‘Sea World’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: Sea World {Orlando, Florida}

May 28, 2013 · Narrative

If you’ve been reading Sweetnicks for any length of time, or know Madeline in real life, it’s no surprise that she’s obsessed with dolphins.

Like obsessed.

She can rattle off random dolphin and other sea mammal facts like no other, and it’s a healthy interest that hasn’t waned in the last few years.

If she ends up being a trainer at Sea World or working with dolphins in some other capacity, I can safely say I predicted it way back when.

When we went on our Spring Break vacation back in March, and we were very close to a Sea World location, I tried my darnedest to get us there. But because a visit to Sea World wasn’t offered as an excursion, it meant I would have had to rent a car, which is fine. But our ship didn’t dock until 1 pm, Sea World was about an hour and a quarter away, and even though Sea World was open later, the car rental would have to be returned by 6 pm. There was just no way to make it work that would preserve both my sanity and my wallet, try as I might.

But I had a back-up plan.

When the location of the Food Blogger Forum was announced as Orlando, I knew I’d have another chance.

Anything for my kids.

So the Food Blogger Forum weekend arrived, and all the surprises came out. A plane trip. A weekend away. Disney World.

And oh! Hey! We’re going to Sea World! You can touch dolphins!

She could not have been happier.

More in her element.

And it was worth every second of finagling it took to make it happen.

I made us reservations for the dolphin encounter, because I knew just seeing the dolphins wouldn’t be enough for her (and we were at least able to do that when we visited the Atlantis Resort in March).

She needed to touch them. Be close to them.

With a 4 pm flight the same day as our Sea World visit, we needed to be as efficient as possible. It meant we couldn’t really explore too much else in Sea World. The dolphins. The whale show. A roller coaster for Nick. A quick strawberry snack. And we were done.

Making it to the airport just in time.

Or well, just in time for a one hour flight delay.

Sea World opened at 9 am, and we arrived at about 9:45.

Tip #1: Get there when it opens. The parking lot is huge, and even though we arrived just 45 minutes later, we were parked a good quarter to half mile away from the entrance.

We got to the Customer Service desk to check in for our dolphin encounter as quickly as possible.

Tip #2: Buy your Sea World admission tickets online on their web site to save $10 off the at-the-door price.

Tip #3: If you wish to do an animal encounter or behind-the-scenes tour, reserve that ahead of time. They sell out fast.

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Spring Break 2013 {Cruise Vacation in Review}

May 2, 2013 · Narrative

It’s hard to believe our vacation was already over a month ago.

I have finally unpacked the suitcase.

For real.

Um, just yesterday.

A few astute readers guessed that we were on a cruise, and we were. Cruising is one of my go-to vacations because it requires very little thought. I don’t need to worry about how we’re going to get to our destinations, where we’re going to eat, how much everything is going to cost … it’s all taken care of. And I love that. Because sometimes the logistics of planning a vacation can seem challenging, especially if I’m doing it all by myself.

This was my sixth cruise, Nick’s fifth, and Madeline’s second. All with Royal Caribbean. We have gone out of three different ports, and my favorite is leaving from NJ/NY. Because the vacation starts right away. Although leaving from other ports opens us up to more varied itineraries, I don’t want to lose a day on either end because we have to fly to a new port.

At least not now.

This was a new itinerary for us, with two stops in the Bahamas (one in Nassau and one in Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island), and one in Port Canaveral. Three days where the ship is docked, four days at sea. It’s a pretty sweet balance between being active and completely inactive.

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