Summer Vacation

Living in Florida means that one of the giants in US tourism is just hours away. This summer with an offer pending on a house and orthodontist expenses looming and our recent trip to California we decided to stay close to home. So we took a couple days off work and headed to Orlando to go to Aquatica and Sea World (thanks Jonathan & Taylor for the tickets!). We had a really nice time. The kids were the perfect age for the water park and Sea World was good this one time...we will not be going back. But it was good once.

Interestingly since the accident that took a trainer's life this past winter the Shamu show has very few tricks with the trainer in the water. The days of the trainers riding/surfing on Shamu's back are gone. They did stand in the water on a ledge type area where the whales come up to them but no longer swim beside them. They also had evening specials that include a parody of the Shamu show done by sea lions who in the finale pulled a sign reading:

Of course there was the actual Shamu show too.

Aquatica is great if your kids can swim, which ours thankfully can. If not it might be less fun. I was reminded how much "boot camp" is kicking my butt as you climb ALOT of stairs. A family favorite was the Roa Rapids, this lazy river style waterway that had a current and slippery ground. You could basically "ski" across the bottom and the kids could float with life vests.

The last day we spent the morning at Downtown Disney before heading home. We went in the new T-Rex restaurant/store/experience and the kids got geodes to break open!