SEAWORLD (Day 9 - part 1)

Today was spent at SeaWorld!

Wow, hefty parking! ... SeaWorld welcomes us!

Click for a larger view

SeaWorld was founded in 1964 by four University Of California Los Angeles (UCLA) graduates who wanted to build an underwater restaurant. When that didn't seem possible, they built a park instead. SeaWorld San Diego only had a few dolphins, some sea lions, two saltwater aquariums and six attractions but it was an instant hit. SeaWorld Ohio then opened in 1970, SeaWorld Orlando in 1973, and SeaWorld San Antonio in 1988.

Opened in 2014, Explorer's Reef had four different touch pools which allowed us to touch some sharks and cleaner fish.

This felt REALLY odd!

The shark section

Several California sea lions lounged about at Sea Lion Point.

How relaxed can one get??

Basking in the sun

Numerous flamingos filled a pond alongside the Manta rollercoaster.

A rollercoaster cart races overhead...

... and all the flamingos appear to be watching it.

Grooming and feeding

These flamingos feed on insects, aquatic invertebrates and tiny fish.

It was almost time for the Sea Lion and Otter Spotlight show, so we headed over early in order to get good seats.

We sat at the far edge of the Soak Zone, just in case!

As we waited, we noticed a man randomly walking among the crowd ... cleaning of the railings (as well as people's cellphones) and doing other silly things.

It turns out this was a pre-show show featuring Biff the Dancing Maintenance Guy. It was wonderful! The Biff character (or sometimes Biffy, the female version) is apparently played by different actors, so I was unfortunately unable to track down this hilarious guy's name.

A quick magic show...

... without any actual magic!

Being taken hostage by an audience member who decided to turn the tables on him

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