[Benjamin:] SeaWorld 4

The next day we went to SeaWorld for the forth time! The first thing we did was watch the Sea Lion show.  After watching the Sea Lion show we went and fed Seals. 

Though I must say that looking at the other people who were feeding I worked out that the thousands of birds probably got more fish than the seals.
       We went to the stingray feeding area. There we got a stingray tooth for free , unfortunately dad got bitten by a stingray.

Me and mum nipped off early to watch the dolphin show. 

Then we went on Atlantis which is a bit like splash mountain but even wetter and with two dips, dad went on the Kraken five times and we only went on Atlantis four times.

Savaged by a stingray!

OK, perhaps 'savaged' is a bit extreme, and yes, technically it was a cow-nosed ray... but that wouldn't have been alliterative, and when it comes to prose beauty trumps truth, right? Anyway, at the ray feeding pool at SeaWorld we triggered a feeding frenzy:

... and despite my efforts to feed one of the calmer rays, the little blighter took a nip!

Anyway, at least I got a souvenir - some teeth!

(Actually, we were given these by the instructor, who collects them from the bottom of the pool.)

[Amelie:] Animal kingdom rocks

On Monday we got up and went to Animal Kingdom. When we got there we went to do the Kilimanjaro Safari, and we saw lots of animals. The ones I want to tell you about are: the hippos; the lions; the rhinoceroses; we saw a baby giraffe and a baby elephant; a cheetah, which was lying under a tree; a warthog; and two ostriches who keep on trying to sit on their eggs but they don't succeed that often(!).

Then we did the Kali River Rapids ride. We did it twice because it was so good, and you get wet. At the start you think your going to go really far down, but in fact you only go a little bit down, and then there's some current and it gets a bit faster and you keep bumping the sides; and then you don't go up, you just go straight down and get wet! And then there there's some water shooting out of the walls, and then there's an elephant at the end that tries to squirt you, but it doesn't do that much: we got hit the first time, but not the second time.

After that we did the Expedition Everest ride, and this one was really good. The first ride we went on it, we were at the front, which means that when we were going forward we could see where we were going. The second time we were at the back, which means that when we were going backwards in the dark we were the first ones to go downwards (if it did go downwards... and it did!). There was a scary Yeti, or maybe just a shadow, that kept on doing up the track, which isn't that handy! We did this ride twice.

Then we had lunch. After we had lunch we went to the Nemo show. It was really good. It was a puppet show, and it was exactly like the film with Nemo; and Dory, the forgetful fish, and Marlin, were the audience together at one point. They had the right voices for each character.

After that we went to DinoLand USA, and there were lots of fun rides and shooting games, but I couldn't go on all of the rides. The first ride I did was TriceraTop Spin, and it was really fun. While I was doing that, Benjamin and daddy went on a ride that I couldn't go on, called Primeval Whirl. Then we went to a Boneyard, we were climbing in lots of different places.

Then we went to the Lion King show. We got really good seats, right at the front. We got high five'd by a monkey, and the monkeys were doing gymnastics. Pumba and Simba were next to us, and there was singing and dancing, and there were people dressed up as zebras and other animals.

Then we went to Bug's Life in 4D, and I was trying to catch butterflies and a bee, and that film was really good, and also there was a pongy smell, and bits of water dripping on us. Then we went home.

[Benjamin:] Two Parks, One Day

The next day we went to Aquatica first. 

At Aquatica we we waited while dad tested out some flumes, dad came back saying they were really good. Then we went on a flume which two people could go on where you whizzed around for a bit before entering a sort of giant bowl, before zooming downwards into a pool. We went on this flume twice. Then we went on another flume. On the other flume a maximum of four people per inflatable. Which meant that two of us needed to go down backwards and I went down backwards two out of the two times that we went on it. In this one there were no giant bowls.
          Then we played in the same water place that was like funky fun house and went down a couple of flumes there. The flumes there were shorter than the other ones. But there was also some fun water pistols, and loads of different ways of getting wet.

      Then we went to the wave pool. This time we stayed in for a little more than last time but still got in then out.
     Then we had lunch and headed off to SeaWorld. At SeaWorld we had a look at some baby dolphins on route to where we were going. Then we went on a wild arctic ride. Next we had a (not very good) look at the beluga whales. We also had a (good) look at a walrus, and a (not so good) look at a polar bear. Then we watched a Shamu show from far back. 

After that we went back to the holiday home.

[Amelie:] Aquatica 3

On Tuesday we went to Aquatica. We got there so early that they weren't ready yet, so me and mummy went to see the Commerson's dolphins. They weren't playing around that much, and after a while we went back to daddy and Benjamin who were still in the queue. We waited a little while there until they opened the gates, and then we got a really good spot to sit.

Me and Ben had a little play in Kookaburra Cove.

After we'd played on a flume daddy came back and told us there were some really good flumes that we could go on, do we went to go and find them. We went on the lazy river with inflatables, and then there were some steps which led to the flumes called Tassie's Twisters, that needed inflatables. We went up the stairs, there was a pretty long queue, maybe 10 minutes, but we kept waiting until we were at the top! We put our inflatables down, Benjamin went in the front and daddy went in the back, and I went in the front and mummy went in the back, and then we went down a little bit, and then we went around a bowl shape really quickly. I think I only went about twice with mummy, but I think I went around five times with daddy (on my second ride), and that's a family record.

Straightaway afterwards we went to Walhalla Wave, and we went up the steps, and that was quite a long queue. When it was our turn we got onto an inflatable; it was a really big one, and it could fit four people in it! The ride was really fast, we went really high up on the edge, and then we went back down; and sometimes it was dark and it went down and there was water coming on us. And we did this one twice. After that we we went in a little play water fun area, we explored first of all and then we went down lots of flumes. When we were with Daddy we rescues a cicada, we used Daddy's sunglasses to take it out of the water and I went to show Mummy. He then flew away. Then we went to do the Whanau Way slides but we coudn't because of incoming weather. Then we went in the wave pool but only for a short time as then that closed because of the weather. 

Then we went home and I was a bit sleepy and then we went to SeaWorld. We went to see the Dolphin nursery, with a baby dolphin, that was 2 months old. Then we went to do an Artic ride that shook you around, a lot. Then we saw some beluga whales, then some polar bears - an actual real polar bear, that was brillant - then we saw a walrus. They have to make these animals feel like they were at home, so it was really cold, with real ice.

Then we went to the Shamu show, we we were sitting at the back this time. The orcas were doing lots of jumping about and flicking everyone with their tails with water, not us this time, it was great. 

Then we went home.

[Benjamin:] Epcot

 On Saturday we went to Epcot. At Epcot the first ride we did was NASA-style training where we went to Mars and it was sort of a rollercoaster as in you were jerked around; in fact you were jerked around so much that there were sick bags provided in the capsule! This ride was so good that we went on it twice.

There was also a race on a screen with two rockets. The rockets had problems with them, which the people on their team had to fix by using computers. The teams were groups of people standing by the computers helping fix that rocket. You were not allowed to fix both rockets. The rockets went faster the less unfixed problems they had with them, and our team (Orion) won! After this game we played on another game when you had to find missing astronauts. 

After lunch we went to Turtle Talk. At Turtle Talk we talked with a sea turtle called Crush, who said the word 'dude' more than any other word known to sea turtle, even if it made no sense in the sentence. Crush is a character from "Finding Nemo". 

Then we went on a extremely boring ride. Which did not go up or down, or side to side. But moved very slowly and let you look at some trees. It also let you look at some different species of fish. 

After that we went on a different ride. This ride was called test track. In this ride you designed a car and then ride a car. That uses your stats and the other people that are driving with you's stats to make up the cars power, capability, performance and effisancy. 

     

   

[Benjamin:] The Worlds Largest Theme Park

On Monday we went to Animal Kingdom. The first ride we went on was the safari ride which was recommended to us by Paul (Scott and Kaleigh's dad). These were all the Animals we saw.

Yup I did not say loads for nothing, there are a lot of Animals on that ride. Including some that were almost extinct, and some that weighed loads, plus some babies.  

       The second ride we went on was "River Rapids". On which we got totally soaked and dad stayed like that all day, we went on this ride twice. 

Although I think this ride could do with a little more excitement than one dip down that is not a double-dip. Plus even if there was a double dip I would still like more than one double dip. 

     Then we went on possibly the most famous ride which was everest, in this ride we were tossed around more than any other ride we had been on. Plus I would definetly suggest for you not to eat before entering this ride, and wear ear mufflers. We also went on this ride twice.

    Then we watched a 'Finding Nemo' show where there were some cool puppets held on sticks by people (sort of like marshmallows). There were also people running around in the audience. It was amazing how short you could make a show that still gave you a pretty good overview of the film. This show we did not watch multiple times. 

Then we went to Dinoland and me and Dad went on a ride which is a bit like a teacup ride as it spins you around but it spins up and down as well, and we went on this 3 times. 

Then we watched the Lion King show, where they got the audience to make animal sounds, we made the lion sound. And there were some cool gymnasts I especially liked some especially mutinous monkeys, with a very bossy leader ie Timon. 

Then we watched a bugs life show and before we watched it an ant bit me. The Bugs life show told us not to kill bugs though afterwards Mum said if she found the ant that had bitten me she'd still kill it!

[Benjamin:] Chill day two

The first thing we did on our second relaxing day was go in the pool. For a long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long time in the pool.

Then we had a gigantic brunch at IHOP (International House of Pancakes). I think I will show you what we had rather than telling you.

You see it was truly enormous. Plus it lasted us one meal for the whole of the day. After brunch we went and did the largest shopping trip we have ever done. Before jumping back into the pool, and going to bed.

[Amelie:] Awesome brunch

On Sunday we went to the pool, we had a big swim. 

After that we went to an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) and we had a huge meal. Ben and I shared some cheese sandwiches and we had chicken fingers and onion rings. Then we had a huge  chocolate pancake with creams and cocktail cherries, making a smiley face. Under the cream of the eyes and nose there was gooey chocolate in the middle of the pancake. I was soo full I could hardly budge, people had to shove me out of my seat.

Then we went to the shops we spent most of the time looking for lost things, first we lost Ben then we lost Mummy the, then we lost our trolley and then we lost Mummy again, but we found all of these things. Then we actually got some of our shopping stuff and we jumped in the car and then we jumped in the swimming pool again with our new woggle.

[Amelie:] Epcot is awesome

On Saturday we went to Epcot but before that we went to the swimming pool for a little swim. Then we want to Epcot and there were lots of fun things to do.

 First we Fast Passed a car ride that Ben and I thought sounded fun and it was.
Then we went on a Space Mission ride twice. 

When we went on it we were thrown back for blast off. I was the pilot, Ben and Daddy were the Commander and Navigator and Mummy liked being the Engineer as she sent us all into Hypersleepmode. but then we have to wake up as there are rocks and things being thrown at us and I had to put the force field mode on but if you don't know which button to use you can press them all until you get the right one. But you don't use the gear stick until they tell you and then they tell you when to pull left, or right or back. We thought that ride was really good, which is why we did it again.
And at the end of this ride there were lots of other space games to play with. Daddy, Ben and I liked playing a game where you had to find all the astronauts in space before the sand storm comes.

After that we went to do a Nemo ride, Ben didn't really like it but I did so I went on it again, I thought that shells we were sitting in might snap down on us, like on Sponge Bob. There was also an Angler fish in the dark trying to catch Nemo which made me jump. In between going on the Nemo ride we saw a show with Crush the turtle and all he said was 'Dudes'. He spoke to Dory and told her he was speaking to the 'humans dudes'.

We found a shark play area, where Ben and I played Star Wars. 

There was lots of information about sharks and I saw things that were made out of shark in the olden days, one was a shoe.

Then we saw a Lion King show, which Ben didn't really want to do but I quite liked it. Then we went on a little ride that was quite interesting but not much fun you could find out lots of stuff like a tomato tree and we saw a lemon the size of a melon and Dragon fruit.

Then we went to do our fast pass car ride which was great fun. I designed a car first of all, by choosing the size, colour, putting a bumper on it and an engine that went really fast. 

Ben's car was the only one faster than mine. Then we got to be inside the test drive of the car and we zoomed around everywhere, and it went on the side and it even went outside. After our ride this ride was stopped as it was raining and they couldn't go in case they got electrocuted. After the ride there were lots of car things to play with. There was a racing track where I had the steering wheel and Mummy did the lever and pressed the red button to make our car go really fast. I was a bit of a crazy driver.
After that we had a little snack and drink. 

We then had a little walk around, well I say walk I was mostly asleep on Daddy's shoulder. 

It was also the wrong shoulder as it was the one with the bird stain on it. Then we came home late, again.

[Benjamin:] SeaWorld two

On Friday afternoon we went to SeaWorld. First dad went on the Manta ride, whilst Amelie and mum and I had a look at the aquarium. 

When dad had come off Manta ride, we went on something called Turtle Trek, which explains the life of a turtle as a 3D movie as though you're looking through the turtle's own eyes.

Then we went to watch a dolphin show, and the dolphins didn't have to be fed every 2 seconds unlike the killer whales. And also unlike the killer whale show, there were gymnasts. They did great stunts, for example when a woman was spinning around in the water, two dolphins each had their noises against her feet.

There were also different activities that happened in the dolphin show, such as this one:

Next we went to feed some dolphins. One of my fish was snatched by an annoying bird, possibly a great egret. The dolphins felt like they were made of rubber. We were only allowed to touch the dolphins under their chins.