Saremy’s Vacation 2011: Day 4

Continuing along on our Vacation-O-Fun…

Day 4 – Sea World

On the fourth day of our vacation, we decided to preserve our sanity and take a break from the Disney parks.  So, we headed over to Sea World.  If you remember from one of our prior vacations, we like Sea World.  In fact, Jeremy has always told me that he wants a Killer Whale as a pet.  Diesel is almost as big as a Killer Whale, so we’ll just call it good.

Our day at Sea World consisted of the typical things: the dolphin show, the whale show, Wild Artic, the water ride: Atlantis (which we got drenched on) and the seal lion and otter show.  However, we also fed Sea Lions and I even got to feed a dolphin! 

One really cool thing that Sea World Orlando has that our Sea World San Diego doesn’t, is a roller coaster.  And not just any roller coaster, but a really cool Manta Ray coaster that straps you in and then hangs you parallel to the ground, while going through ups and downs and loops!  Very cool ride.  I highly recommend it.

And that wraps up day 4.  Where did we go to next??

Saremy’s Vacation 2011: Day 3

Moving right along on our Vacation-O-Fun…

Day 3 – Disney’s Epcot

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was my favorite park of Disney World.  Epcot is a combination of a future world and something called, “World’s Showcase.’  The future world has a lot of cool attractions, such as: Spaceship Earth, which is a ride inside the Epcot “ball,” Soaring (one of our faves from Disneyland!), Test Track, where you go up to 60 mph, Caption Eo, and Mission:Space.  They also have an environmental area and ride where you see some of the “magic” that Disney is up to, which include growing it’s own plants to serve in some of the restaurants.  Plus, they have a short environmental movie called “The Circle of Life,” featuring the characters from The Lion King, that discusses what we can do to help better our planet!  Lastly, they have an “innoventions” building  that is “interactive play space for kids of all ages where you can imagine, invent, inquire and be inspired while exploring amazing innovations that make our lives better.”  So, not only was it fun…it was educational!

The World’s Showcase was really unique area that wraps around a lagoon.  It features 11 countries which replicas of their buildings, shops, attractions and restaurants.  In fact, we ate lunch in Mexico and dinner in Italy!  Where else can you do that, except at the happiest place on Earth? 

 

Italy.  China.  UK.

Cool Disney character plants throughout the park.

Epot was a lot of fun and we had an enjoyable day there!  Stay tuned to see where we went to next…

Saremy’s Vacation 2011: Day 2

Continuing along on our Vacation-O-Fun…

Day 2 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom

This park was my 2nd favorite of Disney World.  It’s a mix of a zoo and an amusement park, with a big splash of Disney throw into the mix.  When we first entered the park, you know that I had to stop by guest services to get my birthday pin.  It was the day after my birthday, so that totally still counted as my birthday (plus, they don’t even ask for ID). 

As you continue your way into Animal Kingdom, you can’t help but notice this gigantic tree in front of you, the Tree of Life.  This thing is so cool.  Jeremy and I have actually watched a show about the making of this park and this tree is man made.  Plus, when you get up close to it, you see that within the bark are carvings of a bunch of animals!  Only Disney…

Further into the park you’ll find the one roller coaster here, Everest.  It’s similar to the Matterhorn bobsleds at Disneyland, but it’s actually a bit cooler.  Part of this coaster goes backwards through the dark because the “Yeti” tore up the track!

Also, within the park is a dinosaur/prehistoric area, where they have a dinosaur ride which is very similar to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, in fact…it even felt like it was the exact same track, building and car.  Oh well, I still thought it was fun!

Lastly, probably the coolest feature to this park is the safari type ride.  You get onto and open bus/car and head out into Disney’s African plains.  What made this so neat was that there were no fences!  It wasn’t like a zoo where you’re looking through glass cages to see the animals…they were right there!  From giraffes (at one point there was one about 6 feet from the car), to elephants to lions.  And when we went on this, there were actually some ostrich blocking the path ahead and we were held up for about 15 minutes while the park people came and shoed them away.

Overall, this was another fun day on our vacation!  Where did we head to next…

Saremy's Vacation 2011: Day 1

Hi there!  Boy, do I have some exciting posts coming up!  You see...Jeremy and I went on vacation a few weeks ago.  But it wasn't just any vacation.  We went on a MEGA vacation to Disneyworld, Universal Studios and SeaWorld!  We had seven glorious days to take in the wonder of the Happiest Place in the World, to ride roller coaster after roller coaster, eat churros, drink Butterbeer and see the whale that ate his trainer last year.  So please, join me as we recap our vacation, one fabulous day at a time.

 

Day 1 - May 14th (MY BIRTHDAY!!) - Universal Studios Island of Adventure

 

We started out our vacation here because I was really, really, really looking forward to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and may have made Jeremy promise me that he'd take me here this year.  Little did we know, that this would be our favorite park of the whole trip.  Though Harry Potter is the main draw to this park, it also has: Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, the Lost Continent and Dr. Seuss Landing.  We rode all the big rides throughout the park and even got soaked on the water rides, but since Harry Potter is THE attraction here…let’s just focus on that.

 

So, I’m just going to start out by saying…this portion of Universal was AWESOME.  Simply awesome.  It was, obviously, my favorite park of our trip.  If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you’re going to feel like you got transported into the books.  From the queue area of the rides, to the characters, to the props and even to the Butterbeer, it’s all just as I imagined Harry Potter’s world to be.  Even Jeremy liked it and he’s only read part of the first book and seen part of the first movie! 

 

As for rides, there are two good ones here: the Dragon Challenge roller coaster (sit it the front row, it’s the best!) and of course, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (HPFJ).  HPFJ is a great ride, where you follow Harry, Ron and Herimone around the ground of Hogwarts, through the Forbidden Forest, to a Quiditch game and fight dementors.  We seriously rode it about 6 times.  In fact, Jeremy even said that HPFJ was his favorite ride out of our whole trip! 

 

Besides the rides, the whole area of this section of the park was just cool and there is so much to look at.  The major shops that you read about in the books are there in Hogsmeade.  You can buy a chocolate frog at Honeydukes, or perhaps a wand at Olivanders.  Plus, be sure to check out the bathrooms to listen to Moaning Myrtle.  And the one must of this park: try the frozen Butterbeer!  It’s a delicious drink that is cold, refreshing and tastes like a butterscotch shortbread cookie.  Umm, yum!

 

I loved The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  It was a great way to spend my birthday.  Stay tuned for Day 2 of our vacation!