Sea World Family Fun Day

We decided to get a Sea World Fun Pass since we are here for almost a month and will <hopefully> be coming back in December because it allows us to go as many times as we want to thru the end of the year. We had so much fun looking at the animals and exploring Sea World and it was so nice to not feel like we had to see everything in one day! Here are some of our highlights from Stella's first time at Sea World...

Stella petting the alligator at the Animal Encounters...she wasn't so sure about it

She liked to look at it more than touch it

Flamingos

Up-close with the Macaw

Mama Stella's Kitchen...

In front of the Sea Lions

Beautiful scenery

Stella had a great day at Sea World...she didn't throw up at all while we were there , she also didn't take a nap all day either (she was too excited and didn't want to miss anything!) We saw the penguins, the sharks, the sea lions, the dolphins, and the aquariums. Her favorite was a huge fish in one of the aquariums that swam right in front of her - it made her so excited! We went to the Sea Lions Live show and the Cirque de la Mer show and Stella loved listening to the music. We plan on going back a couple times while we are here on this trip for a few hours to enjoy the rest of the park :) 


As we were at the park today, I realized some of the challenges about having a special needs child and some of the challenges people with disabilities face during outings. During our time at Sea World, Stella had two tube feedings...we set up her pump on her stroller and it is easiest to have her in the stroller during the feedings. At Sea World they want us to leave our stroller outside of most exhibits and all shows...we constantly had to explain that she was connected to her feeding pump so we needed to bring the stroller in with us. They were more than willing to accommodate our request but this required us to go in the handicapped areas...the handicapped seating area for the shows is not very large (about 8 "spaces" available at each show) and the walking area in the exhibits with wheelchair access was not always "prime viewing." Thankfully for us this was only 2 hours of our day there that we were limited in what we could see or where we could sit...but it made me realize how frustrating it could be for someone in a wheelchair. They would not be able to sit with their family during the shows (that is if they got there soon enough to get a space) and they don't get the same experience in many of the exhibits. I'm sure that this is something that is not just limited to Sea World but it was definitely eye-opening to experience the limits that are placed on something that is considered a "disability."