Orlando trip to Aquatica & SeaWorld w/ the Hoiberg's

Last weekend we packed up the kids, Grandma & Grandpa, & Kate; and we all headed down to Orlando for a weekend of fun at SeaWorld. We headed out Friday night after work and made our way south. We stopped for dinner in Palm Coast, and seeing as it was Friday, we found a pizza place. The pizza was great and the kids were in rare form. I took some funny pics of Laura there. Afterwards we made it back on the road and arrived in Orlando. The kids were awake and after we were checked in and settled, we went for a walk down International Drive to Friendly's for some well needed ice cream...

You can view the pictures from our trip down to Orlando by clicking on the picture below or by clicking here.

(Daddy & Laura acting goofy at Friendly's)

Saturday morning was an early rise seeing as we were heading to Aquatica, SeaWorld's new waterpark. We purchased tickets the night before which allowed us to enter the park an hour earlier at 8am. This turned out to be the best decision we made. By 9am, the park was filling up, and by that time, we already had a locker, had found some chairs to set our towels, & were already in the water. By 11am, they had closed the doors to the park...

We were able to take the girls on several different slides in addition to the ones in the kiddie sections. The park was amazing; they had several areas for the kids. One of everyone's favorite was Roa's Rapids which was a lazy river... that wasn't lazy. It was great, they kids strapped on their life vests and we all jumped in and went for a wild ride around the river several times. Everyone had a blast and the weather was great, we had an overcast day and the sun wasn't beating down until noon time, just before we left the park.

You can view the pictures from Aquatica by clicking on the picture below or by clicking here.

(Laura & Caitlyn in the Wave Pool at Aquatica)

We left Aquatica & headed back to the hotel for some much needed naps. Afterwards we rounded everyone up and headed out for a nice dinner before heading to SeaWorld for the evening. Once we arrived at SeaWorld we made our way to the Wild Arctic where we took a trip to the South Pole. We walked around the South Pole for a while before heading to Shamu Stadium to see Shamu Rocks. This is one of our favorite shows and they only do these shows during the summer when the park is open for extended hours. Then we made our way to the other side of the park to ride Kraken before heading home for the evening.

Kraken is SeaWorld's amazing Roller Coaster; it is probably one of the best coasters I have been on. I found this video on YouTube, if you've never experienced Kraken, this is worth watching: Experience Kraken

You can view the pictures from dinner and our evening at SeaWorld by clicking on the picture below or by clicking here.

(Caitlyn, Grandma & Laura at Bogard's for Dinner)

Sunday morning came along and we packed up from the hotel after breakfast and made our way back to SeaWorld. We spent the afternoon in the park taking in the Sea Lion & Sea Otter Show as well as the Whale & Dolphin Show. Later we took the girls over to the kids area where they rode the Shamu Express, the kids roller coaster, and some of the other rides. We headed out just after noon and grabbed a quick bite to eating before making the drive back to Jacksonville.

You can view the pictures from our afternoon at SeaWorld by clicking on the picture below or by clicking here.

(Sarah & Kate all smiles at SeaWorld)