This is CC kissing a flamingo. Even taking into account that tens of thousands of people visited the park while we were there, I told CC that I’d be willing to bet she was the only person there who kissed a flamingo on that particular day.
This fellow deserves a photo here because he appears to be the one who actually runs Sea World. We noticed him hanging around during the Shamu show. He knew just where to be and when to be there in order to pick off wayward fish intended as food for the killer whales. Later in the day, he showed up in another part of the park at a sea lion show, where he once again expertly positioned himself to pick off any sea lion food that was dropped. He appears to be the one heron who has this all figured out, as evinced by the fact that he works alone, without any other herons or other creatures emulating his behavior. Even more remarkably, he appears to be the same heron I saw at the Shamu show in 2008! If you navigate over to my 2008 entry (Click here to go there), you’ll see him in the background of the Shamu photo.
These are not animatronics or holograms – they’re the real macaw.
There were dozens and dozens of Christmas trees all around Sea World. The PA system also blared classic recordings of classic Christmas songs all day long. To northerners like us, it made no sense to juxtapose these elements with the sunshine, warm air, and palm trees of Orlando. Yes, I realize that Jesus was born in a desert, but it still felt rather odd.
We decided to spend the extra $30 a head to take the Behind-the-Scenes Tour, and boy o boy, was it worth it! We got to see animal rehab facilities, we got to pet actual sharks in their tanks, and we got to pet a penguin! This one’s name is Mario even though it’s a female – it takes a while to determine the gender of a young penguin and they guessed wrong on this one.
In part 2, we’ll talk about our visit to the incomparable Epcot.
