Destiny's choice

   Well, about a couple of hours before we were going to leave for Sea World I checked my mail and low and behold Mechmaster had sent me Destiny's Choice back with an after action report that curled my hair. I dropped Ghost Station and I've been plugging away at Destiny, making corrections and adding a few descriptions and tid bits. All the changes added up to an additional 71 pages so I hope it was worth the effort.
   I just passed it back to Mechmaster to take a quick look at. If he gives the thumbs up soon I'll upload it to B&N and then dive back into Ghost Station.

   Sea World was... different. Very different. Disappointing. That made for my fifth time there, but the last time was over 15 years ago and I was dismayed by the rampant consumerism that has overrun the park. ($4.69 for a freakin cup of coffee???)  The emphasis is on getting people to spend money on over priced nasty tasting food, drinks, or cheap junk then it is on the animals.
    It was really annoying to get there so late, we didn't leave until after 12:30 and it's a 2 hour drive to San Diego. The park closes at 10 so it's difficult to get in, ride the rides, see the shows, and stuff in that short a time. Of course it's also difficult to see a show when they air most of them before 2pm and have only 1 or 2 after that time period. Grrr.
    Since we went there in such a large group (16 or 17 of us, I lost count) it was like herding cats. I split off from the group several times because they wanted to take an hour to eat or take multiple pee breaks. (Honestly you just went an hour ago! Argth!) I managed to catch half the shows and see half the park, they managed to see 3 shows and ride 2 out of I dunno, I think 7 of the rides. ($5 to use a blow dryer??)  I also managed to catch up with my grandmother and her friends who had decided to go with us but had gone at an earlier time. The ladies had the right idea, they had arrived at the opening and managed to see the entire park and all but the night shows.
     For dinner I paid $14 for a cold rubber double burger with cold cheese, a handful of greasy cold fries, and a watered down drink. I vowed not to eat there again after that. Apparently just about everyone shared my opinion of the food. So much for using the $30 all you can eat pass. lol
    I can see that they need the money since they charge $10 to feed the animals. You get a handful of food in a cardboard french fry container. One good gulp and it's gone, not that I would eat that! :P
    None of us were impressed with the shows. It was more about the trainers then the animals. There were a lot of aerobatics and stunts by human performers, not one iota of education or conservation. One show didn't have any animals at all! Just tumbling and a trampoline! The dolphin show had a lot of animals but they were only in half of it! The rest was all the human performers and trainers doing stunts and stuff.
    Those people who had gone to the Orlando Sea World agreed that the shows there were much better.
    Each show had groups of vendors going up and down the stairs trying to get you to buy food or junk. ($4.25 for a handful of popcorn?? $50 for a small blanket??? $5 for a bubble gun?) That got annoying fast.
     The fun news is they goofed on the ad so we get to go again in a couple weeks to catch what we missed. This time we're planning on leaving earlier and hopefully we won't have such a big crowd with us. The kids said they will go off with me since I got to see and experience a lot more then they did and had more fun doing it. I don't blame them, they enjoyed a couple of the rides but standing in line for 45 minutes for a 2 minute ride is terrible waste of time. They are also pretty insistent on getting me to ride the splash ride. lol
     Right now the plan is to eat before we get there and to stop on the way home to eat as well. That will hopefully give us more time to enjoy the place. I recommend that to anyone planning on going to a park now.

   Have a great and happy 4rth of July everyone! Stay safe!