Our first day there we went to the Islands of Adventure theme park. They had two great rollercoasters, the Hulk and Dueling Dragons, and some other fun rides. We also went to see a movie, "the hangover," and had dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.
The second day there it RAINED...all day. This was the day we went to Universal Studios, but we had to do it in the rain. Luckily, most of their attractions were in-doors so we did get some reprieve from the rain at times. They had a nice indoor rollercoaster, the Mummy. They also had some cool 4-D attractions based on the Terminator and some animated movied that I can't remember now. We also went through the Jurrasic Park water ride that was fun and I managed to stay mostly dry. (that was before the rain....)
Matt arm-wrestling Captain America!
Our last night in Orlando we had tickets to see Blue Man Group. This was one of the highlights of the trip. They were hysterical! I didn't realize it was going to be a comedy show....I was only expecting the musical stuff. It was a two hour show and Matt and I enjoyed all of it. I even got some light-up drum sticks that I know my kids at school are going to love!
From Orlando, we flew to Miami and drove to Key Largo. The one whole day we had there we spent at "Theatre of the Sea." They had all kids of "shows" to watch as well as informational tours. We first went on the bottomless boat ride where two dolphins came up and performed in the boat. Then we went on a nature tour around the park. They had lots of lagoons full of various types of fish, turtles, and sharks. I got to pet one of the baby sharks. They also had a "Parot Theatre" where they had about 10 trained parots that put on a show. It was interesting to hear that most of the birds were in their twenties in age!
I got to hold one!
Matt and me on the nature trail.
After that we went to the Dolphin show, which was so cool. They had two male dolphins, ages 11 and 12, that did tons of cool tricks.
Matt and me on the nature trail.
After that we went to the Dolphin show, which was so cool. They had two male dolphins, ages 11 and 12, that did tons of cool tricks.
On a side note, one dolphin trainer's name was Tessa AND one of the child volunteers from the audience was also Tessa....so there were three Tessas there for that show!
After the dolphin show, we headed to the sea lion show. We learned the differences between sea lions and seals (mainly the ears) and Wilbur the four year old sea lion was SO cute! He weighs over 350 pounds and is expected to be around 800 when he's full grown!
Some audience members got to throw rings for him to catch. Look at that face!
Wilbur showing us how strong his front arms were... (If you enlarge this picture you can see his "ear." Only sea lions have the little ear flap. Seals don't have outside ears...)
He loves to slide!
The main attraction was later in they day. I have ALWAYS wanted to get to swim with a dolphin but have always backed out because of the price. I told Matt I was doing it this year, no matter what. So, I got to swim with Nikki, a 25 year old female dolphin. It was worth every penny! I got to do lots of tricks with her including a dance, a hug, a kiss, and a few swimming tricks. I highly recommend it! I can now cross it off my list of things to do in life!!
All in all, this year's vacation was one of my favorites!
2 comments:
What a fun trip!
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