Gryffindor's on tour 2017 Day 4 11th Aug Seaworld

[Excitedx4]

Today was a day I was really looking forward to. My dad's favourite park was always Seaworld, it will always hold a special place in my heart for this reason as we lost my dad when he was only 43 and I have so many memories of being younger in Seaworld with my dad in his element. Today was the first time in 3 trips we had booked Seaworld and Dave, Evan and Jacob's first time ever.

I woke up at 5.50am all excited first night in the villa was good and the bed was very comfortable. The kids woke up at 6.30am and they had cereal and pop tarts for breakfast whilst I made up the packed lunch for the day ahead. We always take a cool bag on the plane as Dave's hand luggage and take snacks with us for the kids, we then use the same cool bag for in the parks to take packed lunches as we get bored of the fried foods, plus it's quick, easy and cheaper! The cool bag fits nicely on the back of Evan's wheelchair which is a bonus so nobody has to carry it around. Anyway I made us all subs up from the shop yesterday, for me, Dave and Jacob it was Colby cheese, ham and turkey. Evan is the fussy eater and had just ham, adventurous 😂. I filled the cool bag up with the frozen water we had put in the freezer the day before, these act as ice packs and then are nice and refreshing after midday to drink. In went the subs along with crisps and chocolate. We always buy the fun size chocolate bars only 2 bites and they are gone but it keeps us going.

Anyway we head out the door at 8am and we are parked up in Seaworld first disabled day and at the entrance for 8.35am. We queue for bad check and we have heard stories about packed lunches not being allowed in Seaworld so we were fully prepared to have to take the cool bag back to the car. They searched the cool bag and never said a thing. Bonus! We headed in to the park at 8.50am after the national anthem, love how patriot Seaworld is.

We took a few pictures and went straight over to guest services to get a DAS pass for Evan. We were issued one no problem and it works a similar way to both Disney and Universal in the sense that you are given a time to come back unless the queue is relatively short anyway.

We went over to see the stingrays first as you walk in then around to the dolphin pool and watched them playing.

We headed over to Journey to Atlantis and there was no queue at all, we walked on. The kids absolutely loved this ride and it turned out to be Jacob's favourite ride of the holiday. Wet rides are not my thing! We came back round and they asked if we wanted to ride again as we had a boat to ourselves, the kids were screaming yes in a chorus but my a*se was already soaked through. I was sat behind Dave and sneakily jumped out of the boat and let him take the kids! 😂😂 When he pulled into the unloading bay he did not look impressed that I had bailed. Unlucky lad!

We had a little walk around to try and dry off and bought ourselves a freestyle cup for $14.90. These can be used all day and then reloaded to use on other days at both Seaworld and Busch gardens.

We went to the 10.15am showing of Dolphin Days. Whilst we were waiting for the show to start we were all starving and started digging into the packed lunch. Once the show started I began getting quite emotional thinking about my dad and how much he loves the shows and dolphins in particular, he would sit here in the 90's with the big massive video cameras on his shoulder filming the shows to show all the family back home, he was in his element. I am just so glad that I'm giving my kids the same memories and opportunities that my mum and dad gave to me ❤️💔

It was a brilliant show we all loved it. I tried to take a nice picture of the boys and after many attempts I gave up...

Nope let's try again

Smile for the camera Jacob

A bit better

And I think that was the best I was going to get 😂😂🙈

After the show we all nipped to the toilet and headed over to the Antarctica ride. The park had been quite quiet but it was getting a bit more busier now, the queue was 40 minutes but we were let in using the DAS pass. We got onto the ride and it went tech. We were sat there for 15 minutes, it was absolutely freezing and stunk too. No wonder the works have big thick coats on, I'm sat there chattering my teeth in my tshirts and shorts! We went on the wild side and found it a bit underwhelming and basically rubbish 😂. And OMG how cold is that penguin enclosure. After a couple of pictures we hot footed it out of there into the warm Floridian sun!

Next we walked over to see One Ocean at 12.15pm. Clearly there is a lot of controversy over this show and it did make me think twice whilst watching the show compared to when I was 15 and was last here, but I'll not go into it now. I love how they recognise their military and veterans in the show, these people give so much to their country, I wish the UK was more like this!

After One Ocean we headed to the Clyde and Symore show at 1.15pm. I loved this as a kid so I was really excited to watch it again, it was always so funny. We went to the auditorium and we're seated in the disabled seats at the bottom right at the front in the blazing sun, remember this is 1.15pm. We were melting! I told Dave to go and take Jacob and sit further up the stands in the shade. When the show started I was wondering where all the other disabled guests were as none were sitting near us. I looked up the seats and there was big disabled platform half way up accessed by the other side of the stadium. Why nobody had told us I have no idea Anyway I was working on my tan so it didn't matter! The metal seats were blooming boiling though, I sat on the map!

See the platform behind evan in this picture half way up

The show was just as good as I remember it, we laughed the whole way through. About 10 minutes into the show a kid came and sat on the same row as me and Evan, funnily enough the whole row was empty because it felt like we were sitting on the sun and nobody else was as mental as us to sit on metal seats in the blazing sun in August in Florida! Anyway this kid come and sat practically on my knee, it was very strange. He wasn't a young kid either definitely over the age of 10 Afternthe show Jacob came and found me and was full of beans telling me about the show, I think he forgot I was watching it too

Evan wanted to go on a big ride after finally making it to 54" so me and him went onto Manta. Having never been on this ride I didn't know what the loading bay was going to be like and if you have been on you will know that there is a big scooped out section where your feet go. Well I really struggled to lift Evan onto the ride. I am only 5 ft 1 myself so I don't have the extra height, Dave was with Jacob waiting for us and I was thinking to myself I'm just going to have to leave it, I'd tried about 4 times to get him on but kept falling short of getting his bum on the seat. So I started again, got Evan to put his arms around my neck and lifted his legs wrapped around to my chest and just basically threw him onto the seat! IT WORKED! All the people in the queue behind the barriers must of been watching intently because when I finally got him onto the ride the whole queue erupted into cheers and hollering "Hell yeah go mom" It was so funny I was in absolute stitches, I threw my hands up in the air and started dancing back to them all 😂😂😂

Once we met back up with Dave and Jacob we decided we were all hot, hungry and tired so we decided to leave Seaworld and go and grab something to eat. We were back at Seaworld Ina week for dine with shamu anyway and we had got a lot done.

We left at 2.30pm and drove to Logan's on the 192, we had a voucher...

We delved into the peanuts oh my these are so good I had to stop myself eating them all!

I had Chicken tenders with brown mash and gravy but apparently mine came with 2 sides so Dave made me order fries for him to have too as I only wanted one side. Dave ordered shrimp 3 ways with rice, evan had tenders and fries, Jacob had mac and cheese with fries, plus 4 drinks the meal was $40 including tip of $8.

We headed to Walmart to grab some ready made subs as there was none there the day before, some ice cream and we picked up a cooked pizza to have as a late night snack as we'd eaten at weird times today, I think we were still on UK tummy times 😂

Back home to the villa we had a swim and a chill out, well Evan wouldn't come in the pool because of the drowning incident yesterday, he spent the time in his room on his iPad happy as Larry.

At 7pm we had a bit of pizza and ice cream in front of the TV watching an old classic 'Overboard', the kids were in absolute stitches watching this. And it turns out they do actually love each other and can get along as this picture proves...

Sat here I felt a bit like we should be out making the most of being on holiday and not sat in the villa on iPads and watching TVs, but we wanted the holiday to be more relaxing and we had done a lot today and didn't want to burn ourselves out. I think sometimes there is a bit of pressure to be on the go constantly in Florida, I know I certainly feel like this especially at the start but it was a lovely evening having some chill out time.

[hilz22]

I remember thinking the same thing about, making the most of the holiday. But relaxing is important.
Really enjoying your trippie as we are doing similar this year. Thanks for sharing

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by hilz22

I remember thinking the same thing about, making the most of the holiday. But relaxing is important.
Really enjoying your trippie as we are doing similar this year. Thanks for sharing

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Ah thanks for reading along and commenting! If you have any questions just send me a dm 🤗

[Goldia]

Im so glad its not just my ds who has trouble with photos! We've tried saying he doesn't have to smile and can just be normal, but that seems to end up in a scowl! He looks like he hates the holiday and all of us!

It sounds like sea world was fun for you, some special memories too.

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Im so glad its not just my ds who has trouble with photos! We've tried saying he doesn't have to smile and can just be normal, but that seems to end up in a scowl! He looks like he hates the holiday and all of us!

It sounds like sea world was fun for you, some special memories too.

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Haha kids and photos!

It was definitely a lovely day to remember my dad ❤️

[mouselover22]

Great day. Was lovely to reminisce and relive those holidays and special moments spent with your dad. I feel your pain

I always feel guilty about relaxing on holiday too. What a crazy thing to do

[i love jack]

I’m wondering if Evan will brave the pool again!
Bless them on the sofa together. Another great day - love Logan’s

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by i love jack

I’m wondering if Evan will brave the pool again!
Bless them on the sofa together. Another great day - love Logan’s

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Believe it or not Evan went into hospital in November for 2 week of therapy which included hydrotherapy which he was nervous about, after the 2 weeks he's like a mermaid he can't wait to get back in the pool again now! Thankfully 😅

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by mouselover22

Great day. Was lovely to reminisce and relive those holidays and special moments spent with your dad. I feel your pain

I always feel guilty about relaxing on holiday too. What a crazy thing to do

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It is silly but you've spent so much on park tickets you want to get your money's worth don't you. A bit like going on an all inclusive holiday and not eating or drinking 😂

[boltyboy]

A nice chilled day, Logan's looked good it's on our list for August. How did you get on with the SW/Busch/Aquatica tickets? We have gone for the same thing, they were pretty good value my only gripe is they are printed on A4 paper and are a bit big.