Orlando Florida Day 6 - Sea World

Day 6 and we were in Sea World which I was intrigued to see just how much had changed since the Black Fish documentary which exposed the cruelty of keeping large sea creatures in captivity and in particular how Sea World treated their animals/trainers etc. Last time we visited Sea World I really don't remember it having so many roller coasters and it was definitely far more about the animals than the rides. Nowadays they definitely seem to be diversifying more towards the theme park side of things.

There are some absolutely wicked roller coasters in Sea World including Manta, Mako, Kraken and Ice Breaker. Then you have a couple of good water rides with Infinity Falls and Journey To Atlantis. The park was pretty quiet really and we managed to go on almost all the rides at least once and still watch the dolphin, sea lion and orca shows. The activities were brought to an abrupt end late afternoon as the heavens absolutely opened up like I have never seen before and all the attractions shut down due to "Inclement Weather".

Luckily we had done everything we wanted by then and so we kept as dry as possible by visiting the penguin enclosure (which was absolutely freezing at 0 degrees) and then the Shark Encounter and Shark tunnel. By the time we had done this it was pretty much time for dinner where we had booked a table in one of the Sea World restaurants where you sit underwater looking in to the shark tank. Needless to say I didn't stop smiling. The meal was expensive, the food was good, but the air con left us bloody freezing as we had got soaked outside prior to heading in for dinner.

The sea lion and otter shows were very funny and entertaining. We watched the Orca show and I am not going to lie it was fascinating and enjoyable, but I couldn't help thinking how wrong it was for me to be sitting there watching this and sort of condoning their captivity. Interestingly no trainers actually get in the water with the Orca's anymore and they all have little James Bond style scuba sets on their belt in case they get dragged under by the Orca's.

Sea World lighthouse taken later in the da as the heavens opened up.

Sea World has certainly changed a lot over the last 30 years turning more in to a theme park.

We headed straight for Kraken thinking it would have the biggest queues and as you can see we were pretty much alone.

Kraken is a ginormous coaster that pretty much spreads across the whole back end of Sea World over a lake.

Holly enjoyed Kraken and set the day off on the right foot.

Journey to Atlantis was a good ride to cool off on whilst we waited for queues to Manta to die down a bit.

Holly rode with me.

Selfie on Atlantis.

That's a better picture.

Heading up.

And up.

View across Sea World with Ice Breaker in the background.

Settling down with some popcorn to watch the Orca show.

Always amazing to experience these giants of the sea, but so wrong that they are in captivity.

Incredible how an animal that size can leap out of the water.

No trainers in the water with the Orca's anymore.

They had a shallow platform which the Orca's could slide on to in order to have a real close and personal view.

Great action shot. Audience about to get very wet.

Feeding the Orca fish, although it does look like the Orca is about to attack the man!

In goes a handful of fish.

Dance moves by the pool side.

That powerful fin managed to get the first 15 rows or so completely soaked.

Impressive back flips.

Completely out of the water.

Then there was 3 of them.

Finally we got to ride the amazing Manta and Tina managed to get this great picture of me and the boys.

Holly and Brandon exploring the aquarium and the jelly fish.

The floor was a sea through glass wave effect with a fish tank underneath.

More from the aquarium.

And some more.

And a bit more colour.

They have an enclosure with about 20+ alligators at Sea World, not surprising for Florida.

Amazing creatures but not very entertaining to watch.

Some pictures from the underwater dolphin viewing area.

You could spend forever standing their watching these beautiful animals.

I didn't get a picture of it, but one of the dolphins was blowing air bubble rings repeatedly and then swimming through the ring. So intelligent.

I think this dolphin wanted to play.

Also plenty of opportunity to pet rays and to hand feed them shrimp.

Tina having a go at feeding a ray.

Then Brandon's turn. They feel quite slimy really.

Josh also had a go but Holly wasn't brave enough.

Another chance to sit down and be entertained as we watched the dolphin show.

Just look at the height of that.

Unlike the Orca's, trainers are still allowed in the water with the dolphins.

Synchro summersaults.

Mid air cross over.

Dancing in the water.

A good opportunity to learn more about dolphins.

Stunning animals.

Then there was 5 or 6 of them.

Again very entertaining, but these animals should not be in a tank.

Some flamingos in Sea World.

Then on to the sea lion and otter show which was very funny indeed.

I wish I had that core strength!

Leaping sea lion.

Diving off of a high platform.

Follow the leader.

Greeting the audience (or spitting water at them?).

Great interaction between the animals and trainers.

At the end this large white porpoise came out and swam up and down.

Who could be afraid of these two!

Infinity falls and we all start out very dry.

Me, Tina and H.

As usual we were soon getting very wet.

Water rapid rides never get boring.

As usual I think Josh got the worst of it.

All smiles.

Ducking out the way won't keep you dry!

The rapids ahead.

And the drop below the bridge.

Ice Breaker - glad I sat this one out and left it for Tina and the boys.

Backwards up and down didn't really appeal to me.

I think Tina felt a bit blue after this one.

As the heavens decide to open we seek shelter in the penguins.

Oh the struggle to get a smile for a picture.

The penguin enclosure was absolutely freezing.

A close up of a penguin.

Views of the penguins swimming above and below water.

We didn't spend long under here because we were so cold.

Absolutely loads of penguins (smelly!).

You wouldn't believe this is inside would you?

More penguins.

The large underwater viewing area.

By the time we came out things were getting a little wet outside.

But Brandon didn't care as it was warm rain.

On to the shark enclosure.

Exploring the shark tunnel all on our own.

The elegant lion fish.

Evil looking moray eel.

And loads of my favourites, the sharks.

Look at those teeth.

More sharks.

Looking in to the mouth of a shark.

Then time for an amazing evening meal overlooking a large shark tank.

That's a big boy.

Just me, the Mrs and a shark.

Selfie with sharks.

I think this one liked the look of my steak, or was he eyeing me up?

Amazing experience to dine in a shark tank.

Last one of the sharks for this blog, but I did take a whole lot more pictures of them!!