Our Sea World trip

It's been a while since I've posted! The trip was a whirlwind, but fun. We drove down, cutting off of the highway towards Killeen. It was a much more pleasant drive; we stopped at an antique store or two, but best of all, we missed the Austin traffic.

At Sea World, I cashed in on the free teacher's pass. You can google this, but it is a great treat! Last summer we got a lucky deal with hotel, passes,etc, so my mother in law's and my girls' passes were still good! When we arrived at sunset, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to watch a few shows. The Shamu Rocks show contains great audience participation, lights, and awe with theses magnificent animals.

On our next full day we arrived early. The previous year we purchased the ultimate tour, which allows you to enter early. It is a bit pricey, but we loved it. This year we chose to go backstage with the sea lions. You feed the seals and sea lions, listen to a guide, get preferential seating for the show, and the afterwards you get to touch a sea lion and have your picture taken with one with several trainers. I felt like a very lucky person!

We purchased the food armbands, which, if you are going to stay all day, I highly recommend these as they are really worth the money. Eat at Shamu Smokehouse for some of the best food in the park. Snacks are included with wristbands (some exclusions apply), but we ate fruit and my kids loved the red, white, and blue jello treats. All portions are generous, and with the wristband, food is unlimited.

On this day we avoided water rides, but it ended up raining, so we were still wet by the end of the day. Crazy Texas weather!

As my oldest hates rides, we mostly walked into animal exhibits and watched the shows, which filled the whole day.

The next day we'd planned to visit Aquatica, but when we woke up, it was overcast and in the 70's. for us Texas girls, that was not hot enough to swim! So, instead, we visited the Alamo. Pioneer reactors were set up outside, so we saw butter being churned, guns being packed with powder, knives being made, we saw a surveyor and received some old money (fake).  The Alamo itself was so crowded, but my kids enjoyed walking through, especially since my oldest had just learned about Texas History that year in school. We visited the crowded gift shop next, and I purchased a book for my father, and the author was there to sign it! How cool!

We ate lunch on the nearby river walk at Hard Rock. By the time we finished eating, we felt warm, so we headed off to Aquatica.

If you have a pass, you can purchase one say tickets for half price add ons! It cost us about 50 for the four of us to enter. Next came the arduous task of finding a seat in the shade. Unfortunately, that is a harder task than one might expect! We placed our things at some little chairs on a walkway and scored two lounge chairs in the water. My mil and I chilled there while my children swam in the shallow water. I took my youngest to ride some rides like the raft that takes you by sting rays and several raft rides as well. Both of my girls were interested in the wave pool, but it was overwhelming or my wisp of a six year old. Between her and the waves, I worried about a swimsuit malfunction, so after two sets of waves, mom was done!

We purchased snacks at Aquatica, mostly just slushy beverages. That evening we found a Pizza Hut and took food back to our hotel.

It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was just enough! I felt like I'd experienced it all. One last note- at Aquatica you can get in a pool with debarred sting rays. This is only available early in the day. We did not have the opportunity to experience this amazing ness this year, but we did last year. My the five yr old was scared, but an employee sat beside her and sweetly still helped her to at least touch one.

Planning a Visit to Sea World San Antonio

This is my first blog entry, so those out in the cyber world, please be patient with me.  My family and I are about to head back to San Antonio to visit Sea World again this summer.  As I have not found some of the tips I learned myself last year, I thought I'd post a few thoughts/ideas here.
1.  Plan to walk.  You can rent or buy strollers at Sea World.  We bought two.  They were great strollers, and knowing we'd be there for two days, it was a better value than renting.
2.  Bring some dry clothes in a baggie.  I had bought some cool nylon water shorts that then rubbed my legs raw after walking around wet in them for a few hours.
3.  If you can afford the tours, go for it!  Last year we went on the Ultimate Seafari tour (they have now renamed it), but we got to feed dolphins, sea lions, etc. and it was great to enter the park early to avoid lines and to feed animals FIRST.
4.  If staying all day, buy the wrist band for meals.  It is about 30.00 - but it is unlimited food.  Great deal!
5.  Aquatica is okay.  I found more to do with my kids (ages 9 and 5) at Sea World.  Several of the pools were shut down at Aquatica (including the kid's area) the day I went, so there wasn't a ton for my kids to do there.  We did get I nthe water wit hthe stin rays.  My youngest was scared, but she vows to enter this year.

If I learn of anything else out there that is great, I will let you all know.

I love to travel, to scrapbook, and to create!  This blog will try to explore those passions of mine!