As you know we had our first day at a theme park yesterday and it was epic! And long! We got there for opening at 9:00am and didn’t leave until gone 6:30pm. It was the first time we’d been back to SeaWorld since my first trip to Florida in 2010 and it is fair to say it has improved immensely. There were a lot more rides and shows than I remember, situated around a big lake area, so it was actually very easy to while away the hours.

It paid off going early as it was very quiet early on which gave us a chance to blitz some of the roller coasters without having to queue for long. Some we just walked straight on, and others we only had to wait like 10 minutes. We did all of the big coasters – Mako, Kraken, Manta, Pipeline, and Penguin Trek – and they were all very extreme, well, apart from Penguin Trek which is more of a family coaster.

Si opted out of Manta after how he felt after it last time. It’s like Air at Alton Towers so that you’re horizontal to the ground so it’s like you are flying. He missed out as it was excellent!

Pipeline was also insane as you stand on a giant surfboard (yes you heard me correctly, you stand for the duration of the ride!) to go around the track. This was the one I was most apprehensive about due to the whole standing element but I was glad I did it – not sure I would rush to go back on it though.

In between rides we also took in some animal shows/presentations, including one about Dolphins, one about Orca Whales and one about Sea Lions. Obviously the best parts of these are all the tricks they do in the water.

The heights that both the whales and dolphins get to when they jump out the water is incredible. What’s also funny is they are taught how to splash all the people sat in the seats near the front of the stage – if you were sat there you got absolutely soaked. It’s called the “splash zone” so visitors can’t really complain as they are warned! We were safely sat towards the back obviously.

Finally, we had planned to do the two water rides towards the end of the day as you get soaked and we had a change of clothes in the car. Unfortunately having not had to queue for long at all, both these rides had long queues so we ended up having to queue for an hour per ride. It was very annoying but we didn’t want to miss out on them so we waited it out.

The first one was Journey to Atlantis (log flume) and the second was Infinity Falls (river rapids). We stayed relatively dry on the log flume but sadly the same cannot be said for the Falls where it is impossible for anyone not to get soaked.

We had remained fairly dry up until fairly near the end of the ride, when a massive wave just crashed over the raft. The aim is clearly for everyone to get soaked through by the end no matter what seat they are in. But to be fair, after queuing for an hour in the hot sun I was glad of the drenching!

So there you have it, that is what 9 hours at Sea World looks like. Great day and looking forward to doing some more of the theme parks soon.

Lucy