Friday 5th December 2008

Time to unpack

Woke this morning at just before 5am. Laid there listening to the distant honking of another AmTrak train. Those things must be loud as you could hear it for ages as it disappeared into the distance. One thing the UK timezone does give you is a burst of energy early in the morning over here in the US. So Linda's currently finishing the unpacking - happily wandering from room to room deciding where to hide my stuff :)

The first thing we need to do is contact the maintenance firm for this place as, by law, you have to let them know you have arrived.

Forecast is for a 75'F high today - that is seasonal norm it seems. There is a chance to return to the mid 80's by the middle of next week which should be nice.

Should it be this cold?

We decided to have breakfast by the pool. Sitting there munching on a slice of toast, Linda decides to get changed and go for a quick dip.

This didn't last long though (about one toe's length) as the pool was very cold. I checked this with the service company. To their credit, although they initially though the pool was cold because it only warmed on a timer, they sent a guy around straight away. He confirmed the pool was not heating correctly. I got a call later saying they needed to replace a circuit board in the heating system. No pool for us for a few days!

Go see the dolphins

Our plan for today was to visit Sea World. We arrived there around 11am. The place wasn't too busy which was nice.

The main front area of the park was decorated, but towards the back all you had was the ever-present Christmas music coming out of the hidden speakers.

Linda had another go at feeding the dolphins. They have changed the way this is done - effectively charging everyone who wanted to get near the dolphin pool, regardless of whether they were feeding or not. It does mean that the feeding area isn't as busy though.

We next stopped off at the rides. There's a new one being built, Manta, that looks almost completed - expected to open Spring 2009. Instead, I went back on Atlantis - up at the front (walked straight on). Sadly, I think me sitting up front means our boat is a little front heavy. Thus I ended up with a lap full of water. Fortunately, my phone survived :)

Ouch

I also took the time to wait for the front line of the Kraken coaster. This gave me the amusing chance to watch the rides coming in and see the ride helpers trying to clean something off of one of the seats on row 5 of one of the cars. I think someone in row 4 might have had a rough ride!

Riding the front on Kraken was an intense experience. The g-force felt extreme and was a lot of fun. However, it did give me a 5 minute headache after riding.

We then moved onto tamer things and visited the Sea Lion show - this was quite a good version, the extras didn't seem to play ball with the actors that amused the actors no end - one of them ended up laughing uncontrollably on the floor outside the main pool.

The temperature was warm but not uncomfortably so. The forecast was for mid 70's but it felt warmer. So we needed to visit the ice-cream shop.

The final trip was over to the Shamu Stadium. It was actually quite a good show at things go, the acrobatics get more extreme each time I see it. This show had a big Christmas theme.

Walking back to the entrance, we were treated to a musical fountain show taking place in the centre of the lake.

Stopped off on International Drive for a quick bite to eat, then back home. Pretty much straight to bed!