Funny Farm in Orlando- Day 3

Day 3, our first broadcast day!

After our exciting day of visiting 4 different parks, Dave and I woke up early to broadcast live from the beautiful Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek.

When the show ended, we grabbed our sack lunches and headed out for SeaWorld Orlando.

It was a very quick drive from the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, which was nice. Once we arrived, they split us into 3 groups. Our tour guide for the day was Meredith, she was super nice, knowledgeable and a fast walker like me. We power walked the whole day! Which was great to get those extra calories off that we had been eating ;)

Our first stop was the one of a kind roller coaster, Manta!

I've had the pleasure of riding this one before, but I still had to talk myself into riding it again. You see, it's not like a regular roller coaster. When you first board Manta, you sit in it like a normal hanging roller coaster. Then, before the ride starts, the cart moves and you become parallel with the ground. As in the only thing holding you in is the harness across your chest. It is a high speed roller coaster like no other that everyone should experience. It's as if you are flying attached to the bottom of a Manta Ray.

Nate and Josie (Dave's 11 yr old daughter) rode with me. Of course Dave's arm started to hurt again at the sight of this one.

After Manta, we headed to a roped off area where we were handed some Sea Lion food. We were able to watch them from a bridge and throw the food out to them.

We had to be careful though; If we didn't cover our food, the birds would think they could come up and grab it. It's funny, a common thing you see around the park. The birds know that we are there to feed the mammals in the park, so they wait around for their chance to snag some goods.

There was a momma Sea Lion in the pool with a couple babies around. It was sweet to watch her care for them away from the other big guys feeding.

After feeding the Dolphins, our groups met up at the Dolphin Show. Oh. My. Goodness. It was SOOO Hott in there. We all were wanting to jump in with the dolphins so badly. Beer run time. 

We watched as the Dolphins did some neat tricks as well as some aerial acts- well, the humans did the aerial acts. Mostly aerial acts. There were a lot of aerial acts. If you are expecting to see a full show of just dolphins at the dolphin show, you will be disappointed. If you are okay with sharing your dolphin time with some great aerial acts, you will love this.

After the Dolphin show, we headed to some AC; it was very much needed. I think we all left puddles behind at the Dolphin show. (Sexy, I know.)

We headed towards TurtleTrek. It starts with walking into a room with an aquarium with Manatee's and turtles. There is a trainer in the room to give you all the information that you would want to know; Like, how long can a sea turtle stay under water? When it's inactive, 2 hours.

After walking past the aquariums, you go grab some 3D glasses and go into a huge room. You have a 360 degree movie screen every where you look. You join the sea turtle NYAH on their epic journey to survive. It's one that the kids will enjoy watching- and a great place to get some moments of AC. 

After TurtleTrek, we made our trek to a backstage tour. Our tour guide, Meredith, took us to see the boats and equipment that SeaWorld uses to rescue the sea animals. The picture is of Dave checking out one of the Manatees. They had a few in 2 pools in the back that had a bunch of lettuce in it. Meredith told us that an adult Manatee could eat up to 100 pounds of vegetation a day! Dave wan't impressed, he said he could do the same. Until he realized that vegetation wasn't meat.

After our backstage tour, we were able to feed the dolphins!! Any time I get to hang with the dolphins, I am super excited!! Meredith gave us the rules and we all had a chance to place our hands under the dolphins mouth and feed them. When the food was gone, the dolphins moved on to the next person, they didn't need you any more. Ha! We enjoyed putting our hands in the cold water and petting them as they swam by. Rules are given for safety, always remember that.

After a good hand washing, we headed over to Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. I remembered this attraction being super cold, so I was happy to do this one again to cool off. It is one that the kids will love. You can either pick the Wild or Mild ride. The wild term may scare you, but truly all it means is that it might vibrate or spin a little.

You experience the wonders of life through a penguins eyes on this family ride. At the end, you will be in a room that is around 32 degrees with families of real penguins for you to see and take pictures of. No flashes though, so mine came out a bit like this

Plus I was running by the attraction fast, because 32 degrees is just a little too cold for me.

I did get another fact from Meredith while waiting. She said that SeaWorld gets about 35,000 pounds of food delivered weekly!!

You can go to a room after this one and watch the penguins swimming in a tank. I stood close to the door and admired from afar so I could warm up.

Our tummies started to growl after our long day, so we headed over to Sharks Underwater grill, where we sat at tables by an aquarium full of fish and sharks. I seriously thought that seafood would be on our menu, but it wasn't. Who knew that SeaWorld had fine dining options? I didn't! What a great way to eat well while on vacation. During the magical deal month, 75 Orlando restaurants are offering 3 course meals for $33! Heck of a deal. 

After eating the best filet mignon of my life, we headed to the Shamu show. 

We were all pretty beat and tired by this point, but we all perked up when the first splash happened. When you visit SeaWorld Orlando, it's a no brainer that the Shamu show is a must see.

One of the trainers at the Shamu show reminded us of John Slaughter. What do you think?

We had so much fun at our SeaWorld stop, and you would too! Check out the deals that SeaWorld will have during magical deal month at VisitOrlando.com/September

Also, check out www.kstarcountry.com to see how you can win a free trip to Orlando

Funny Farm in Orlando- Day 1

VisitOrlando.com/September

It's no secret, Orlando is one of my favorite places in the World! Yes, I've been several times, but you truly need to go many times just to see it all. Visit Otlando tells me 67 days to see to all! We all know about the main themes parks, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World, but there is truly so much more. That's where Visit Orlando comes in handy! 

Our first day started with very early flights out of Houston... With a very loud baby and a rambunctious toddler sharing a seat in front of us. Luckily we all had our own personal tvs on the united flight and I caught a few episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Goldbergs."

As soon as we arrived to the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, we all hit up the Harvest Bistro to eat! Dave of course had a steak, I went for the chicken BLT with a cup of fruit. 

After lunch, we headed to the rooms to change and get ready for the Ducktona 500 race at the pool. 

The pool here at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is awesome! Lazy river, slide, zero entry, HUGE, free towel use, bar service... What more do you need! You could spend a whole day relaxing here! 

Here's Dave cheering on his duck to win... Which was actually more close to being the last duck. 

Mine's in there somewhere, go number 14!!!! 

After a day at the pool, myself and Dave's family got all spiffy to head down to Eddie V's for a tasty dinner! We were greeted with glasses of wine and ate from a wonderful buffet of salmon, steak, shrimp, oysters and more. They even had a cheese cake with Oreo crust.... Calories don't count on vacation! 

Not only was the Food great, but the view was awesome too! We had dinner outside with a beautiful lake view. Here's Dave's family enjoying the night...

No pictures of me, so how about a Saturday hotel selfie? Haha

It was a wonderful day and we had a beautiful sunset to end the day on the ride back to the hotel 

The next day, we traveled to 4 different parks!!! Walt Disney World, Walt Disney Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I'll get to those in two parts tomorrow :) here's a preview... 

Fire.. Diagon Alley... Oh yeah...