Sunday morning we headed over to Sea World. If you're visiting, I highly recommend staying near the park as most of the hotels offer a free shuttle. They dropped us off at the gate and we headed inside.
Cooper knew we were going to see whales and sharks, but he didn't quite comprehend what Sea World was all about.
We headed inside the gate and made our way to the children's area. Jason and I were not quite sure what Cooper would think of the roller coasters, but he was game to check it out. Since we had some time before the first Shamu show, they jumped in (a very short) line.
Jason told Cooper that you have to ride with your hands in the air. The came off of the ride and Cooper immediately wanted to go back for a second trip. From there, they checked out the very large playscape.
Finally they hit one last roller coaster before we needed to start walking to see Shamu.
We made our way to Shamu Theater and waited for the show to start. Keeping a 3 year old in his seat while he's impatiently waiting to see the whales we pumped him up about wasn't easy!
Finally the show started. Cooper was full of gasps, "look moms!" and laughs.
From there, we headed to grab lunch and then make our way to see the dolphin & beluga whale show. If you're going, I suggest getting there early. A guy comes out 15 or so minutes before the show and jokes around with the audience. He's a big part of the show, but everyone was cracking up. This show was full of acrobatics by synchronized swimmers & divers. I kept finding myself watching and not taking photos.
We made a quick stop at one of the midway areas and played one game. Cooper won a stuffed frog that made his day (at that point). Once we finished that show, we headed toward the sea lion, seal & otter area. They have quite a few that you can see up close and we watched another comedy show that Cooper loved.
After that show, we went to check out the penguins. On the way, Jason rode one of the bigger roller coasters. We'd picked a perfect day to go with very short lines!
It was here that Cooper realized you could buy stuff to take home. We'd managed to avoid all of the other gift shops, but the penguin house had one before the exit. Since we had a few issues with Cooper getting over excited and running ahead, we used it to make a deal. If he could stick close, we would consider buying something before we left.
Taking a page out of Aunt Sassy's book, we stopped for cotton candy.
We started to make our way to the entrance & Cooper saw another water ride. He begged me to let him go, but it was getting late and I was afraid he wouldn't dry off. Plus, Jason wasn't too keen on getting wet. We made a deal, saying that if he did the ride we couldn't see the sharks and he took the bait.
We lucked out seeing the sharks and also got to see the dolphins during feeding time.
After checking out the shark tank, we headed toward the exit. Jason went to wait for the shuttle and Cooper & ran into one of the shops. He chose a stuffed Shamu and we made our way to the car. That evening we decided to stay on the Riverwalk so we drove back downtown. Amazing how much less crowded it is on a Sunday!!
We parked, unloaded and walked down to the river. From there, we fulfilled our promise to take a Riverboat tour. Cooper was starting to get tired, but enjoyed riding the boat. I'm pretty sure he didn't actually learn any of the San Antonio history though!
