San Diego Sea World

On Tuesday, we headed to Sea World. It is always great fun. They have added rides to Sea World since I was here last, although I'm not sure why. The theme seems to be “get wet.” We went on the rides, and they were okay, but who wants to stand in a line for a so-so ride? They even have a 4-D movie “Haunted Lighthouse” similar, but far inferior, to Disneyland's “Honey I shrunk the Audience.” The effects were rather cheap and the story thin. Of course, they save the biggest cheap effect for the very end. If you happen to go, sit on an aisle and leave before they get to the catfish suprise! You've been warned.

Aside from the cheesy rides, the exhibits are still fantastic. I liked the dolphins, batrays, and Shamu show the best.

One of the best parts of our day was lunch with one of the Orcas, Corky. We got to have a buffet right next to one of the training pools. Two trainers came out and talked to us, answered questions and showed us a few tricks. It is rather intimidating to have a 3,000 pound Orca park itself next to your table.

Sea World also now has a Cirque de la Mer show, on the bay. The acrobats are all excellent, though the show is a bit short and a bit redundant. Zakiya really wanted to see the show and of course wanted to meet some of the performers afterward.

Becky and the girls got plenty wet at the dolphin show,

but apparently not wet enough.

At the Shamu rocks show, Hailey and Becky sat second row center. Zakiya and I were close, but off to the side. We stayed dry while Becky and Hailey got absolutely drenched. It was fun being able to see the bottom of the pool, watching one of the Orcas drive its trainer all the way to the bottom of the pool and then straight up. Quite impressive.

Sea World was the one park that we didn't close down. We left about an hour early. We had seen everything and Becky was freezing. I have to also say that Sea World is incredibly hard to navigate. All day long we found ourselves emerging from an exhibit saying, "Where are we? and how do we get to where we want to go?" Perhaps we are true landlubbers!