July 24th Sea World San Diego

 Would you believe me if I told you we were tired after 3 full days at Disneyland, a 2-hour drive to San Diego, and an extremely annoying camping night listening to the huge neighboring group of foul-mouthed Irish college kids partying until the crack of dawn?   My kids fell asleep somehow, and weren't very much disturbed by the party next door.  I could hardly sleep a wink.  Before I knew it, the sun was rising, and it was time for SEA WORLD!

Steve's feet were looking better, but it was still extremely painful for him to wear shoes and walk, so we decided to rent a nice ride for him at Sea World.

It was my first time to Sea World, as well as Lily and Amara's.  Steve had gone when he was a boy. 

We had a lot of fun together. 

Check out our smilebox slideshow for more pictures and a video of the walrus that spits his lunch out for you. 

Free slideshow personalized with Smilebox If you go, here's some things to keep in mind: Don't go during "ComicCon" in San Diego, like we did.  All the hotels up their prices ridiculously.  We ended up camping at the KOA, which was only 15 minutes away, but it was also a rough night with the loud group next door to us (probably going to ComiCon). If it's a choice between Disney and Sea World, choose Disney. Go see the Shamu show first so you don't have any other shows to compare it to.  The otter/sea lion show, the circus show, and the dolphin show had so many more exciting/entertaining moments.  Shamu really doesn't do much.  It was cool when she'd flip out of the water, but that only happened like 2 or 3 times.  And P.S. the dog show wouldn't be missed if you skipped it.  If you can't get in the splash zone, look for a seat way up high because it's a little cooler up there when the breeze blows. You MUST go to one of the dolphin training things that only last like 10 minutes, but gives you the opportunity to pet a dolphin.   They are a little more strict about the foods they let you take into the park.  They say no foods allowed at all, but they allowed us to bring in our uncrustables and granola bars. The nighttime Shamu Dance party and fireworks isn't something I'd stay up for again.  They let you pay extra to park close to the entrance.  It was worth it for us because of Steve's injured feet, plus it would probably have taken us 45 minutes to walk to the entrance, get a wheelchair, bring it back to the car, and walk back into the park.