A Winter Wonderland at SeaWorld

I think a lot of people get depressed right after the holidays. No more presents to open. No more lights twinkling all around. No cheery holiday songs to mangle. (My favorites are a friend’s daughter, Rachel, singing “Giddy up jingle horse, look at your feet” and my son’s classic misunderstanding of a certain snowman’s anthem. He kept asking what kind of cakes he bakes. We were confused until we realized he thought the words were “Frosting the Snowman!”) Thankfully, SeaWorld keeps the holidays going just a little bit longer… until January 2 at least.

I’m pretty sure we’ve enjoyed the festivities at least 10 times this year, with another one or two on the horizon. Can you blame us?

A few weeks ago we sat front and center for the Winter Wonderland on Ice show. Before the skaters dazzled us with their fancy footwork, a quartet of Polar Express engineers serenaded us barber-shop style with all the favorites. You should have seen my son’s eyes get big and his mouth drop as they crooned away. You’re never too young for music appreciation, and my 3-year-old is certainly a fan! His eyes went from singer to singer. “It sounds just like a radio!”

Skates then sliced through the ice when a troupe of dancers performed effortlessly on the stage at Bayside Stadium. Parka-clad beauties in ice-blue dresses “shooshed” and swayed with their all-in-white partners appropriately to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” followed by a high-energy solo for “Frosty the Snowman.” We especially enjoyed the graceful and elegant “Christmas Waltz” (just picture the flowing white gowns billowing in the breeze as the skaters glide past you!).  We then got jazzed up by a really top-notch soloist performing to “Cool Yule,” one of my favorite holiday songs. Big band Christmas music just does it for me and the skater nailed it! My son’s favorite number, though, was “Hot Chocolate!” And yes, we enjoyed the drink at the same time we were listening to the song! Dancing penguins?! Skating chefs with huge whisks?! AND singing about his favorite beverage. Well, as you can imagine… it was fabulous!

Hot chocolate, the drink!, has been a fun treat this year. All through the Christmas Market, and throughout the park, there are drink stations! We purchased the insulated mugs that allow you to get inexpensive refills. I have at least a pound or two of holiday weight gain thanks to these little babies, but OH has it been fun! (My favorite photos are of my little guy with a chocolate mustache curled up his cheeks while he hugs Santa Shamu!)

Warm insides, chilly (chilly!) temperatures outside have made for a wintery wonderland this year. Sigh. It’ll be over in a few days. OK, now I’m getting depressed. Better go make some cocoa…

Firefly Moments at SeaWorld

Little boys are more like fireflies than kittens… lightening in a bottle, elusive to catch, a joy to behold, and radiating with a glow from within. Kittens are also a blur of motion, and tough to pin down, but sometimes, just sometimes they slow down enough to be held. I had that joy the other morning when my usually wiggly 3 1/2-year-old snuggled up with me in my bed and let me rub down his back, his arm draped over my neck.

Moments of pure unadulterated warmth and joy are ones to cherish. I’ve been thinking about special times like that a lot lately with the holidays fast approaching. We’ve had many of our special memories of the season at SeaWorld.

I think we’ve either spent Christmas day, or the day before or after, at SeaWorld my son’s entire life. (Not to mention at least two or three times during the month of December!) The crowds are not bad, and everyone is in a good mood. Holiday sounds and music echo through the air. And most importantly, I have beside me the most amazing little boy, holding my hand, curling up next to me as we watch the dolphins from the underwater viewing area, or giggling like mad at the cold, cold riders of Journey to Atlantis as they get soaking wet from the splash at the end. It’s especially magical to romp through the Polar Express.

At my son’s age trains, as you can imagine, are of paramount importance. (A certain little blue cheeky engine and his friends take center stage, um, I mean floor, at our house.) Christmas trains, however, hold a special fascination. Unlike the warm climate our mild winter offers trains and their passengers, the winter wonderland of the Polar Express Experience allows that train to chug chug through ice and snow in a place so cold you need hot chocolate to warm your insides. I smile watching my son’s chubby red cheeks try to grin and drink at the same time, his jacket now dribbled and dotted with cocoa.

Of course the train isn’t real, and you can’t actually ride on it except through either the visual and physical sensations of the simulator ride (this is, mind you, my son’s only complaint about SeaWorld: no “real” train), or by watching the movie in the non-motion version. It is, nonetheless, a place to imagine Chris Van Allsburg’s vision… followed by a chance to meet Santa Clause, adorned in the glorious costume depicted in the Caldecott  Award-winning book and Oscar-nominated film.

I look forward to the new wonders SeaWorld’s dreamed up this year. The Sea of Trees, 74 in all, will be lighted within and without, synchronized waters arcing over and through them as the seas around them come alive as they “dance” to the holiday music.

There will be an ice skating show, which I’m anxious to see, and fireworks to cap off the evening. My little guy will be, no doubt, snuggled up on my lap as we watch. I’ll rub his back and as he drapes his little arms around me and his dad. We’ll drink in the magic and enjoy every blessed minute. I’ll bet the sparkles and flashes above our heads look like fireflies in the sky….

Penguins Just Dive On In at SeaWorld

Escalators, elevators, moving sidewalks… they all hold fascination for little kids. But a moving sidewalk with a live penguin show…. Now that’s entertainment!

My toddler son enjoyed his first visit to the Penguin Encounter at SeaWorld when he was 3 months old. Now, 3 years later he’s obsessed with the little black-and-whites. The rockhopper, he’ll inform you, has funny orange “hair” at the sides of his head and he hop, hop, hops from rock to rock. The gentoo has a gentle touch of white by her eyes. And the Adélie (emphasis on the eeeeeeeeee when we say it!) has a long white belly–again with the long E sound. (We’re big on mnemonics in our house: You hit, you sit… in time out. You throw, it will go–the toy–to time out. You get the idea!)

In addition to learning about the cold-climate penguins, we’ve also come to know a new little South American friend… the Magellanic penguin. On our behind-the-scenes tour we met the little fellow face to face. While the grown-ups bent down to stroke its back, our toddler stood eye to eye. Carefully he lifted his two-inch hand, trying hard to put his fingers together as instructed. (Since my son’s still working on fine motor coordination, the trainer/caregiver was allowed him to use his full hand to gently stroke the penguin’s feathers.)

From the time his size 10 1/2 feet step on to the “mover” (as he calls it), he’s looking up at his snowbound friends (although once in a while he’s checking out his reflection in the glass!). Sometimes I think his neck will get whiplash watching a penguin as it swims by at surprising speeds. At others I think he’ll go horse telling one of the kings to “jump, jump, JUMP” in the water before he gets to the end of the exhibit viewing area.

Ready or not, here he comes again… off the moving sidewalk, around the back (at the non-rider viewing area), poised at the beginning again… for another trip to see his feathered friends.

Sharks, Sea Dragons and our Pup at SeaWorld

As SeaWorld super fans, we were fortunate enough to have received the coolest costume from a friend… a shark. Our then 9-month-old looked adorable as we carried him through the theme park. (What? Were you expecting me to say we just had him wear it on Halloween?!)

First we went through the aquarium at Shark Encounter. Our little ferocious beastie pointed at all the creatures in the outer aquarium, and sat on the wall to gaze at the barracudas, daddy protectively holding him in his high vantage point. “See me? I’m a shark!” he seemed to tell the barracudas. “I scare YOU.”

Next we checked out the leafy sea dragons. It’s hard to believe they are alive, the blend in so well with the seaweed around them. Their camouflage is quite effective as they float through the water. My little guy wasn’t really that interested in them, they blended in so well. Eyes widened, however, as we entered the 60-foot glass tunnel. Directly overhead a huge shark swam. One tiny boy’s neck craned up. “OK. Now it’s your turn to scare me!” I’m pretty sure I heard him think.

Shhh. I'm hiding.

At the gift shop across the way it was our son’s turn to exhibit camouflage. Yes, we looked like dorks putting our child in a box of stuffed animals, but by gosh he was the cutest shark pup there! It kind of reminded me of that scene in E.T: The Extra Terrestrial when the alien blended in among the toys. That’s our little guy! The creature amidst the chondrichthyes.

SeaWorld’s Spooktacular is coming up. I’m sad we don’t have another shark costume for him to wear now that he’s a toddler. Maybe he’ll be some other sea creature this year. Maybe he’ll be a Longshoreman! Whatever costume we come up with, he’ll have fun collecting goodies and sweets. He’ll walk through the walls of bubbles and marvel at the seaweed-costumed characters on roller skates as they whiz past us. Hummmm. Maybe they’re actually leafy sea dragons. I wonder….

Peek-a-Boo with the Dolphins at SeaWorld

My toddler loves to play “peek-a-boo.” For humans, the game teaches object permanence. Just because Mommy is hidden by her hands, she’s still there behind them. It makes me wonder if that’s what the dolphins are doing in the Dolphin Nursery at SeaWorld.

As a frequent visitor to the park, I make it a habit to drop in on the bottlenose babies. Which ones are still nursing? Who’s growing up fastest? How tired is that mother of her child? Whenever I visit I usually go to the same spot on the wall… then wait. It may sound absurd, but I swear some of them recognize me. I’ve found that a lot of the time two particular dolphins would make their way to my spot by the wall and begin bobbing up and down out of the water.

The behavior is called “spyhopping” and scientists believe it is done for obvious reasons… to view the world above the water (after all, echolocation is not useful in air). They seem, though, to be interested enough in the motions to continue as I “play” back. One bobs down and up. I crouch down below the wall and up. Dolphin. Human. Dolphin. Human. One day we took turns for at least 4 minutes. Back and forth. I see you. I see you!

I may be anthropomorphising by thinking they enjoy our little game of peek-a-boo. Maybe they just want to see if that lady is still there. Maybe I look like a trainer or, more likely, someone with food. I think that what I spy with my little eye is a beautiful creature who, whether or not she intends, allows me to feel connected with the sea and with the world in a soul-inspiring way.

Stingray Splash at SeaWorld

Even though I’m a Florida native, I’ve only visited the “real” Key West once. Key West at Sea World? Oh gosh! Too many to count. It’s one of the key (Get it? KEY?) stops for our family because of the Stingray Lagoon.

Walking up to the 40,000-gallon habitat you may think a roller coaster is nearby. Actually the occasional little-girl like screams are from grown men and women getting their first splash from one of the inhabitants or perhaps an unexpected brush from a fin. (And, OK, sometimes the screams really are from little girls and boys, too!) They need not be frightened, though. These gentle creatures are just looking for a hand-out… literally.

“Say, that hand may have a delicious fish, squid, or other treat for me. Yum! Please, human, put my seafood where I can see it… between your fingers, longest piece up, and then lay your hand flat on the bottom. I’ll swim by and suck it right up! And I don’t bite.” Or perhaps he or she wonders if the hand will offer a nice fin rub. (Just don’t grab their tail. You wouldn’t want someone grabbing yours!)

Since my son was old enough to stand he’s loved dipping his tiny hand over into the cool water. And bonus! The water is teeming with splash-inducing slimy things, just perfect for a snips-and-snails kind of little boy who wouldn’t mind in the least getting soaking wet in the process!

Being the photo-obsessed mother I am, I often camp out anywhere except right next to whichever family member or loved one is holding Daniel. Sometimes I go directly across the lagoon, or occasionally I take up a position catty-corner to where they’re leaning over the low wall. Getting a bit farther away from the action helps get that perfect shot. I’m smiling at the memory of a couple of those photos. One shows a chubby 18-month-old face… eyes closed, face wet, grin as wide as his fat little cheeks will allow as a single black fin can be seen poking out of the water with JAWS-like determination. In another my “full-blown” toddler bravely thrusts his hand into the swirl of velvety ray bodies as they jockey for position in hopes that this little hand will give a back rub. Or some food. His face beams with “big boy” pride. “Those guys are so silly, Mommy! Did you see them splash me?”

We easily spend an hour or more in Key West, Sea World nearly every visit. Yes, it’s a perpetual splash zone, and yes we spend a lot of time at the nearby clean-up sinks (only to walk away still half-baptized by our slimy sea friends). The joy of connecting with marine life in such a personal and meaningful way, however, far outweighs the minor inconvenience of a soggy son. He’s soaking up not only water, but knowledge… about his world, and his place in it. Experience with caring for and loving our fellow Earth-inhabitants is key to helping young minds develop the habit of conservation and kindness. And to think, I have some of those fun, teachable moments on film.

Cartilaginous Fish at SeaWorld

Daniel (3 1/2) could spend hours in the Manta Aquarium. He’s fascinated by their flight-like swimming abilities. “Look, there goes a cow nose!” he shouts, as a stingray glides by. (He’s learned about 4 or 5 varieties of rays, which for 3 years old is pretty good in my opinion.)

I learned recently (or I should say re-learned, as some Marine Biology class from my past most likely covered) that rays, skates, and sharks are closely related. (Don’t make me look up the Latin!) They’re “cartilaginous” fish. Basically, they’re the fish with no bones. And while sharks and rays swim and breathe differently, they are kissin’ cousins.

The Guitarfish is a type of ray. One look at the creature, and you’ll see why the “guitar”-part of its moniker fits perfectly. If you lifted it up from its narrow tail, you’d want to “strum” the flat part of its body between the pectoral fins. Do NOT try this at home! Actually, those wide wing-like pectoral fins help amateurs like myself tell them apart. Sharks use their mid-sized pectoral fins to steer them like a joystick… up, down, left, right. Rays do a sort of “breast stroke”, flying through the waters. Flutter. Flutter.

As we sit at the aquarium window’s edge, my family is filled with wonder, again, at these magnificent creatures. “Look! Here comes the Guitarfish,” Daniel squeals. The adults nearby look down at him.

“Isn’t that a shark?” one man asks.

“Nooooooo,” he assures them. And then, “See that one? That one there? It’s a Guitarfish. And THAT is a cow nose,” he adds as his favorite ray whooshes by.

The adult just shakes his head. “How does this toddler know this?” he probably wonders.