Two days ago, I had a plan to do Disney Hollywood Studios
during the day and then head over to Universal after dinner to catch the
fireworks. Unfortunately, it started
raining after dinner and then rained all day yesterday and all night. So, that sort of kyboshed that plan. So, Sunday became a forced day of rest.
Today, I woke up and it had stopped raining. It wasn’t exactly sunny, but it wasn’t
raining either. So, I headed out, this
time to do SeaWorld. Now, I don’t really
know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.
I was thinking a quaint little aquarium of a smaller size, like
Vancouver. Umm, nope. This place is HUGE. It has a lake in the center that seems almost
as big as Rolley Lake in Maple Ridge.
I walked all the way around that thing and was really
getting disappointed with the lack of animals and things to see. Once I got most of the way around, I started
to see some rides, which I have no interest in.
There’s also a huge construction project expanding the park.
My primary goals when coming here were to photograph,
penguins, flamingos and pelicans which are all listed on the web page. I found an interesting lawyer exhibit, oh
excuse me, sharks. They are in an underwater
glass tunnel, but hard to photograph because of the lack of light and the
sharks moving so quickly.
After that the trek continued. I finally found what looked like an icy
building, but it appeared to be a ride. When
I asked the lady outside, she explained there’s a separate line for those just
wanting to see the penguins. You go down
about 4 flights of stairs into a refrigerated room. The lady warned me it was cold. 32F or
0C. I told her cold doesn’t bother me, I’m
from Canada and she laughed.
Anyway, you get into this room covered by a translucent
dome, which allows the same amount of light as Antarctica. There is real snow and ice and the water is
kept barely above freezing. The penguins
which were all born in captivity, seem to love it. After I wandered around and found a small
aquarium for underwater viewing and saw all sorts of tropical fish and
seahorses.
When I came out of there, I ended up right in front of the
dolphin show. They did a spectacular job
and the animals themselves really seemed to be having a great time. Each one was also born in captivity at one of
the SeaWorld parks. The do-gooders have
gotten to this one as well and the killer whale shows were stopped this month.
After finding my pelicans and flamingos, I headed out and a
young father stopped me and commented on my camera and lens. He asked if he could have a picture and I
thought he wanted to take a picture of me with the camera, but what he wanted
was a photo of him and his son with the big camera. Not exactly the setup I would normally use
for a portrait, a 600 mm lens and no supplemental lighting. But I took the shot, gave him my card and
told him I’d post it on Instagram and if he messaged me, I would send him a full
resolution copy.
After getting back to the hotel and resting for a bit, I
decided I was ok, and tonight was the night.
So, I packed up, went down and had dinner and headed off. I heard the fireworks on Saturday and Sunday
at 9:00 PM so I figured I had lots of time to get there, see Hogwarts and be
back at the lagoon for fireworks.
Well, apparently, I didn’t research it. The park closes at 7:00 PM during the week
and I arrived at 6:45 PM. Just in time
for fireworks. So, I skipped Hogwarts and
headed right to the lagoon. Another
surprise. The closing is fountains of
water, with a center spray which forms a screen and they project movie clips on
it. It’s a spectacular show, but
difficult to photograph. I shot videos
with the iPhone and there were just enough fireworks as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment