Sea World, Orlando FL

My little girl's thirteenth birthday seemed to come far too quickly...yet, come it did. Interestingly enough, although she's the third of four, from day one her nickname (at least one of them) has been "Baby". Nothing was cuter than when her baby sister as a toddler would look up and call her "Baby". But she's not a baby anymore and as time drew near for her special trip, we found a little difficulty choosing a place she'd enjoy visiting. She wanted to see Harry Potter world at Universal Studios in Orlando, but as we did the research and discovered that most of the park was roller coasters, she...not being a roller coaster fan, opted to look elsewhere.

I think it was an idea given me by the Holy Spirit to suggest Sea World to her. I personally have never wanted to visit there, but Bekah is our animal and outdoorsy girl. She always has been. Also, when you are the third of four children, it is rare that you get to have a "first" of anything. Being the first Barthauer kid to visit Sea World just made it that much more special.

Seeing the animals was great and the rides and 3-D movie experiences were fun too. She still didn't get on either of the big roller coasters, and although she wanted to ride the Atlantis log flume ride, we missed it due to a thunderstorm in the area for an extended period of time.

A couple of things that caught me off-guard about Bekah on this trip was, one...how often I forget that although she's looked like she's 18 since she was 11...she is still just a kid that loves to have fun. She doesn't show that side of herself a lot at home. She's always the first to suggest playing a game, but she keeps to herself so much that I forget sometimes just how funny and fun-loving she is.

The second thing is that she hates to have her picture taken, but I prepared her before we left that she would have to accommodate her camera-wielding mother on this trip at least. Surprisingly, without any complaint...she complied.

She said her favorite thing of the day was petting the sting rays and seeing the baby ones trying to climb up the side of the tank, flapping their sides.

My favorite was the Shamu show. It bothered Bekah more than a little that out of the five killer whales, we didn't know exactly which one was Shamu. I finally left it at, "Use your imagination," and that seemed to appease her. At least she stopped asking. I wanted to take pictures, and they would have been wonderful. But she wanted to sit in the splash zone.

As you can see, it was a good choice to put the camera away.

My overall review of the park is difficult to assess because I am such a Disney-phile that being in Orlando, I naturally compare everything to them. I just finally had to force myself to stop doing that. I will make these few observations though:

• The park is difficult to navigate, even with a map. I was not alone in this. I saw multiple confused faces throughout the day staring in bewilderment, pointing in conflicting directions as to where they were headed next. I have never been more thankful for my superb map reading skills. I know some directionally-challenged people that probably would have thrown in the towel by noon. And although there are signs throughout the park, they are mostly for the big rides and shows. It took us the better part of wandering around for two hours to find the harbor seals. Granted we stopped along the way to see the things we did find, but it was still a lot of time and energy spent trying to find the right direction. And interestingly, even when we encountered employees and they saw us with our map out, no one offered to help. We always had to speak up and ask to get assistance.
• Food, as with all amusement parks, is very expensive. Sharing would be the best option.
• Basically, this is a huge zoo unless you're going to ride the roller coasters. If not for my soon to be last point, I would have been very disappointed in what we were able to do compared to the price of the ticket. Bekah had no desire to see all of the shows, but I can see where a family that enjoyed doing those would find the park worth the expense.
• The Shamu show! Okay, we tried to go about 15 minutes before the 12 p.m. show and could not find a seat. We took an associate's recommendation to arrive at least 30 minutes early for the next one. We did, and we had great seats! By the end of the show, I was in awe. I have told everyone who has asked, up until that 2:30 p.m. show, I could not think of Sea World as anything more than a glorified zoo. Shamu (all five of them!) changed my mind. They won me over. I would gladly pay the full-price ticket again, just to see them. And I'd probably watch them more than once.

Overall, if you love a more relaxed pace than a Cedar Point, Kings Island or Disney adventure and at least one in your family loves animals and you enjoy more shows and interacting with animals than rides...I really think you'd have fun. I was pleasantly surprised and look forward to returning someday. I'll admit though...I will probably eagerly search for some great discounts though!