Martin Family Vacation 2023: Seaworld and a Disney Adventure Day

On Thursday, December 28th we woke up early and drove to Seaworld.  It was a rainy and chilly morning, but it worked in our favor because the park was not busy.  Somebody (named Declan) forgot his sweatshirt back at the rental house, so he was the lucky recipient of a new Seaworld sweatshirt as soon as we walked into the park.  

The sign warned about alligators in the water, but to the boys disappointment, no gators were seen.

All of our kids, except Andrew, love going on all the rides that they are tall enough for.  They have no fear.  Andrew doesn't actually have fear either, he just gets motion sickness like his mother and has to be a little more particular in which rides he chooses.  He and I were paired up for the whole day - weak stomachs unite!  We also had the younger boys for most of the day, who weren't tall enough for all the rides.

By about 1:00 the rain stopped and the park got really busy.  We loved the dolphin show and orca show and I tried hard not to think about the documentary Blackfish while watching the shows.  Due to the bad publicity Seaworld has had in the past (well-deserved) they are very loud and deliberate in promoting all of the good work that they do in helping animals and the environment.  It's a wee bit preachy and takes away from the shows.  We were just there to see the dolphin flips, man.

We were expecting the animal shows and cool aquarium exhibits at Seaworld, but what we weren't expecting was all of the big rides, and the Sesame Street world of little rides.  It was a really fun day!

The thrill seekers

The penguin exhibit was freezing, which reminded us of home :)

On Friday, December 29th, we had ourselves a Disney Adventure Day.  My favorite coworker is a Disney aficionado (her daughter worked there for awhile and they vacation there every year) and told us how to take advantage of the free transportation between Disney parks/resorts.  We parked (for free) at Disney Springs and walked around and bought some M&Ms, of course.

My Irish wains

My motto for the trip was "We'll never regret a family photo" and we asked lots of strangers for help to accomplish that.

After walking around Disney Springs, we took the (free) shuttle bus to the Polynesian Resort and got off there to have lunch at Captain Cook's.  We were taking a photo in front of the resort, and the nice Disney employee (they were all so wonderful) said "Let's do this the right way!" and gave us each a lei to wear:

Each resort was decorated so beautifully for Christmas, and even had its own scent (pine and lemon stood out):

We ordered lunch, then the kids went and explored while we waited for it.

Maggie was desperate to get some color on her fair skin, but did not succeed, which future Maggie will appreciate.

After lunch, we took the (free) monorail over to the next resort, The Grand Floridian.  This one had a huge gingerbread house!

See that wedding gown on the right side?  Somebody was getting married five minutes after taking photos here!

Then we hopped on a shuttle bus (still free) and went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we could see zebras and giraffes and other safari animals:

Then it was back on the shuttle bus to Disney Springs, where we walked to our car and went back to the rental house for dinner and an evening swim.  Ahhhh, the good life!  Next up - Discovery Cove, which *spoiler alert* was our favorite day.