Part 2- SeaWorld Orlando (day)
We arrived about 12:15 and was in the park by 12:30. Rain was definitely in the forecast and it came through not long after arrival. Even with the rain that was on and off between 1 & 6pm, we were able to accomplish most of what we planned on doing yesterday. Because of the coming rain, we decided to go extra bare minimum and only carry a bottled water into the park (outside of keys, wallets & phones). So no camera (until later when I did get it). I got some pics with my phone, but since I've been to the park quite often I didn't take many the first part of the day.
I first headed to Manta to ride since I had skipped it the last couple times I've been. To my surprise, it was a walk-on. I only had to wait for the 2 trains in the station to go (they were running both sides). I was even able to re-ride. I rode 2nd row the first ride and last row for the 2nd where no one was waiting. I think that was the first time I've ridden the back and was by far much more intense in the pretzel loop than I have ever experienced. It may be the most intense moment I've ever had on a B&M coaster. I was close to graying out. Crazy since I've been on it many times since it opened. I think I went to the front more since it's one where it makes a difference visually at least.
Next we went to the 1:30 showing of Dolphin Days. We got in there right at 1 when they opened it up to get a great seat since it was our first time seeing it. The last time we came to the park they cancelled the first showing at 10 and we were leaving by lunch for other engagements outside the park. Storms started coming through shortly after and they kept delaying.
While waiting for the show, I thought I would find out how long the wait was for Kraken Unleashed. I had no intentions of riding knowing it was going to be a crazy wait (virtually). Plus I couldn't care less about the VR anyway. As you can see in the pic above it was 1:52pm and the next available time was 8:25. Um no thanks with or without VR. It's good I didn't plan on riding it as we were planning to see the Shamu nighttime show at 8:45 as it was the only one scheduled. This whole Spot Saver thing sounds great in theory, but it's just horribly being executed due to the extensive load & unload process. Also you can only reserve your spot once inside the park either from your phone or at the Spot Saver reservation area by the queue entrance. Currently that is the only way to even get a ride as they aren't using the regular queue at the moment. I have heard they open it up for stand-by closer to closing, but I didn't bother checking for myself as I was there for the night time festivities.
Back to Dolphin Days, at 2pm they finally cancelled so people could go on with their day and invited us all to try again for the 3pm showing. Had it not been raining we would have moved on well before the cancellation. We left our umbrellas in the car since we didn't feel like carrying anything extra. Once the rain let up we walked over to see what kind of line Empire Of The Penguin had since it was still lightly raining and to kill time. The sign said a 5 minute wait. Looking at said line, it had not updated and was more like 45. I figured it would be like that since it's an indoor attraction. Not a loss anyway since we didn't plan originally to ride it.
Next up we walked back to see what they have done to Kraken. It wasn't running at the moment because of the weather. Posted wait time? 405 minutes....with a virtual queue...laughable...lol I honestly really don't care for the new look overall. I do like the tentacles, but that's about it. I know many thought the old head was cheesy, but it completed the entrance plaza to me. I wish they would have made a new head to go with the tentacles. They also had the area closed off where the eggs used to be and where you could view the corkscrew at the ride exit. Hopefully they will open it back up a little more once things get smooth with all this. You can see the Spot Saver reserve area to the right of the entrance above.
We then walked over to the Journey To Atlantis aquarium before going back to see the 3pm Dolphin Days.
Dolphin Days...what can I say? I liked the show and there was definitely more interaction with the dolphins. However because Blue Horizons was the first show I ever saw at SeaWorld, it will always be tops for me. I first saw it the first year it was performed so it was great in the earlier years. I have the DVD and my own recordings so it will live on for me. Because of the rain and 90 minute delay to watch it, we ended up not viewing the manatees, dolphins (in DC), Stingrays or Manta Aquarium like normal and decided to make our way to the skytower, which surprisingly ran all day until the park closed. That's almost unheard of for when we visit...lol The windows had too much condensation to even bother getting any pics. Oh well.
After Skytower, we headed over so I could ride Mako. In that short of time the rain started coming down again. While I'm sure some people like riding 73mph on a coaster in the stinging rain, I'm not one of them and went through the Shark Encounter.
As the rain got lighter made it over to Wild Arctic to do that and see the Beluga, Walrus & Seals. In the gift shop on the way out I found a nice plate and matching spoon rest that were on clearance. I was surprised they were on clearance and was happy I waited since I was last there in April and wanted them. Since we had made purchases we decided to take it out to the car and get our umbrellas. Of course, once we got back in the park we never opened them again...go figure. I did decide to grab my camera to get some pics and video of the nighttime shows.
It was just before 6pm when we got back in the park and were planning to see Sea Lions tonight which started at 6:30. Since Mako was so close and the rain stopped, I went and rode Mako while my partner got a seat at the show. I had a free quick queue as a June pass member perk and used it, even though there was a 2 train wait. Well I took the time to reserve, print and redeem so why not? Plus I had no way of knowing how long the line actually was, even with the 5 minute posted wait. It was a great ride as always. I only had time for the one ride for now and headed over to see the show.