Friday 11th December 2009

Sea World.

The trip out today was to Sea World. This was the first day that we really noticed just how light the crowds were at this time of year.

Initially, it looked no different to yesterday, Manta (Sea World's new ride) was a 30 minute wait. But this fell within a couple of hours to a walk-on

five minutes :)

This meant I was able to do each of the main rides at Sea World. Sadly, Linda didn't do the Atlantis water ride, it was too cold for her. I did do it, though and ended up with wet shorts that even now feel a little wet in parts! As you can see from the picture, it wasn't crowded there!

Weather today was overcast all day and by the end of the afternoon was getting quite cold when the wind caught you - certainly not the 81' that we arrived to. This is the result of a cold front that has swept over most of the US these last few days, bringing over 2 feet of snow to more northerly locations. Luckily, the only snow we saw was plastic and stuck to the side of the Pirate ship in the sea lion show!

We wandered on through the remainder of the exhibits, including the updated Polar Express ride which consists of a simulator ride on a train up to the North Pole where Santa was waiting. Their tree was very impressive. And it didn't hurt to have a polar bear, whales and a couple of walrus to watch as well.Our final visit was to the Shamu show. This was the emptiest I've ever seen it. This show is normally heaving, but only the main two sections were anywhere near busy and only a few brave/stupid souls sat in the lower splash area (made worse by the cold wind that was whipping across the stadium). Pity the parents of the two young kids that decided to sit in row one and got covered by a particularly enthusiastic whale splash. Hee Hee.On the way back to base we stopped off at the Prime Outlet Mall. We spent a Jason-busting two hours there and managed to complete part one of the Great UGG Hunt 2009.