We woke up early on Saturday morning with plans to head to Sea World and be there when it opened. Instead, we woke up to a really big thunderstorm and a downpour.
Steve has a white noise app on his iPad that we had on overnight so we wouldn't hear all the hotel noises, and it sounds like a pleasant rainstorm. We all three slept like rocks all night and turns out we missed all the action!
We decided to see if the rain would let up and wait a bit before leaving for Sea World, so we headed to breakfast in the hotel. Once we got there and started talking to a few people, checked weather and read a few articles, we learned there had been record breaking rainfall over night, nearly 10" of rain in just the time since we'd been there, the roads were flooded, and there was a flood warning saying not to drive.
We decided we weren't going anywhere any time soon and settled in for a long breakfast. The hotel staff was so nice, and the chef even came out and gave Ella this chef hat which she got a big kick out of and then pretended she was the chef for a while.
We went out on the sidewalk after breakfast to check on the rain, still pouring...
Our hotel was attached to a mall and there was a dinosaur exhibit advertised there called Dino Quest, so I took Ella to check that out. I was very grateful for our hotel location because we could get everywhere inside without needing to walk out in the rain.
Ella loved the dinosaurs - she got a pamphlet with all of the different dinosaurs they had, and she was so methodical about it - she looked for each one on the pamphlet, marked it off, and made sure we saw everything. It was so cute.
After Dino Quest we spent some time at the play area at the mall, and it looked like the rain was finally letting up. Steve had to find an alternate route because the roads were flooded and several were closed, but we still wanted to get to Sea World. So, although it was a lot later than planned, we still made it!
I had my phone in a locker most of the time we were there to keep it dry, so I took just a few pictures. We had such a fun time there. There was a ride called Journey to Atlantis that was a giant water flume ride and Ella was just tall enough to ride it. She was so scared and screamed all the way down and then once we got to the bottom she said "can we do it again?" So we did it a few more times, and she screamed as loud as she could every time :)
I took a picture of it later so she can see just how big it is!
We did all the water rides and saw some of the shows, which we loved. Although I realized Ella is way too accustomed to Pixar world because about 5 minutes into the first Shamu show, she asked me "wait, are they real?"
And this one was called Azul, it's a cirque-de-soleil type show, really amazing to watch.
At the Bay of Play, a giant splash pad and climbing area. She easily could have spent a full day just in this one area.
Sea World was great, and I am so glad we were still able to make it. There is still so much that we didn't see and do, so I hope we can get back sooner than later!
