Well, this is it. 52 weeks of Disney.
I know, I know. The end of the year doesn't quite match up in dates. But, trust me, you do not want to be at Disney, Universal Studios, SeaWorld or even the new LegoLand the week between Christmas and New Year's.
Why? The parks are zoos. During Christmas week, the parks often cut off admission due to capacity (usually by 12 noon to 2pm) so arrive at park opening if going. And, be prepared for lines that will be 2+ hours long for popular attractions.
Our last holiday adventure (well, for 2011... Disney holds over some of their holiday special events until the first week of January) was SeaWorld.
I'll just say it. SeaWorld for Christmas is awesome.
We were there for 12 hours and started by buying the SeaWorld all-day dining pass. Yes, we did it again. First stop, Voyagers for breakfast:
Next, we headed over to my favorite SeaWorld Christmas attraction - The Polar Express. I still can't believe they transform this "ride" just for the holidays. Awesome virtual experience.
Classic Christmas music played all through the parks making our hand-in-hand strolls romantic and full of holiday cheer. After much walking around, enjoying the details of all the decorations, we had lunch at Mango Joe's. My lunch was a "holiday special" of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy in a bread bowl topped with cheddar cheese. Good, but the roast beef was a bit chewy. And, a bit pricey at $15 (but, it was included in the eating pass).
From our lunch spot, we had a daylight view of the "Sea of Trees". A really cool idea that lights up at night to music. Fun!
We strolled around more, taking in the full experience of a SeaWorld Christmas and found ourselves hungry again. So yes, it was time for dinner. And, I'm happy to report it was one of the best chicken and ribs meals we've ever had at Voyagers. The chicken was so moist and meaty. The ribs were hot and not too fatty. The "holiday meal" which included ham and turkey was pretty good, but not awesome. If it was not included in the meal deal, we would not have paid the hefty $15 price.
After dinner, it was time for the SeaWorld Christmas at night. We started with brand new show, "The Greatest Christmas Story Never Told". Puppets, choir singers and live animals put on a heartwarming holiday performance.
One of my favorite decorated areas was the Pizza and Pasta Buffet area. It was decorated with brilliant red Christmas trees. Really looked amazing:
Next we grabbed a spot for the SeaWorld ice skating show (we were almost too late for a seat). The stadium filled up quickly. Get there early! We loved the skating show. It was a really warm night (still in the 70s) so the ice had many puddles. Luckily no one took a fall!
Last, but not least, the evening at SeaWorld ends with spectacular fireworks and multiple performances of the Sea of Trees. The entire waterway is filled with Christmas trees that light up and change colors to music (similar to Disney's Osborne Family Lights). Really fun.
Well, that does it. 52 weeks (sort of) of Disney. I didn't exactly meet my goal of one visit per week, but I sure did come close. And, I made many more than 52 visits total so I'm going to count this year as "goal met". Thanks for joining me.
Our SeaWorld Orlando annual passes expire at the end of this week so we decided to visting the theme park for one last full day.
Since we'd be there all day, we opted again to buy the SeaWorld all day eating pass. See my previous post on how to discover, is the SeaWorld all-day eating worth it? There, I discuss price and food options and how to best make use of the eating pass.
For today's visit, I'll just share a review of the food we sampled:
Breakfast Entree - first meal of the day and we're already disappointed. Breakfast is served until 10:30 AM. We arrived shortly after 10:00 AM only to find out that they no longer had any bacon (and just one sad little link of sausage left). They had an overabundance of eggs, and placed huge piles on our plate. SeaWorld really needs to get better at estimating the egg to meat ratios and start cooking more as they begin to run out. My Big Shamu Breakfast was missing the bacon and sausage. Glad I was on the plan and not buying ala carte. On the plus side, orange juice was included and the breakfast potatoes were yummy. The big muffins were delicious as always. I had the the chocolate chip and my husband had the blueberry.
As part of the Summer Nights event at SeaWorld Orlando and Fourth of July ccelebration, Pass Members were recently offered a 20% discount of food plus free dessert.
Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we decided not to purchase the SeaWorld All-Day Dining Pass this time and instead decided to use the 20% discount offer at Voyagers Smokehouse.
We gave up on our first attempt to get dinner at Voyagers. One word - crowded. We hung out in the air conditioning just long enough to hear one woman return to her family with a tray of food and exclaim, "22 minutes... it took 22 minutes to get this" as she disappointingly looked down at the meals.
She's right. It should not take 22 minutes on line just to grab a quick meal for your family. Every minute counts as theme park guests are trying to navigate show schedules and lines for rides. I blame the Smokehouse. Yes, there were a lot of people, but the lines could have gone a lot smoother.
First, pricing is confusing. The big menu board as you enter the restaurant simply gives a "range" of prices and doesn't clearly state what's included. Second, the drink server was flustered. Instead of simply filling drinks in advance and lining them up (as they usually do for a "grab and go" quickness) orders were being filled one at a time. Third, the side items were lined up ahead of the entree. No one knew if their choice of sides (or how many) was included in their meal price. Fourth, presentation of the main entrees were less than appetizing.
The entrees looked pretty bad (especially considering most meals cost $11-$13). Scant, charred and dry-looking (no to little BBQ sauce) pieces of chicken and/or ribs lay on plastic plates with a small dinner roll.
Guests hesitantly took plates and sometimes questioned the server about price - holding up the line. I wanted a chicken and rib combo plate, but didn't like the way the one and only plate on the counter looked. Other guests has passed it up so I politely asked if another plate was available. The server didn't say two words to me. She walked away and returned with a new plate (at least the chicken looked a LOT better).
The chicken was actually very good and moist. The ribs were dry, chewy and fatty. Very much like the last time I had the ribs at SeaWorld. My husband ordered the BBQ Chicken Salad. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was about 1 tablespoon of meat on the salad. He was very disappointed.
The (free) desserts were awesome. Even if not free, the desserts are very reasonably priced (about $3 each). We both loved the chocolate cake and the carrot cake. Every time we have a bad meal at SeaWorld, we always say that we should remember to just get dessert!
When we received our most recent SeaWorld Pass Member Newsletter, we thought SeaWorld was actually being smart about the Fourth of July by offering their special July 4 fireworks on several nights. Instead, SeaWorld tricked us.
Read from the Pass Member e-mail snippet at left to see if you agree that the wording indicates that the special "Fourth of July" fireworks would be held on three nights: July 2, 3 and 4.
It seemed clear as day to us, and it made sense. Since most people flock to Disney for Fourth of July Fireworks, why not celebrate early in the weekend to collect on parking fees and in-park purchases. SeaWorld even offered Pass Members a special 20% dining discount that included free dessert. (See what we thought about our meal from SeaWorld's Smokehouse.)
Just a few nights earlier, we went to the Reflections Fireworks Show. We had a great time and looked forward to an even better show for the Fourth of July celebration. The July 2 date fit perfectly with our plans to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks on July 3 and Epcot on July 4.
Imagine our disappointment, as the pre-show host announced to guests (just minutes before the fireworks were about to start) "be sure to come back on July 4 for our special Fourth of July Celebration". What?... we couldn't believe our ears. Did we mess up on the date?
Being the techno-geeks that we are, we started up our iPhone and re-checked the Pass Member E-Mail. Nope, we didn't mess up. SeaWorld tricked us. They tricked us into coming to the park on a holiday weekend to spend more money and to see a show we already saw. Not cool, SeaWorld. Not cool...
Coincidentally, our SeaWorld annual passes are set to expire next month in August. We are very unlikely to renew and instead will probably give our money to Universal Studios. Between our experiences of hit and miss food at SeaWorld, the change in the Shamu show, the discontinuation of the beer samples, and this recent "miscommunication", it seems best that we parts ways with SeaWorld... at least for a while.
For a period of time last year, SeaWorld had improved its food so much that we began to forgive some of its other shortcomings. Hopefully, they'll come around again - and soon.
If nothing else, we'll go back just to watch the mime from the Clyde and Seamore show. That performance alone can be worth the price of admission. Seriously... get to the SeaLion & Otter Stadium early to watch the mime pre-show. Even better - see the mime in SeaLions Tonite show. My favorite for a good laugh.
Summer Nights at SeaWorld offers a rare and welcomed opportunity for central Florida fireworks... the opportunity to actually sit down and get comfortable to watch the night sky light up. Aside from Fantasmic at Disney Hollywood Studios, SeaWorld's Reflections is the only other sit-down fireworks show.
Seating is located at Bayside Stadium. The seats are flip-down style with backs (no teeter-tottering on a bench seat). Unlike Fantasmic, you don't have to wait in a long line before getting a seat. Simply walk over before the show starts. (Tip: make sure you choose a seat without an overhang for unobstructed fireworks viewing.) Even on a busy night, we've always been able to grab a seat just minutes before showtime. That said, arriving early allows you to participate in (or simply watch) the pre-show filled with music and dancing.
In addition to the fireworks show, SeaWorld Summer Nights includes Shamu Rocks and a nearby festival area filled with tents and booths for games, food and drink.
On a Thursday night, there wasn't much activity. Most of the employees at the games and food booths were just standing around with no customers to serve. Food options tonight seemed to be limited to soft pretzels, cotton candy and chips.
An offer unique to Summer Nights was a Beer Sampler Pass. The pass cost $25 and offered all-you-can-drink samples of beer from 6:00 PM until the festival area closed. We passed on the pass. Even with our $5 passholder discount, it didn't seem like a "deal" to us. Besides, we still had to get home and it's not cool to drink and drive.
One Ocean is the new Shamu show at SeaWorld Orlando. It opened in April and replaced the very popular Believe show.
The Believe show ran for about 5 years and was an absolute favorite for me. The relationship between the trainers and the killer whales in the water was inspiring. Unfortunately, the Believe show was significantly changed following a tragic accident that killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau. While I did not know Dawn personally, I had watched her perform the show numerous times and always admired the undeniable passion she had for her work. Her love of the whales was even more evident during the original Shamu Rocks.
We will probably never see trainers in the water with the whales at SeaWorld again - and that is so disappointing. It is so hard for me to watch the new performances without comparing them to the days when trainers were allowed in the water.
One Ocean did allow the trainers to step inside the front ledge of the whale pool (shown above) to interact with the whales - mostly giving commands and rewarding with fish.
Overall, One Ocean is a very good show - much better than the re-formulated (no trainers in the water) Believe show. However, a good part of the show now takes place at ground level in front of the pool and at the front ledge. Because of this, if you don't have a good seat, it is very difficult to see the whole performance.
To compensate for the lack of trainers in the pool, One Ocean places a LOT of emphasis on splashing the audience. Also, multiple whales jump at the same time instead of just one or two at a time. You can see 4 in the photo below:
I hope that, in time, SeaWorld will find a way to make it safe for both the whales and trainers to interact again in the pool.
Three things made this particular visit unique for us:
- Instead of immediately exiting after the show, we allowed the crowds to disperse and watched the whales have so much fun sliding back and forth over a raised platform that joins the performance pool and holding tank. They really seemed to find it challenging and enjoyable.
- One of the trainers looks very much like my husband. We first saw his image in a promotional photo for One Ocean and then saw him during the performance we watched. We even took a photo of the photo and tricked some friends. I was hoping to get a picture of them together, but the trainers were getting ready for Shamu Rocks.
- As we started making our way down the stairs to exit, a squirrel fell many, many feet from the rafters directly in front of us. One or two more steps and he would have fallen directly on us. The poor thing. The squirrel's fall made such a loud splat. I screamed - and couldn't quite process what had happened at first. Suddenly the mound of fur in front of us jumped up and ran. I sure hope he was OK. We watched him for several minutes. While shaken, all limbs appeared to be working and he was moving quickly.
Here's a local's tip - if the Shamu Show is really important to your visit, plan on going to one of the earlier shows. It is not uncommon for shows to get cancelled (especially during the summer when storms tend to pop up out of nowhere). More than once we've been seated and waiting for the last show to begin only to have it cancelled.
Also, arrive early for a good seat. During Believe, the pre-show included lots of song and cameras placed on guests dancing and having a good time. I found it very entertaining. They dropped that and now encourage guests to text their name to have it appear on screen with their preferred sea creature. I was bored by it...
We just found out that a new SeaWorld Orlando Pizza Pasta Buffet has replaced the sandwich shop at the Terrace. It was a surprise, especially since my husband was really looking forward to the Turkey Croissant he enjoyed so much on our last visit using the SeaWorld All-Day Dining Pass. (The Turkey Croissant is now available at Mango Joes.)
Foot traffic to the Terrace (the old "Hospitality Center") has been slow ever since the Anheuser-Busch free beer samples and the Brewmasters Club were removed back in 2009. We REALLY miss the beer and the free tours.
Since the beer is gone, I guess they decided a new buffet would be a good use for the old space. We planned on eating at the Terrace anyway, so we decided to give the new Terrace Garden Buffet a try. Big mistake. Here's my review:
First the good...
- Price ($11.99 Adults; $7.99 Kids)
The price is very fair for all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, salad and dessert. The price even includes unlimited refills on soft drinks.
- Included on All-Day Eating PassWe were surprised that the buffet is included in the SeaWorld all-day dining pass.
- Pasta Sauces
Your choice of Alfredo, tomato or meat sauce. All were very flavorful and get a "thumbs up" especially for theme park food.
- Generous Pizza ToppingsYour choice of cheese, pepperoni or supreme. Lots of cheese and plenty of toppings. Wish they also offered sausage.
- Salad
Your choice of house or Cesar - both nicely chilled, crisp and fresh. The house salad included cherry tomatoes, red onion and black olives.
- Chocolate Cookie
There are several desserts (see below) but the chocolate cookies were really quite good with a good chocolate flavor.
Now for the bad...
- Can't See Buffet FirstThis was weird and should have been our first clue. You had to order and pay for your buffet meal at an outside kiosk far away from the restaurant and could not enter the restaurant to see the selections first.
- Super Soggy Pizza
The crust, unfortunately, made the pizza nearly inedible. The buffet heating elements trap all the heat and steam making the pizza crust so soggy you can't even hold a piece up to eat it. Even whole pizzas that looked like they had just been brought out from the oven were soggy and limp.
- Whole Wheat Pasta
I'm not a fan of whole wheat pasta (and neither were most of the other guests around me). Many parents were asking for "white pasta" for the kids, but were told that there was none. Worse, the pasta was a penne that simply did not hold up well on the buffet. The noodles were bloated and limp with dried edges. They really should switch to a heartier pasta (like a corkscrew) that can better withstand the holding method. Even better - offer guests a choice between regular or whole wheat. A second option included a tri-colored tortellini.
- Desserts Made from Same Pizza CrustI knew that dessert would primarily be a choice of cherry or apple dessert pizza. I was at least hoping that they would sweeten the crust. Nope. Just some pie filling dumped on top of the same pizza crust. The fruit was tasty, but the crust just didn't work. Three different cookies were also offered - choice of vanilla, chocolate or chocolate chip. I only liked the chocolate.
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