasn’t too bad at all (about half an hour). Amazingly we didn’t get too wet this time, and enjoyed the ride as usual.
A quick time check told us it was now after 9. 00pm, so we decided to take a walk via the dolphin nursery to Bayside Stadium to take a seat for the firework display, ‘After Dark’. We easily found seats close to the front, got a drink and settled down to watch the lightening (just love natures own show) and wait for the display. All of a sudden the heavens opened, so it was a quick dash to seats further back under cover. The rain didn’t last long, and was lovely and cooling. The firework display was superb. It told a story about water and the sea, and used music, fireworks and water fountains in the lake (with lasers to show films of sea creatures), and lasted quite a long time. We all thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend it.
The park was now closing, so we made our towards the exit, and stopped on the way at the Polar Express for a waffle cone ice cream – the perfect end to a perfect evening. We all agreed it had been great, especially as it wasn’t planned, and we will be back again in a few days.