Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 28 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Very cool pics! Sea World San Diego closed its manta ray section earlier this year in preparation of a big overhaul to that area and then some! I haven't read up on what they're doing, but the signs they have up have a similar logo to the Manta sign of your earlier pictures. I wonder if they're going to build a new roller coaster like the one in Orlando! Right now the only "thrill" rides are Journey to Atlantis, Wild Arctic (similar to Star Tours but no as good ), and a rapids ride like Kali River Rapids (the name escapes me right now).
Were you able to feed the mantas? I did that a few times in San Diego. It's a bit intimidating at first since you have to hold the little fish way under water (at least to your elbow) between your fingers and then wait for the manta to swim over your hand, open its mouth (on the under side of its body) and essentially suck the little fish up and out of your fingers. I loved it!
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Well, my Harry Potter obsession got me 6 pages behind in your TR, but I've caught back up. The Millenia Mall looked great! Best I stay away from there. I do Bath and Body Works though! Some of your pictures from AKL remind me so much of our room and pictures I took. Dinner at Tutto Italia looked scrumptious. It will definitely be one of my dining choices for next June after reading yours and Heather's reviews of it. Love the nighttime shots at Epcot and of the giraffes on the savannah. Stefanie has done Sea World with my sister and her family, but Luke and I have never been. If he sees Manta though, I think he'll want to go. : way I'm riding it as Stefanie and I'll sit out that kind of ride.
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Originally Posted by chezp
I'm no expert (where's Terri when you need her? ) but now you say it, it's a good point, as the tanks at the Seas are much deeper. I'm sure they must be fine in it, but it's an interesting point. You're going to love SeaWorld!
Terri was at the beach... bottlenose dolphins can be in VERY shallow water, in fact some even intentionally beach themselves while feeding in some places (NC and SC), they usually live in shallow bays and estuaries - 10-15 feet in depth - and will migrate offshore into deeper waters. So the tanks at SW should be fine. IF these animals were actively jumping and doing tricks - they would be in much deeper tanks - but the dolphin tank you were at was a "natural behavior" area - where they will jump, etc - but nothing like you would see in a show.
The rays you saw were two species - the cow nosed ray (the one that was swimming midwater) and the southern stingray. Both are resident to Florida and the Caribbean sea.
Very cool pics! Sea World San Diego closed its manta ray section earlier this year in preparation of a big overhaul to that area and then some! I haven't read up on what they're doing, but the signs they have up have a similar logo to the Manta sign of your earlier pictures. I wonder if they're going to build a new roller coaster like the one in Orlando! Right now the only "thrill" rides are Journey to Atlantis, Wild Arctic (similar to Star Tours but no as good ), and a rapids ride like Kali River Rapids (the name escapes me right now).
Were you able to feed the mantas? I did that a few times in San Diego. It's a bit intimidating at first since you have to hold the little fish way under water (at least to your elbow) between your fingers and then wait for the manta to swim over your hand, open its mouth (on the under side of its body) and essentially suck the little fish up and out of your fingers. I loved it!
I'm not Chez, but I can answer your question Yes, you can feed the Rays in SW Orlando. In fact they offer packages to feed the rays/sharks/sea lion & seals or you can buy food at each stand individually. You can also feed the dolphins which for me is by far the coolest part.
I wouldn't be shocked if they are building a Manta Coaster on the West Coast, it looks awesome and would probably help their bottom line a bit.
Very cool pics! Sea World San Diego closed its manta ray section earlier this year in preparation of a big overhaul to that area and then some! I haven't read up on what they're doing, but the signs they have up have a similar logo to the Manta sign of your earlier pictures. I wonder if they're going to build a new roller coaster like the one in Orlando! Right now the only "thrill" rides are Journey to Atlantis, Wild Arctic (similar to Star Tours but no as good ), and a rapids ride like Kali River Rapids (the name escapes me right now).
Were you able to feed the mantas? I did that a few times in San Diego. It's a bit intimidating at first since you have to hold the little fish way under water (at least to your elbow) between your fingers and then wait for the manta to swim over your hand, open its mouth (on the under side of its body) and essentially suck the little fish up and out of your fingers. I loved it!
Interesting comparisons. You weren't able to feed the mantas in that display, but I believe you could feed the stingrays in Stingray Lagoon.
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Terri was at the beach... bottlenose dolphins can be in VERY shallow water, in fact some even intentionally beach themselves while feeding in some places (NC and SC), they usually live in shallow bays and estuaries - 10-15 feet in depth - and will migrate offshore into deeper waters. So the tanks at SW should be fine. IF these animals were actively jumping and doing tricks - they would be in much deeper tanks - but the dolphin tank you were at was a "natural behavior" area - where they will jump, etc - but nothing like you would see in a show.
The rays you saw were two species - the cow nosed ray (the one that was swimming midwater) and the southern stingray. Both are resident to Florida and the Caribbean sea.
Thank you very much Terri - I knew you'd be able to help!
Wednesday 20 April – part three: this alone is worth the admission price!
We headed towards the manatee area, my favourite in the park, and my goodness, what a treat lay in store for us today! Not only did we see all four manatees from above....
... but when we to the underwater area, I was able to get up close and personal with a manatee, that just loved to pose for photos. It was such a magical experience for me and I said to Mark that alone has been worth the admission price, so he jokingly asked if I wanted to leave now. Heck :
I wanted to see the Blue Horizons dolphins show, as we hadn’t seen it last time. We were here, but on the way we got some photos around Journey Into Atlantis. Ark took great delight in squirting those on the ride with water cannons!
We headed into Blue Horizons about 15 minutes before the show began and found seats that were right above the platinum seats. We only saw four people sit there and then they opened it up to latecomers, just before the show began.
The show didn’t focus on the dolphins as much as I thought it would, but the other bits that didn’t feature them were still pretty good. There were parrots and acrobats included, which blended together quite well. It was well worth seeing and very different, almost like a Disney show. You could certainly see that’s where they drew their inspiration from anyway...
Great updates Cheryl!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE sea turtles so I especially loved those photos! My goodness, did you get some fantastic manatee photos!!!!! Looks like you had an absolutely beautiful day too!Ready for more!
Love those mantee pictures, they look so cute with their little whiskers!
It is so long since I have been to SeaWorld (last visit 2002) that the Dolphin show 'set' looks completely different to what I remember - is it the only Dolphin show?
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), and a rapids ride like Kali River Rapids (the name escapes me right now).
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Bath and Body Works though! Some of your pictures from AKL remind me so much of our room and pictures I took. Dinner at Tutto Italia looked scrumptious. It will definitely be one of my dining choices for next June after reading yours and Heather's reviews of it. 
Love the nighttime shots at Epcot and of the giraffes on the savannah. Stefanie has done Sea World with my sister and her family, but Luke and I have never been. If he sees Manta though, I think he'll want to go. 
: way I'm riding it as Stefanie and I'll sit out that kind of ride. 
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