I went to SeaWorld around noon yesterday, and got to see Antarctica, though I did not ride Empire of the Penguin. The ride had a 3.5-hour line that I was not willing to wait out. Maybe next time. Anyways, let me back track a little bit... So, I got to the park around noon, and out by the entrance there was a car advertising the new attraction:
As we made our way into the park, the first thing we noticed was that Manta had broken down, and some poor subjects had to "hang around" there for a few long minutes:
So, seeing as our plan to ride Manta first was not gonna happen, we headed straight to Antarctica. The theming really is great here, and it's a beautiful addition to the park. Even if the ride might be a flop, the theming around the area is very nice!
You are surrounded by the glacial ice rockwork, making this a completely immersive environment.
As I mentioned, the ride had a 3.5-hour wait... so I'm saving that for another day.
They had a cute meet and greet with a penguin:
And the wall showing all the different kinds of penguins was nice as well:
So, after exploring for a bit, I was pretty hungry so we headed to Expedition Cafe...
The line for Italian food at Ristorante Italiano was empty:
It seemed that the popular choice was Asian food:
Followed by fried chicken at the Stateside Chicken spot:
I decided to have some Asian food, so I waited in line and ordered orange chicken. I was not asked whether I wanted fried rice or noodles, the lady just served rice on my tray and passed it on to the next guy who would serve the chicken and a fortune cookie. At the time I did not mind, since I was gonna pick fried rice anyways... Orange chicken is very moist with its orange sauce, and noodles are very moist with their sauce, so it would be overkill. Anyways, I am handed the tray, and they turn around to help the next person in line. At that point I get pretty confused, wondering where do I have to pay... So, I look around for a bit until I realize that I have to go outside to the food court, where the cashiers can be found on the other side of the doors.
Once I paid, it was time to find a place to sit. Hmm... could it be under the umbrellas, or in the Penguin Hall... Penguin Hall it is! Inside, they had different world music tracks playing, along with some radio announcements to make it seem as if we were in a real Antarctica dining hall. Again, theming very well done here.
But that's where the good ends, and it gets really bad. Horribly bad... I go to try the food, and it is
the worst I've ever had at any Orlando theme park. The orange chicken was OK at best, and I was hungry and a bit hungover, so I was already predisposed to chow down whatever was in front of me... The fried rice, on the other hand, was
disgusting and I couldn't down more than a few bites. It had a really weird taste and texture. But hey, let's try to be positive, at least I have a sweet, crunchy fortune cookie to finish my meal, right? Wrong... Even the cookie tasted stale and it wasn't even crunchy! What a total disappointment...
(I should note, I had already eaten some chicken before taking this picture, so the portion of chicken is a bit bigger than that.)
Well, we get out of there pretty fast and went to see if we could check out the penguin exhibit. Since I am still unfamiliar with the area, I decided to go up to a ride attendant at the entrance of the ride to ask him about it. I explained that we just wanted to see the exhibit without riding, but he told us that we still had to wait in the whole line and go through the ride in order to see the exhibit... Bummer... Well, being still new to the area and having no idea where the exit is to try to sneak in, plus having no patience to look for it, and least of all any desire to wait in the line... we just decided to call it a day for Antarctica, and headed over to Kraken and later Manta. Those were working fine by now, great rides as always! Kraken with its permanent 10-minute wait (which was actually less than 5 minutes) and Manta had a 45 minute wait (which was actually about 20-25, and time flies by in that awesome queue, anyways.)
So, overall thoughts for the day: Antarctica is beautifully themed and it has potential, but they need to make tweaks and improvements. The food
really needs to be improved. And, although I haven't experienced Empire of the Penguin yet, it sounds like the ride needs some work as well. I'll be giving this another shot in a few weeks. Hope it's a better experience next time!