Our Magical Getaway Day 3: SeaWorld Orlando

I finally have a few minutes to write the last post about our Magical Getaway that we experienced a few weekends ago, courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at Sea World. Just in case you missed the first few posts, make sure you read about the wonderful accommodations we experienced at this great hotel, along with our super fun slumber party on day 1 and our fun day at Aquatica on day 2.

The fun didn't end there, though. Day 3 was just as fun as the first two days! We spent day 3 at SeaWorld Orlando, which is just down the street from the Hilton Garden Inn. Since the hotel is an official SeaWorld hotel, we received great benefits like Unlimited Quick Queue passes and discounts at the park, and the kids were thrilled when they saw Shamu walking around the hotel!

It was a beautiful Sunday in Orlando, so we decided to walk from the hotel to SeaWorld. It was a short walk and in just minutes we were at the entrance to the park. My brother, his girlfriend Michelle and her son Grayson joined us for a fun day.

Our first stop was the Dolphin Nursery where the kids enjoyed watching the dolphins swim around and show us some of their tricks.

We then headed back to the section of the park with all of the rides for the little ones. We ended up spending most of the day back there because there is so much for kids to do! Rylie and Bryce are frequent visitors to SeaWorld, thanks to my mom, so Rylie led us straight to the Shamu Express roller coaster, which is her favorite ride. Bryce is still too small for that ride, so he rode the Jazzy Jellies teacup-like ride with Brian.

After a few turns on the different rides, the kids played a few games. They all won prizes on the game where you throw the wiffle balls into the different colored cups. And no, we didn't even help them...they were all winners on their own!

As we tried to move to a different section of the park, Rylie had to have a few more rides on the Shamu Express.

Bryce tried out the Flying Fiddler while Rylie rode the coaster. He originally got on with Uncle Danny, but after like 10 minutes of the attendant trying to figure out why the ride wouldn't start, it ended up that Uncle Danny was just a little too big for the harness to lock properly, so I had to take his place. I wasn't sure how Bryce would react to the climbing and sudden drops of the Flying Fiddler, but he LOVED it!

We then moved on to the Sea Carousel where Bryce had to ride on the shark.

Everyone was hot and sweaty by now, so the kids got in their bathing suit and splashed around in the Water Works splash pad. I love this splash pad because it is open and you can always see your kids, so it gave us a few minutes to relax in the shade.

After the kids were cool and the adults had a chance to sit for a few minutes, the kids dried off and we had some lunch. After lunch we checked out a couple of the shows. We had some laughs at the Clyde and Seamour Take Pirate Island show, and then we headed over to watch Pets Ahoy, where rescued animals show off their tricks. It really is amazing how well that show is coordinated and how the animals are trained. I honestly had no idea that cats could be taught so many tricks!

At this point, we decided to take advantage of our Quick Queue passes and ride some of the roller coasters. Michelle and Danny headed off to fly through the air on the awesome Manta coaster while Brian and I watched the kids, and then we switched. I absolutely love roller coasters, but I have to admit that I was a little nervous when the seats on the Manta flipped up and we were in a horizontal position. Oh my goodness it was so much fun!!! When Brian and I came off the ride we saw our group and saw that they were having fun, so we sneaked by them and went again!

When we came out of the ride, Uncle Danny had purchased these light sticks for the boys, and they were having a little sword fight in the middle of the park.

Danny and Michelle headed off to ride the Kraken roller coaster, while we headed back to the kid area so Rylie could take a few more rides on Shamu Express. On our way I tried to get a picture of the kids on the whales, but you know how that goes...

We took a few more rides on the Flying Fiddler, which ended up being Bryce's favorite ride...

...and Grayson and Bryce had fun running around on the big ship while Rylie zoomed around on the Shamu Express.

When Danny and Michelle met back up with us, Rylie realized that there was one person that hadn't ridden her favorite ride with her, so Michelle obliged to one last ride on the coaster.

The kids ended the day by playing in Shamu's Happy Harbor, where they had fun climbing around and sliding down slides.

By this time, everyone was starting to get tired, so we decided to head back to the hotel for some swimming. We all had such a great day!

Up until that day, I had not visited SeaWorld in several years. We used to go there during the summer, but when I went one summer as a young adult, I got really upset during the Shamu show and could not bring myself to go back. I had an issue with those gigantic creatures having to live in captivity like that, and honestly, I still do. However, I know that SeaWorld has a wonderful Animal Care program, and they do some great things for animals in need through their Animal Rescue work, and armed with that knowledge, I am definitely thinking more positively about SeaWorld these days. I appreciate all of the good that they do for animals, and I will be visiting the park in the near future to see more. I would love to take the Behind-The-Scenes-Tour to learn more about everything they do for animals.

If you are planning to visit Orlando between now and August 12th, SeaWorld is the place to be since their Summer Nights experience just kicked off this weekend. You will celebrate summer with exciting nightly shows, thrilling rides and fireworks that light up the sky! There is no better place to be when the sun goes down in Orlando!

Our Magical Getaway was absolutely magical, and we had such a fun weekend! Thank you so much to the Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld for making this experience possible for my family!

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. Our hotel stay, attraction tickets and trip expenses were provided by Hilton Garden Inn. However, I was not required to write this or any other posts about our Magical Getaway.