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| 2011 |
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| 2012 |
This year I hadn't really thought about going anywhere because we've been so busy, but one day the TV was on in the background and a SeaWorld commercial came on. It was then that I remembered that we get 4 free tickets per year thanks to their wonderful Waves of Honor program for the Armed Forces. We are moving soon and it's starting to get hot out, so it was almost like destiny that this commercial came on because now will probably be the best time ever for us to go.
I texted the hubby to make sure he was up for the trip and immediately started researching. We only had 2 days to plan everything. We decided we'd drive down on Sunday and visit the park on Monday and drive home straight from there. I booked our hotel and got our many bags packed... 5 bags for 4 people for ONE night. Yes, I'm an over-packer.
So on Sunday we got to the hotel and the girls thought it was the greatest place ever. They thought that was our final destination. Their minds were blown when we took them to Downtown Disney to stroll around and have dinner.
We went back to the hotel and braced ourselves for the first night we'd all be sleeping in the same room as each other. Sometimes as parent you need to get a little creative. We only have one pack and play (plus Adrianna is too big for it anyways but also too small for a big hotel bed) so we had to figure out where everyone would sleep. Before leaving on our trip I had a genius idea and was able to put it into place at the hotel. Voila...
This is a couch turned around to face the wall. Adrianna was contained on all four sides, while still comfortable. She thought it was pretty awesome and was more than happy to go to sleep in it. Yay! Then at 4am she woke and started talking to herself, followed by "Nattttttyyy, what are you doing? Natttyyyyy, WAKE UP!". I ignored it for as long as could, knowing that if they knew I was up they'd want to hang out. Around 5am I went over and laid them back down and told them to go back to sleep. We all slept until 9AM!!! This has got to be some kind of household record. My kids are usually up by 7am. I have GOT to get me some black out curtains. The only downside was that we were obviously not going to make the 9am SeaWorld opening. Oh well. Thanks to my obsessive planning, everyone's clothes were already laid out and the bags had been repacked so we were dressed and in the car within 20 minutes. SeaWorld was only 4 miles away so we were there before 9:30.
I had checked the weather days ago and it was supposed to be in the 70s with a slight chance of a rain shower, perfect! From the moment I booked the hotel, until the actual day of SeaWorld, the forecast got progressively worse.The new forecast had Thunderstorms occurring every other hour all day long with temps in the low 80s. Boooo. I had done my research on what to do at SeaWorld in case of rain and I was prepared with change of clothes for everyone as well as 2 umbrellas and 5 rain ponchos (1 for each person and an extra to cover the stroller). A little rain was not going to keep us away after driving 4.5 hours just to get there.
The skies were gray and rain threatened us all day. We did the outdoor attractions first, knowing that we'd need stuff to do indoors during rain. As the day went on, it became clear that the rain wasn't coming. We were able to see everything we wanted to see without getting the tiniest bit wet. Best part was that the forecast was scary enough to keep the crowds away. While shows were going on there was almost no one walking around. We were able to oooohh and ahhh as long as we wanted to. We got to hog the best spot on the glass. There was no one else to compete with.
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| All alone in underwater viewing |
All in all, the kids had a blast. It was well worth the drive.
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