Aside from Disneyland, this was what I was really looking forward to. I love San Diego -- it's so pretty there. Sharon and I went there on our honeymoon, but I had never been to Sea World. When I was a small kid, we went to a place called Marine Land, which was kind of a substitute Sea World. When we got there, it was a little cool, but we weren't really cold -- yet. We got in to the park just a few minutes before the first Shamu show of the day was to start -- so we headed for Shamu Stadium. I wanted to get some good pictures, but I didn't really think about where we were sitting. It was the "Splash Zone." At that time we started to pay more attention to the young men selling ponchos. We bought a few. As it turned out, at that point, we didn't need them. The kids were disappointed that we didn't get wet. I was happy that I didn't get the thousand dollars worth of camera equipment, sitting in my lap, drenched in salt water. I'll come back to the Shamu show.
From there we decided to try the river rafting ride -- there aren't a lot of rides in the park, so you can really spend your time seeing the spectacular animals. We got soaked on the ride. Actually, those of us wearing ponchos - Sharon, Jordan and myself -- stayed relatively dry. Those who were more exposed -- namely Matt and my brother, Tim -- looked like they jumped in the ocean. We had to stop at the gift shop and buy Matt a new shirt, before hypothermia set in.
We saw the dolphin show. That's where we got wet. We saw sharks and penguins. The kids had a blast at the tide pool. Emma was fascinated by the star fish. I was surprised that she would pick one up, but I think she would have stayed there for hours. We went to the polar exhibit to see the polar bears, and somehow managed to miss them. We walked through the whole thing -- so we supposed -- and saw not one bear. We must have missed a turn somewhere. After the dolphin show, everybody else headed to the sea lion show - which I hear was a riot - but I headed back to Shamu Stadium. I wanted to get some better pictures.
The current Shamu show, is called "Believe," and it was amazing. This was, by far, the best non Disney portion of our vacation. The first time we saw the show, we were sitting off to the side of the main "stage" so all of my pictures had the audience in the background, rather than the backdrop of the stage -- which is really cool (the backdrop, I mean). So I went back, alone, and sat in the dead center -- in the "Splash Zone" again (Shamu can splash as high as sixteen rows in to the bleachers). My best friend, Aaron, saw this show earlier in the year and felt that it was too "green," that they were pushing their environmental, "reduce your carbon footprint" message too strongly. He's wrong (take that). Actually, knowing of the mission of Sea World (it's not just to show you how nifty marine life is), I expected to have a bit of an agenda thrown at me - but I was actually surprised that there wasn't more. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded all that much. These are passionate people, and passionate people don't bother me. Fanatical people bother me. Zealots. If you want to spend your life studying, and preserving marine life (or the planet - or whatever your cause is) I applaud that. It is a noble cause. My problem is with those who adopt the "if you're not with me, you're against me" attitude. The Al Gore types, who tell me that I am evil, if I am not as passionate about your cause as you are. Go ahead and work to make the earth a better, safer, healthier place to live. Devote all of your waking hours to it. I honestly admire that. I will try to spend my time helping to raise the next generation of inhabitants of this planet, hopefully more aware of the gifts they have been given. We're all working for the same thing, believe it or not.
But, I digress. The Shamu show, is incredible. First of all there are the whales. They are beautiful creatures. Killer whales are the top predator in the ocean, I did not realize this. And yet, these amazing trainers are not afraid to trust them with their safety, if not their lives. Why? Because killer whales are extremely intelligent, they are not just feeding machines (this is just one of the reasons they don't do the show with great white sharks). "Believe" showcases the incredible grace of these creatures. Who would have thought of an 8,000 pound creature as graceful? The whales jumped, they splashed, they flew. The trainer log rolled one of them across the entire tank. A couple of performers rode out of the water on the nose of Shamu. What a rush that must be! The whale did a backflip! Flipping dolphins are cool -- a backflipping whale is astonishing! And the music was so beautiful, that I had to buy the soundtrack. It's kind of a cross between the soundtracks for the movies "Gladiator," "Titanic," and "The Pirates of the Caribbean." If you can imagine that, you'll know what I'm talking about. If not, just take my word for it.
So, that was Sea World. It was a wonderful way to cap off the trip to California.
Oh, and on the way back to Anaheim that night, we stopped at a beach, so that my brother could get his "ocean fix" and so my kids could see the ocean up close for the first time. Their considered opinion is: "it's really big."
7 comments:
Take that?
TAKE THAT?!!!?!?
Whatever....Sea World is a once in a lifetime deal, meaning, everyone should go at least once, and that's it...I think Shakespeare said it best....."Much Ado about nothing..."
Sea World could be so cool and it just isn't. Sorry
I'm not saying it's the greatest place on earth - maybe every five or ten years (or whenever they change the shows). But, what would you have them do that they are not doing?
It's not about what they are or are not doing, its about the layout, the attractions are lame, and there is little to do that is great other than the shows. I admit that our experience was much different because the only show that was good was the dolphin show. The whale show Shamu swam back and forth twice, did one breech and hopped up on stage with a kid, that was it.....dumb. But the exhibits, I wanted miles and miles of marine life and tropical tidepools and there is one tide pool and one aquarium house and one shark house and they are all small. I wanted to feel like I was in SEA WORLD not poor exhibit land. I can see better fish tanks (marine or tropical) at a casino in vegas....or at the local fish store.
To add to the last critique I give an analogy, going to SEA WORLD and saying it was a great example of what the sea has to offer is like comparing the train ride at lagoon and calling it a zoo. Sea World should be the San Diego Zoo of Marine exhibits and it just isn't. Catey and I went to the Virginia Beach Aquarium and it far surpassed anything we saw at Sea World. Granted they didn't have a whale show or dolphin show but I thought it was much better from a 'touch and feel' perspective. They let you really become a part of the ocean. That and their shark tank was about the most impressive thing I have ever seen, hundreds of sharks, rays, puffers, damsels, sturgeons, lookdown jacks, turtles, crabs all in this tank that was huge (I think it was like a million gallons or some crazy thing like that). Anyhow Sea World just didn't 'do it for me'......so TAKE THAT!
Okay, I can see what you're saying. I'll admit the aquariums left something to be desired -- and I still don't know where the hell the polar bears were -- but it was a beautiful day in San Diego, and I was there for the shows, which were spectacular. And that is the real draw at Sea World. As for all that you want them to showcase - we spent the majority of the day there, and saw everything that they had. How big of a place would you like to see and how many days are you going to carve out of your vacation to visit? Personally, I would prefer they do away with the rides, and make it all about the animals. But, that's not going to happen -- not in Southern California. Sounds like you need to book a vacation to Discovery Cove, in Orlando.
I have not heard of Discovery Cove but I will look into it. As for the shows, like I said the only show that was worth anything was the dolphin show, wow, those things were impressive. Then the Seal & Walrus show was badly done, I don't think it was their fault, for some reason the seal, walrus and otters didn't want to do what they were obviously trained to do so the trainers spent the whole time saying stuff like "uh....just pretend that this [whatever 'this' was....] happened and kept dragging it on. Whether by animal or poor planning the show was bad. So we went to the exhibits and I have already mentioned how that turned out, then to top it all off I was expecting the whale show to knock my socks off...kinda like you explained and it didn't happen. All while it was cold and rainy. So I will concede that the overall was really a bad set of coincidences but the last time we went (7 years ago) it was the same thing. So my once in a lifetime happened twice, I am convinced it will always be that way, and for the price, time, gas and emotional investment, not worth another run.
Having said that, Catey and I had a similar experience in Disneyland once, I was training for IKON in CA for two weeks and she came down for the weekend. It was three weeks before Christmas and happened to be the weekend after everyone got out for Christmas break. We went to Disneyland and it was so packed they closed the gates. I guess by fire code Disneyland can only have 65,000 people at any given time, and there were 65,000 people there that day. Everything was hours of wait, the only way to ride was fastpass. We rode 5 rides in 14 hours and happened to be on mainstreet when they were trying to shoot off snow (something they do in December). We literally were 'stuck' in the traffic of people and could not move for 15 min. Standing in one place for 15 min not being able to go back or forth or anywhere gets very claustrophobic and it seems like an eternity. We were so glad to get out of the park when we did and if that had been my first experience, I would never go back. So circumstance plays a big part of the experience. I am glad yours was good. It makes the effort and money worth the trip.
Yes, it's true, even Disneyland can be miserable. We went there on our honeymoon (Labor Day Weekend). We were only there for one day and it was 100 degrees and I HATED it! In fact, that's why we went back for three days a couple of years later -- to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
At Discovery Cove, you can swim with the dolphins.
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