Wednesday, May 9th: SeaWorld
Once the Pets Ahoy show had concluded, we dodged our way through the growing crowd that had gathered at the front of the stage to meet the stars of the show and headed back out to continue our day in the park. We decided to head over to Journey to Atlantis so Steve could enjoy a ride or two before things became much busier as attendance increased throughout the day. Journey to Atlantis is a longtime favorite of Steve’s, and somehow he had missed stopping here on both of the other SeaWorld park days on this trip
. It was definitely time for him to make up for lost time!
We arrived to see a standby time of 15 minutes posted at the entrance to the queue, which we thought was pretty darn good. Steve handed me over his hat, keys and wallet (sometimes he gets VERY wet on this ride…..especially if his big hulk of a body is in the front row, giving the boat some mighty momentum down the drop
) and off he went.
As it turned out, the 15 minute posted wait time was not at all accurate: he ended up literally walking onto the ride
. I had opted for a quick restroom break once he had entered the queue, and afterward had barely secured a good viewing spot along the fence and readied the camera on my phone before he came plunging down into a massive splash.
Normally I enjoy a tour through the Jewels of the Sea Aquarium while he rides Journey to Atlantis, but not this time. Low crowd days are truly awesome!
I strolled through the gift shop and met Steve at the Photokey desk as he exited the ride. As a general rule, he strives to strike a crazy pose for the ride photo on this attraction, and today was no exception.
Hands up, baby hands up! Give me your heart, gimme gimme your heart, gimme gimme….
Apparently the guy in the front row got the memo about the crazy pose
. At least neither one could say the other ruined their photo!!
We had the Photokey staff put the picture on our annual Photokey card, and headed back through the gift shop and out into the concourse. I was mentioning to Steve that I almost missed his descent because he was so quick, and he filled me in on the fact that their stand-by signs were definitely off. He went to put his wallet and keys back into his pocket when I suggested that he ride again…..he definitely might not enjoy such short lines later in the day. He hesitated just long enough as not to seem to eager
, then dashed off for a second time into the queue. Encore, please!
This time, I *did* spent a few minutes enjoying the exhibits in the Jewels of the Sea aquarium before once again meeting up at the Photokey desk. On the second ride, he got a royal soaking……literally everything right down to and including his underoos
. “Well, I’m not hot anymore!” he quipped as he wrung the excess water from the hem of his shirt
.
More to come!