28 January 2007 - Sea World and Disney World

We came to Orlando to spend a couple of days here with Pete, Jen and the girls, Ellie and Kate. Such a great time! And. lots and lots of excitement! Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we had a couple of nice days. The kids had "appointments" for special events with the Disney characters for the first day or two that we were there, so Peter and I went to Sea World. It's really wonderful...and, we really enjoyed our day there. I hadn't ever been there...but, Peter had...about 30 years ago, he said. We saw some flamingos: The highlight of the day was the show with Shamu, the great killer whale:

He may be billed as a "killer whale", but he sure seemed like a gentle giant to me. He even gives kisses to the trainer!

Then we were able to see dolphins up close:

Then the seals: And, finally, sea turtles: The next day we met the kids at Animal Kingdom - this is the part of Disney World that Peter and I like best...and Epcot, too. The African Safari is tremendous...we saw lots of animals this year. The day was nice and warm and sunny...guess that brings them out of hiding! It brings us out of hiding!!!!! We saw this guy last year when we were here...he carried his "blankie" around with him when he changed places...and, his blanket is still here! I edited it out of the picture, but it was lying on the ground to the left of him...just in position to be moved to the next location! After we finished with the Safari, Ellie had her face painted: She looked soooo pretty! Kate wasn't sure about the whole thing: They're both such Sweeties! We enjoyed being with them so much...and, their mom and dad, too! Then, of course, we had to pay a visit to the petting zoo... I'm not sure what Kate's looking at...maybe she's wondering what that tuft of hair is doing under there! Or, maybe she's just trying to get him to look at her. He didn't seem to be too excited about all this. When we went over to Epcot, Peter, Pete and I got on that Space Mission ride. Peter was on it last year and loved it so much. I found out that he always wanted to be an astronaut...amazing, the things we learn every day about our spouses! Anyway, when we got on the ride last year, it sort of made him feel sick afterwards. And, since then, we've read that a child died after getting on it. So, of course, I told Peter he absolutely could not get on it again! I think the thing is that they spin you around really fast so it simulates the G forces for you...and, I guess that does weird things to your circulatory system. But this year we discovered they have a "light" version of the same ride. So, we did that and it seemed just a good as the other...and, none of us felt bad afterwards. Peter, of course, loved it! If you're claustrophobic at all, though, it's probably not the best ride to get on. The kids then left us to do other kid-friendly things, and Peter and I went on the Race Track ride. Peter didn't think it was really a big deal (he'd been on it last year), but I really liked it. Epcot...at night: