Today was forecast to be the hottest day so far, and we were all up and outside having breakfast at a reasonable hour to make the most of it.
I finished my John Grisham book, Karen watched the final of The Traitors, and Neil listened to TalkSport. It was all quite lovely. We also decided where we’ll be staying when we go to Anaheim next spring — a surprisingly painless decision for us.
After some debate, we agreed to leave the villa at 4pm for the first Christmas night of the season at SeaWorld. It was still 85°F when we got in the car.
As part of the Black Friday ticket deal we’d bought in 2024, we had “free” 14-day access to SeaWorld and Aquatica — plus free parking, which was a welcome bonus. By the time we arrived, there was no one in the car park giving directions, so we simply weaved our way through and found a space relatively close to the entrance.
It did feel as surreal as ever walking into a theme park decked out in full Christmas regalia, with festive music blaring, while the sun blazed down on us.
We wandered slowly, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring the decorations. At the Nautilus Theatre, while waiting for the doors to open for the first Christmas show, Neil dashed off to ride one of the big roller coasters nearby. He was back within 15 minutes, having walked straight on.
The audience was then ushered in for O Wondrous Night, which tells the Nativity story from the animals’ perspective. The singing and dancing were terrific, and at the end, they brought out real animals alongside the puppets used in the performance. I’m not sure how the llamas fitted into the stable scene, but walking three live camels through the audience and onto the stage made for quite the finale. I loved it — that show alone was worth the trip to SeaWorld.
By the time we came out, darkness had fallen and the park looked magical, with millions of lights twinkling everywhere. We wandered through Sesame Street Land just as its Christmas parade began, accompanied by a song called I Hate Christmas, which made me laugh out loud.
Neil then grabbed some sort of roast turkey concoction from a Christmas food stall, while Karen and I hunted down the new Chick-fil-A inside the park — our first time trying it. We were served by a very helpful chap who explained the menu. We both went for the original chicken sandwich and shared some waffle fries. The chicken was fine, if unspectacular, but the fries were excellent. We’d been told the main selling point was the special sauce, but neither of us liked it — far too sweet. What is it with Americans and their obsession with adding sugar to everything savoury?
Neil rejoined us and we made our way to the new Penguin Trek family coaster, which has replaced the ill-fated (and expensive) Penguin Arctic Encounter. Karen wasn’t sure about riding as she couldn’t see the track in the dark, so I was volunteered to go on and report back.
It turned out to be a walk-on ride — people were even being allowed to stay on for a second go. I thought it was rather intense for a family coaster, though that might’ve been because I couldn’t see what was coming next in the dark. I enjoyed it, though, and would happily ride again. Karen decided to wait until our next visit in daylight.
The ride exited into the freezing arctic area with the penguins. They were as adorable as ever, especially one young king penguin still half-covered in its baby feathers — irresistibly cute.
It was then a long walk across the park to the stand-up roller coaster, which Neil tackled while we headed for the new Expedition Odyssey ride — billed as a “budget” version of Soarin’. The wait time was just five minutes, but we were turned back at the entrance to store our bags in lockers. Unfortunately, the lockers cost $5 for two hours, which was ludicrous, so I refused on principle and waited with the bags while Karen and Neil rode.
They came off looking rather underwhelmed, saying parts of the film were out of focus. I will ride it when we are here again.
We made our way to the Bayside Stadium for the ice-skating show and fireworks. We mildly upset a group of Americans who still can’t grasp the concept of “fill all available seats” by asking them to let us squeeze past to the empty spaces in the middle of the row..
The ice-skating show was excellent — a couple of minor spills, but they were moving at such speed it was understandable. It was followed by one of the best renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner I’ve ever heard, leading into the Veterans Day fireworks.
The fireworks were set to a stirring, military-style soundtrack and ended with a spectacular, thunderous finale.
The drive back to the villa was straightforward, and we all enjoyed a well-earned drink before retiring around 11:30pm — which, for us, counted as a late night.
