23rd July
An early wake up once again, and I hop onto the LuxBus.
It is a really good trip down to Sea World, and even though it takes about two hours, the time goes incredibly quickly as our driver pointed out all the interesting sights around along the way...
We passed Will Ferrell's old school;
Where Highway 15, 27 and 5 merge it's called the Orange Crush;
The giant Cube outside of the Science centre is made entirely of Solar Panels;
The Celtics and Stevie Wonder were the last team/celebrities that she had driven, as she used to drive around sport teams and;
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone live in Orange County.
She also told us about how Tiger Woods lived here and the Childcare centre used to go to when he was little that had a golf course next to it. So whenever his Dad picked him up he said that if he had his homework finished he would take him golfing. And now that he's the famous golfer that he is, he still goes back to the childcare centre and when he could, he said that if the children did their homework he would take them golfing. The childcare centre is now named after him.
It was a little nerve wrecking when she mentioned that they were soon due for a firestorm. Why jinx it? :P
We also passed a Macy's and I saw that it had a ferris wheel which I hoped I could try and visit.
Our driver pointed out Bette Midler's house and showed us where most of the Mighty Ducks, Angels, and Laker's houses were because it was an area where they could lease a house in case they had to move house due to changing teams.
Once we arrived at Seaworld, the line to get tickets was really long, but it moved fairly quickly.
I walked around looking for somewhere to eat but the map was quite confusing at first. I passed the Calypso Bay Smoke House but most of the things I saw on the menu included steak so I kept walking until I reached Mamma Stella's Pizza Kitchen where I got some Pizza.
From there, I went towards the Shamu show so that I could get a good seat. I was there a lot earlier than everyone else and ended up getting a seat in the middle at the very front. I was in the wet zone but I didn't think the water would reach me there because of the shallow end in front of me. I was wrong. I didn't get too soaked, just a few splashes.
I noticed one of the stalls sold Dippin' Dots, which I haven't had since I was little, so I helped myself to some and went down to Shamu's underwater viewing area.
From there, I went to the Dolphin Show, which includes the world's only performing pilot whales and birds. This show is definitely not what you would expect - but in a good way.
I then made my way to the Skyride tower to get a better look at the park. The Skyride tower takes you slowly up whilst rotating to give you a view of the park from above. It really helped me to get my bearings.
Next up, I then headed over to Wild Arctic to see the Walrus and beluga Whales, which I have never seen before. Something I didn't know was that you had to go on a simulator ride to get through to the animals.
Seeing the beluga Whales and the Walrus was really cool because they were unlike any animals I had ever seen. A bit different to your typical Koalas and Kangaroos - ha ha.
I then went by the Shark Encounter and Turtle Reef which was also really interesting as they had a lot of turtles, before checking out all of the Aquariums near Cirque De La Mer so that I could be there to get a good seat - which I did.
I only saw the beginning of the show but it was one of the funniest things I'd seen since I came to California. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself ;)
I had to leave the show early to get the bus home but what I had already seen was good enough to leave me laughing.