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SeaWorld Orlando (& brief Fun Spot Kissimmee) June 19, 2017

May 8, 2010
660
343
Gainesville, FL
Part 1- Fun Spot America Kissimmee:
My partner and I arrived in Orlando a bit earlier than planned for SeaWorld so we had time to make a quick stop at Fun Spot in Kissimmee. Neither one of us had been there before and didn't plan to ride anything (this time). I wanted to see Mine Blower and perhaps maybe see it make some test runs since it made it's first the night before. Unfortunately when we arrived about 10am they were doing some work on the track and structure so for the hour we were there looking around we didn't get to see it test. Bummer...but it looks amazing! We will be back later in the summer to spend a few hours there and already bought all day passes for $19 to use when they had their sale online a couple weeks ago. I did have a Fun e Card with some funds on it from a visit at the Orlando park so we used it to play some arcade games before leaving to have lunch.

For now here are some pics of the park:
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I love Frisbee rides and I can't wait to try this one (Head Rush). It will be my first inverting one.

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Rockstar Coaster. A spinning wild mouse. It will be another first (one that spins that is).

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A Bull ride? Sure, I may try this too. Another possible first.

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I love Screaming Swings. It was still under maintenance so it should be open by the time I get back. I've been on the one at the Orlando park (same model) many times.

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Kiddie Coaster. Most generic name of a potential credit I'll get when I come back.
#noshame

Now on the the reason we came by : Mine Blower
I can't wait to get back to the park to ride this. It may be a short ride, but it definitely will pack a punch, and the barrel roll alone is with the trip if you're nearby. This will be my first inverting woodie when I ride it. It's crazy this ride will be open Friday. As mentioned before we didn't see any testing due to some tweaking to the track. We also couldn't get a good view of the trains since they were both on the track and somewhat hidden from where I could get pics. I know the weather deteriorated within a couple hours of us leaving so testing occurred later on that evening.

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We decided to have lunch before heading to SeaWorld and stopped at Freddy's which is on Vineland by the Orlando Premium Outlets off I-Drive. It's pretty much like Steak and Shake as far as it's burgers. They are also famous for their custard...kind of like Culver's (which I prefer btw).
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
 
Part 3- SeaWorld Orlando (evening)
Now on to the night time segment of the day-
Electric Ocean
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I always enjoy the Clyde and Seamore shows, and the latest version of Sea Lions Tonight does not disappoint. It's definitely the best show in the park currently; even better than their daytime show. They do a great job at keeping the script revised with the attractions they parody in the park. The segments parodying Dolphins Days & Kraken Unleashed had me in tears....cause they were so true...lol

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After the show I took another quick spin on Mako before heading over to Mango Joe's for dinner. Then we caught some of the Club Sea Glow dance party at Bayside Stadium before heading back to Shamu Stadium to see Shamu's Celebration: Light Up The Night. All of these are being performed during SeaWorld's Electric Ocean; their summertime nightly event.

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I've always enjoyed the night time Shamu shows over One Ocean. However, while this one was ok, it just doesn't have the same effect on me as Shamu Rocks did. Part of it may have been the orcas weren't all performing on queue at times. It was still better than One Ocean to me, which has just honestly been boring to me since it was introduced and why we normally skip it. The next (and last time) we'll see it (One Ocean) will be September when my sister brings my nephew down for his 10th birthday. I guess like the dolphin shows, it's just a change I'll have to either learn to like...or skip altogether when I visit. Fortunately I have the Believe DVD and my own video of it for memories as well (when the trainers were still allowed in the water).

After the show I went and got my first night ride on Mako. I must say it's even better in the dark! One guy on my row was not feeling the nighttime rush. He was ready to go...lol I wanted to ride again and went to an empty row (half the rows were empty) and was asked to go back through the line. I didn't argue and just didn't ride again. They let me on Manta earlier in the day, but hey...whatever. Different ops, different ride...just got lucky before. That's too long to walk around for me when you've been there most of the day on 2 hours of sleep.

To end the night we went through some shops on our way over towards Bayside Stadium to watch Ignite. We chose to sit by the water next to the vendor spots used during the events instead of from the stadium. Plus it was a shorter walk to the exit. I also was able to record without an obstructed view. Well...besides this guy who insisted on walking in front of us to go stand in the grass for 2 minutes and then back to where he was. I must say I was very impressed with Ignite and feel it one of the better night time closing shows I've seen. I did video of it, so no pics. I will say the heat coming from the fire blasting pyrotechnics was crazy. I think they should try and incorporate some of that into the New Years Eve celebration. I'm glad we ended up staying because after Shamu I was pretty much ready to go. It was worth seeing it live, especially since I may not be back before it ends.



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