SeaWorld hosted “Thrill Fest” last Friday night, so I decided to go along and see what was going on. I always try and get at least 1 night at the electric ocean festivities, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go in and have a good time with some roller coaster rides thrown in for an added bonus. Instead of the usual 10:00pm close, they left open the doors until midnight. Quite a departure for SeaWorld considering mid-week is now 6:00pm. Food prices have risen by a couple of dollars for the main meals, but the addition of salad bars at a couple of the restaurants was a welcome surprise. Although the pass holders are upset that the Italian ‘buffet’ at Expedition Café had been replaced with the salads. I did actually end up at Antarctica and had a really good salmon salad. Pricey at $14.99, but with my discount it wasn’t too bad. With prices like this, one can understand SeaWorld’s reluctance to continue the pass holder dining plan, especially at last years price of $80. I went up the Skytower and took some great aerial photos of the rides (Yes, amazingly the sun was shining at 5:30pm on a Florida summers evening !!) The cost was $3, but as a platinum pass holder I went up for free … Woo Hoo !! With time to kill, I decided to drop by the Sea Lion tonite show, one that I’m not particularly keen on, but my friends grandkids love it, so we grin and bear it. However what was meant to be a 30 min sit down out of the sun turned out to be the highlight of the night !?!? First off the mime was back, so that’s always worth watching and then they proceeded to basically take the piss out of all the other shows. I was literally rolling in the aisles, it was that good. The Shamu and dolphin shows took a huge hit, and even Mako, Pets Ahoy and Electric Ocean were not spared. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. It was very noticeable the non-locals had no idea what was going on, but for those of us who visit regularly, it was a perfect one-two punch for the other SeaWorld shows. Kudos to the Sea Lion show personnel. From there it was a few rides on Mako, and then onto the night time show. SeaWorld does try hard, but they have a long way to go to get to Disney’s perfection, but all in all with the fireworks, lasers, water fountains and flame ‘bursts’ it was a better show than last year, so progress is being made. A couple more rides on Mako, saw me end my evening around 10:30. People were still arriving when I got to the gate, so it seems Thrill Fest was a half decent success. Maybe they will do it again at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas ??
Infinity Falls was water filled, but as yet we have no idea when it’s going to open. A friend who works at Discovery Cove was told the new restaurant will be open in September, so we are getting closer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them have a pass holder preview on the day of the picnic, Sept 8th, in an attempt get us picnic goers in to the park early ? As long as it’s a hot and steamy day I won’t mind getting wet, and then wandering around for a few hours to dry off before the food fest. We wait and see.
On the way home I had another spin on the Starflyer, but they were running a very short program, and to be honest not worth the $13. It was busy, so I can understand the quick up and down, but it was still disappointing. The light show was awesome, but no more night time rides for me.
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