Valerie and I had planned on going to SeaWorld our first full day down in San Antonio. After a little bar hopping on The Riverwalk the night before, Valerie and I slept a little later than planned, but not by much. We got to the park around 10:15 am, which we felt wasn't bad considered we had to deal with traffic as well as leaving the hotel a little late. From the parking lot the first thing that strikes your eye is Journey to Atlantis. It looked like it wasn't open yet because I could see employees climbing the stairs to get to their stations. I wasn't expecting to see a ride from the parking lot, but it also didn't look tacky either. We continued to make our way to the gate when our first issue of the day occurred. We had purchased our tickets online so naturally they wanted a photo ID. Valerie, with her infinite wisdom, decided she didn't need to bring her ID with her. Thankfully, the scanning machine for the line we were in broke down so we had to change lines. We ended up in a little old lady's line and she didn't ask for ID so Valerie was able to get in.
With the first issue of the day thwarted we went in to the park, and I took some pictures of the entrance area. Anyone who has ever been to a Busch Park knows that they do awesome landscaping that rivals the Disney Parks. After making my obligatory photo stop we headed for Journey to Atlantis. This was my 46th coaster, and it was a little better than I expected. I figured it was going to be like a typical shoot-the-chutes ride, but having the 360 degree turnarounds and the backwards dip added a little bit of extra fun to it. The drop was pretty tame, but I got wet which help stave off the inevitable that was creeping up on us. I probably wouldn't wait anymore than 15 minutes to ride this in the future though as there are fast ways to get wet at the Lost Lagoon, the connected water park. I can't offer any review on that though since we didn't go over there.
Next we headed over to the back section of the park to ride Great White. We got as far as Shamu Theater before we were told we couldn't go any farther. I didn't notice it on the map initially, but the section of the park with Great White didn't open until 11:00 am. I'm not sure if this was to prevent everyone from immediately going to the back of the park in the morning, or if it just simply takes longer for those rides to do their morning testing. Either way, we only had to wait a few minutes which gave me some time to take some pictures and do a little quick souvenir shopping. Once we were allowed to pass we took a brisk walk back to Great White. We headed to the entrance for the queue, but were stopped by locker Nazis. I had forgotten that Busch Parks have a locker policy for most rides. We paid our dollar to stow our stuff and made our way through the partly air-conditioned queue. When we got to the platform both Valerie and I had a little bit of confusion set it. The gates to the trains looked like a seamless wood fence. There were no lines or numbering for each train. Once you looked a little closer you could see the seams for the gates, but it wasn't real clear where each gate opened, or where the next adjacent one was. We wanted to ride in front so we just went behind people who were standing at what also looked like the front gate. We had to wait for 3 trains before our trip, and I noticed several other people were confused on where the individual lines were for each car. The ride itself was exactly what I expected out of a Batman: The Ride clone: smooth drops, good G's, and usually a head banging or two. There are other Bolliger & Mabillard Inverts that I like better, but those have the benefit of B&M learning a few things about how many G's the average person can tolerate. With my 47th coaster under my belt it was time to head over to the park's Morgan Hyper coaster.
Once again I was impressed with not only the landscaping, but also the placement of rides in the park. Steel Eel had lots of lush palm trees next to it, and since the coaster was set next to the water ski lagoon, it made for some great pictures. Unfortunately, that's about all this coaster had going for it. The queue had the same unmarked lines and gates we saw earlier at Great White. Of all the little details that goes in to a theme park this is last one I expected to be omitted. We had to wait for about 4 trains for our turn, and other than getting my 48th credit it wasn't really worth it. There was hardly any air time and the drops felt tame. It was a comfortable ride, but barely more thrilling than riding one of the trains found at most theme parks. The mid-course brake run seemed like it could have been placed better as well. Had it been later in the ride instead of after the second large drop there would have been better momentum possibly allowing for more air than I got. After having ridden the 3 major coasters at the park, it was time to do non-coaster stuff for the remainder of the day.
It was starting to really heat up and Valerie wanted to go someplace to cool off so we went to the air conditioned Penguin Encounter. The part of the exhibit that shows off the penguins has two levels for on-lookers to observe the penguins at. The lower level is a moving walkway and the upper level is a carpeted area with benches. We went through the lower tier first and then went up to the upper level to sit down and watch for about 10 minutes. It was a nice way to escape the heat, but the exhibit itself is kind of plain. I much prefer the penguin exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo where you are so close to the penguins they can splash you because the exhibit is not enclosed. Once we were ready to move on we did a time check to see if we had enough time to see anything before we did the dine with Shamu experience. I consulted the map and we had just enough time to catch the Rockin' Ski Party show. I've never been one to get into water sports, but this was entertaining. It was also in the shade so before the show began Valerie was able to take a short nap on the bench seats, and I was able to snap a few HDR shots before the show began. Once the show was over we headed over to the Shamu theater.
After checking with our reservations we set our belongings down at our seats and went straight to the buffet. They had some awesome Caesar salad, rolls, pineapple-orange chicken, mash potatoes, shrimp, prime rib, and too many other things to list. The food was great, but unfortunately the deserts weren't as good. It was basically cookies and chocolate cake. Because the of heat the icing on the cake was kind soupy and messy. I only had about half a piece before I decided to go back for more shrimp. Once everyone was mostly done eating we were split up into two groups. We were in the second group so we basically got to see the presentation of the orcas twice, with the second time being when I had the chance to take photos. I was hoping this part would have been a little bit longer and we would have had more time to ask questions, but I felt like we got our money's worth. Now that I have done it once I probably wouldn't do it again though unless I was with newbies.
After lunch we had originally decided to go see the sea lions, but on the way we both had to make pit stops, and realized that the next showing of "Beleive" starring Shamu, was in about half an hour and we needed to let lunch settle any way. Before doing so I was able to get coaster #49 by taking a ride on the kiddie coaster Shamu Express. There isn't much to say about it other than it was a credit and the cars were kind of cute. The real Shamu was a little more entertaining. Some of the acrobatics the whales did were pretty impressive considering how large orcas are. My two favorite parts of the show where when the whales used their tail fins to repeatedly splash the crowd, and when the trainers would dive under the water with the whales and then explode through the water while standing on the orcas' noses.
After the "Beleive" show, we headed over to the Dolphin Cove. This was possibly my favorite part of our park visit. Dolphin Cove is a covered area with a pool about 10 meters wide by 25 meters long, that contained 4 female dolphins and one 5 day-old calf. During the course of the day there are several feeding times where park guests can purchase fish to feed to the dolphins. By purchasing the fish you increase your odds of being able to touch the dolphins, or at least that's what the park employee kept telling everyone. However, if you wanted to be cheap like me all you really needed to do was stand between two people who were suckered in to buying the food. I got to touch two different dolphins; one on its fin and the other on the head. Since I have always wanted to participate in the trainer for a day program at Discovery Cove this just made my day. For the rest of the day I was just marveling at how awesome it was that I got to pet not one, but two dolphins. It was an experience I am unlikely to forget.
After the dolphins realized that all the food was gone they quit stopping at the sides of the pool and went back to their normal swimming routine. We had gotten an little hot since this was right around 4:30 pm at the peak heat of the day. Nearby was a coral reef and shark exhibit that was air-conditioned and a feeding of the fish in the adjacent tank was scheduled to take place in 15 minutes. It took about 2 seconds to agree that this was our next stop, and we headed to the exhibit. Inside there was a jellyfish tank, a stingray tank with tropical fish, and a shark tank. A diver fed the the rays and the fish while giving background on how they feed the fish, safety measures, and how his audio system that enabled him to talk to us worked. After the dolphins this was a not nearly as exciting, but since it was air-conditioned we stayed longer than we probably would have on a milder day.
We decided that even after being in the air-conditioning it was time to get wet again so we headed over to Rio Loco, the parks river rapids raft ride (say that three times fast). On the way we stopped to look at the Clydesdale horses. Unfortunately since their stalls had almost ceiling to floor bars I couldn't get a good picture. I will say that one of them was quite happy, and my wife and I were quite impressed by his "maleness". This exhibit was really just a glorified barn so we moved on. Rio Loco was a a fun ride, but it seemed a little short. However, we both got wet so it served its purpose.
To finish the day we saw two shows. The first was "Waggin' Tales", a western-themed animal stunt show. It was well choreographed and for the most part humans weren't really a big part of the show. However, we were both a little bit worried when the show started out with some awful Texas-style country to get the crowd warmed up. Valerie and I both assumed the show couldn't get any worse, and thankfully we were both right. After Waggin'Tales we saw the Haunted Lighthouse. This is a 4D attraction that is a 3D movie with added water and air effects. This is shown in the evenings instead of Pirates 4D. We had already seen Pirates 4D at Busch Gardens Tampa, and I think I like Pirates a little better. Haunted Lighthouse wasn't scary at all, whereas Pirates 4D was a funny action-adventure movie. If you are an R.L Stine fan you might enjoy Haunted Lighthouse, otherwise see Pirates 4D instead.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this park. I thought since it had only 2 full circuit coasters it might be a boring park, and it was anything but. It was well worth the price of admission. If I go to San Antonio again this will be a must see for me. Look for my review of Six Flags Fiesta Texas to be coming out soon, and until then take a look at the rest of my photos from SeaWorld.