Sea World

Dad called and told me he's been out of the country for work for three weeks so far, in Pakistan. Now he's in England for a month, then off to visit the fam in Germany for a week before returning to the US. He says he hasn't had much time to get online or anything, so he wanted me to know he hasn't fallen off the face of the earth. He also has some sort of special international phone I'm supposed to use now to get in touch with him. Who is he- James Bond?

Sea World was a comedy of errors today. First we saw the ever-funny sea lion caper show. Funniest part was that Seymour the sea lion was NOT doing his tricks. He was close sometimes, but eventually he literally just went into the water and started swimming around. The trainers didn't know what to do at first to continue their show, but they recovered and laughed off the parts where Seymour was supposed to be there doing something. Seymour just watched from the water while he played.

Every food and drink stand or restaurant was so incredibly slow. Lines stretched for yards and yards across the walkways. I've never seen such a thing at any amusement park, even during mealtimes on summer Saturdays. At one stand, the line inched along for twenty minutes and then came to a standstill when the cash register broke. The dinner line took about 45 minutes. That's about the same as the Steel Eel roller coaster line.

The Pirate 4D movie screen went black about halfway through the movie. Picture a packed theater completely dark for about three minutes before someone turned on a cell phone light and made their way out to get someone to turn on the lights in there. People booing. Children crying. It was freaky.

But the best show was the Shamu show, as always! It never disappoints. And the beluga/dolphin show was great, too. There is a baby beluga (baaaaaaaaby beluuuuuuuuga, oh baaaaaaaby baluuuuuuuga... Anyone listen to Raffi anymore?) and it is allowed to swim along with its mom. It occasionally does some of mom's tricks with her. SO cute! He doesn't get treats though, since he's not officially training.

Quote of the Day
Mother to her 3-year-old alongside the little dolphin enclosure pool: Taste the water. It's salty!

Uhhhhh... EWW.

Overall, fun! But they really need to do training or something with the food service folks. Hire more people. Something.