Day 6 - 27th September
Well, today is the last full day of T's (note, no "!" today) 60th Birthday Celebrations.
Well, today is the last full day of T's (note, no "!" today) 60th Birthday Celebrations.
And as is usual for us on our final full day in
Orlando............we went back to Sea World
We decided to walk over - there's a little road opposite
the BW that we've used to get to the park ever since our first visit there 26
years ago - it's a great short cut and within minutes of leaving the hotel, we
were at the entrance & in the reasonably short security queue just before
opening time - 10am.
(We later found out that our shortcut road is no longer
open to pedestrians.....there were big huge signs saying something to that
effect, but we just didn't see them......ooooops!!!)
Once in the park, we went on Kraken again (I felt icky,
again) and then, after setting up a photo card, we stored our coaster pic on it
and went to feed the sea lions. Those animals are just so funny, I could stay
there for hours watching their antics but after feeding them 3 trays worth of
smelly fish, it was time to say goodbye......we had to get on, Shamu was
waiting for us.
We arrived at the stadium in plenty of time so, before
the show started, I went and got us each a hot dog and a drink - me budweiser
and T, water (even though he'd asked for a coke lol.......Oi, you get what
you're given, mate)
We deliberately sat in the soak zone today - after years
and years of going to the show, we know that if you park yourself on the left
hand side of the stadium, 7 to 7½ glass columns away from the centre of the
water tank and 6 or 7 rows up, you're going to get a bit wet.
Wooooo, hoooooo - the plan still works......we did get
wet, by 2 of the whales.....they both flicked their flukes at the same
time. We were pretty drenched......and
happy.
We decided to get even wetter by going on Journey to
Atlantis (another brill log flume ride).
There was no queue whatsoever so within a couple of minutes, we were
sitting in the front of the log travelling along the waterways of Atlantis.
Having been on the ride so often doesn't lessen the excitement of knowing you're going to get a damn good soaking - T & I were sitting there with great big cheesy grins on our faces and I reckon if you'd taken a 'how happy are you reading' on a happy-ometer, we'd have had the highest scores in the park.
Having been on the ride so often doesn't lessen the excitement of knowing you're going to get a damn good soaking - T & I were sitting there with great big cheesy grins on our faces and I reckon if you'd taken a 'how happy are you reading' on a happy-ometer, we'd have had the highest scores in the park.
Well what a shame, we didn't get as wet as we thought -
probably due to us being the only ones in the log, it wasn't weighted down
enough for the water to splash over us as much as usual. That said, I still got pretty soaked.....
When T (who really wanted to be soaked too) suggested we
go straight back on it for a second go, we did.
We again got the front row but this time, other people were in
the log too (yayyyy).
Super, marvellous, terrific, fabulous, brilliant,
tremendous and fab............we got a saturated 😂😂😂.
SW has installed 'people dryers' near the ride's exit
($5) but we just ignored them....... after all, we're not wimps ...the whole
idea of getting soaked to the skin on a log flume ride in Orlando is to walk
around afterwards with clothes clinging to you, feeling totally uncomfortable
and avoiding the shade so the sun can dry your clothes. Where's the fun in getting dry straight
away!
We reserved the pic of our Atlantis journey onto the
photo card and went on our merry way to try Maco, another new roller coaster
(it had only opened in June 2016 so it's quite new for everyone, not just us).
T went on it first and came to the conclusion that I
would like it so we put all our stuff in a locker and joined the queue.
Now, I did think it was good and the weightlessness you
experience (you actually lift out of your seat) as you go over the top of the
track prior to each drop is great but I felt absolutely yuk afterwards.
What's going on with me? I can't be doing with all this
yukkiness.
As much as I love, love, love roller coasters, I'm thinking
I may just have to leave them to T from now on.
We were going to go to see Shamu again but the skies were
looking pretty dark and we know, if it rains, the shows get cancelled. We decided to leave rather than hang around
for something that probably wouldn't take place but first we wanted to have a look in the gift
shop in the (now very faded) hope that we would at last find a mug to
buy.......it wasn't to be - there was nothing there we liked.
We did spend some money though.....we handed over our photo
card to the assistant in the kiosk near to SW's exit and bought our 2 stored pics
(at extortionate prices) and then we started to make our way back, via Shank's
Pony, to the BW.......just as the storm started.
Within minutes of our leaving SW (with me - as I'd done
in every park we'd visited - saying goodbye to everything), big, huge, saucer
size raindrops were falling, the sky was a strange shade of purply black and
the thunder & lightning were having a loud & very bright party.
Luckily we got back to the room without getting struck by
lightning or by getting too soaked (it's one thing to get wet on a log flume but
it's a completely different thing if you get wet during a thunderstorm) and
then we got ready for the evening.
We spent our last night in Orlando at Bahama Breeze eating
our fave shrimp starters and habañero
wings (scrummy), drinking beers and wine and listening to a couple of musicians
put a Caribbean slant on a few golden oldies.
Perfect.
Perfect.