SeaWorld Day 2

We weren't able to see everything at SeaWorld in one day, so we returned to that park on our last day of vacation.  By spending two days at the park we were able to see all that we wanted to see and were also able to return to some of our favorite attractions for a second time.

Olivia's favorite animal in the world is the beluga whale, so we spent lots of time watching the two on hand in the Wild Arctic building.

We also signed up for the Behind the Scenes Tour, and it was fantastic.  We met near the manatee area, and our guide told us about the many challenges the manatees face and what SeaWorld does to help them.  We also visited the manatee intensive care area, and saw some patients.  Some of them had been struck by boats and were in grave condition.  I really felt bad for these animals and am glad that SeaWorld is capable of helping them.

We were then escorted through employee-only areas to see other rescue and rehabilitation facilities.  We also learned about the water quality and filtration systems at SeaWorld.  It was very interesting.

 We made a stop at one tank to touch a bamboo shark.






















One cool thing that we learned was that there are many animals at SeaWorld that the public never sees.  The dolphins that are rescued from the wild, for example, are housed in an entirely different building and are never mixed in with the SeaWorld dolphins because they have viruses and bacteria that the SeaWorld dolphins aren't accustomed to.  SeaWorld also has a bunch of magellanic penguins that do not appear in the regular penguin exhibit because they live in a warmer climate then other types of penguins.  The only way to see the magellanic penguins is to do the tour that we were on.  For the grand finale of the tour, we got to touch a penguin.  Owen loves penguins.  Penguins and pandas are his favorite animals.  I will never forget the expression on his face when the tour guide said that we would be touching a penguin.  He could barely contain himself. 

This day at SeaWorld wrapped up our Orlando vacation.  We had a great time.