This post is republished from a WeChat public account run by a reader in the WeChat group，懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐。Original link.

Seaworld

After getting off the ship, we still had two nights left, both staying in Tampa. We had booked Busch Gardens in Tampa for New Year’s Day, but we hadn’t made any plans for disembarkation day. Right before getting off the ship, we decided at the last minute to go to SeaWorld. So these two days were both theme park days. There honestly isn’t that much strategy to write about for theme parks, since policies change quickly, and for a trip report it’s mostly just sharing photos anyway, because everyone is riding the same rides.

For the rental car, we again used a corporate code plus status matched from credit card benefits, and ended up with an SUV.

A giant lobster car we saw on the road

It took about an hour to drive to SeaWorld. For special dates, buying tickets on Groupon was a better deal. On regular weekdays, the official website and Groupon were the same price.

The weather still wasn’t very sunny, but at least wearing short sleeves was totally comfortable.

On 12/31, the crowds actually weren’t that bad, but the more thrilling roller coasters in the park still had waits of 60+ minutes.

We were mainly there for the animal shows, so the ride lines didn’t really matter to us.

As soon as we entered, we went to line up at Underwater Grill & Bar. There are a few notable restaurants in the park. One lets you dine with Orcas and can be reserved in advance in the app. The other is this aquarium restaurant, where you have to line up in person, with the line starting at 11:00.

The line took a long time, but once you got through it, there were plenty of reservation times available.

Right next to the restaurant was the shark & ray pool, so the kid watched that while we were in line.

Next we went to the Orca show. In recent years, SeaWorld’s Orca shows have shifted more toward education and less toward pure performance. I think that’s a good thing, since animal performances are fundamentally against animals’ natural instincts.

After the show, it was another half-hour wait to eat. We didn’t buy a dining package and didn’t feel it was necessary. One serving of American fast food a day is more than enough.

After lunch we wandered over to the Sesame Street land, which had some toddler-friendly rides and shows.

There was also a splash area.

Following the schedule in the app, there was a parade at 1:30.

Then we went to see the beluga whales. SeaWorld Orlando is bigger than the one in SD, and covering it the way we did for a full day was definitely exhausting.

Since it was still during the Christmas season, there was also a Christmas-themed acrobatics show.

The aquarium~

Next we went to the Sea Lion and Otter show. If you’re not trying to get the absolute best seats, you really don’t need to arrive that early for these shows. We went on December 31, which should count as peak season, and arriving about 15 minutes early was still enough to get decent seats.

Soon it was time for our reservation at the aquarium restaurant. We weren’t seated right next to the glass, but the tank was large enough that it didn’t really affect the experience.

The pumpkin soup appetizer was pretty good.

The entrees were all pretty average.

For dessert, you could get ice cream with an orca-shaped wafer/biscuit. It definitely impressed the kid. Overall this meal was not a good value. The main point was just the experience of dining inside the aquarium. Watching fish swim by while eating was pretty soothing, though.

After eating, we went to watch the dolphin show. Out of all the shows, the dolphin show was still the most classic and the most fun.

We also went to the ray touch pool, where you can pet the rays when they swim close. It was definitely easier to touch them when snorkeling, though. The kid had touched them before, but this time was suddenly too nervous to do it.

For some reason, the penguin exhibit had a very long line, and we really couldn’t figure out why. It was very cold inside, but the penguins were adorable.

There are lots of aquariums of different sizes throughout the park, plus various animal-viewing spots, and we basically walked through all of them on the way out.

At night, the Christmas tree lighting came on, and there were fireworks too. By the time we were leaving, lots of people were just entering the park, probably planning to ring in the New Year there. Since we had a little kid with us, we passed.

JW Marriott Tampa Water Street Review

We stayed at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street. It’s right by the river in downtown Tampa, and the location is excellent. My Platinum status didn’t get us a suite upgrade, just a room with a view.

However, on New Year’s Eve the hotel was hosting a New Year’s party, and there were groups of people eating and drinking at the various bars around the hotel. The kid said she was hungry, so I took her to the lobby and ordered a taco. We waited forever, and she actually fell asleep sitting on the couch.

At midnight, there was a long fireworks show over the river, which was a nice surprise. My partner and I stood by the hotel window and watched for quite a while.

I was actually pretty happy after watching the fireworks and stayed up a bit late before going to sleep. But then around 4 a.m., some drunk person suddenly started screaming loudly in the hallway on our floor for a long time and even knocked on our door a few times. I’m already uneasy around drunk people, so this really scared me, and I had to put in earplugs before I could fall asleep. Thankfully, the kid sleeps deeply and didn’t wake up. Because I slept so badly, plus the scare from the drunk person, the good mood I’d been in for the entire trip completely collapsed on the last day, and I felt awful the next day.

We ordered some room service for breakfast and ate casually. As soon as I stepped out of the room, I immediately noticed the strong smell of alcohol in the hallway. Sure enough, near the elevator we found vomit left behind by the drunk guest...

We went downstairs to tell the front desk, and they acted pretty indifferent. The more I thought about it on the way to Busch Garden, the angrier I got, so I contacted the hotel and asked to switch rooms. The staff on the Marriott app were actually quite helpful and polite, and agreed to move us after we got back that night.

Busch Garden

The main reason we came to Busch Garden was because a friend highly recommended it, saying the little train here is very toddler-friendly and little kids can ride it all day without getting bored.

Busch Garden, SeaWorld, and several other Orlando theme parks are owned by the same group, and you can save money with a combo ticket if you buy them together. But we planned them separately, so we bought both tickets on Groupon.

Both Busch Garden and SeaWorld combine animals and roller coasters. Busch Garden focuses more on land animals, while SeaWorld focuses more on marine animals.

From the Busch Garden parking lot, you still need to take a tram to the entrance. You can walk if you want, but for a theme park, saving a little energy is always nice.

The penguins at Busch Garden seemed to be a similar species to the ones in Seattle, so they were displayed outdoors, unlike in Orlando where they’re kept in a cold indoor enclosure.

As soon as we entered, we headed straight for the little train. It’s really more of a tram. The line wasn’t too bad, but we ended up waiting quite a while for the train itself. When we went, only two stations were operating, so pay attention to the announcements when boarding. You can fold up a stroller and bring it on. If you plan to get off partway, I’d recommend bringing a stroller.

There were lots of animals to see along the way. Our train even broke down in the middle and was stopped for quite a while.

We got off at another station and then waited more than half an hour in line for lunch. We ate at a BBQ restaurant, and it was actually pretty good—at least it wasn’t just standard American fast food. Still, it wasn’t a great value.

After lunch, we wandered around some of the nearby exhibits. We had basically turned the whole theme park into a zoo...

Then we took the little train back to the station near the entrance. Because I’d slept so badly the night before, I really wasn’t feeling great that day.

Finally, we went to watch the Christmas on Ice skating show. We haven’t seen Disney on Ice, so to us it seemed decent enough, especially since the lead skaters were very technically strong. The kid fell asleep during the show.

Because we weren’t feeling great and had to catch a 7 a.m. flight the next morning, we left the park right after the ice-skating show. On the way out, we lined up for the Tram back to the parking lot, but it took forever to arrive. We asked the staff, and they didn’t know either, which felt pretty unprofessional. In the end, we walked back to the parking lot ourselves, and just as we got there, a Tram departed from the parking lot.

For dinner, we went to Tampa’s “Boil Spot,” an all-you-can-eat conveyor-belt hot pot + barbecue restaurant. This place was very popular, and if you tell the staff you only want hot pot and not barbecue, you can get a much shorter wait. The price was also very reasonable, a little over $30 per person, though kids over 95 cm are charged $7.5 as well. The hot pot meats and sauces were self-serve, while the vegetables moved along on the conveyor belt.

The ingredients were quite fresh, and there was a decent variety, so overall it felt like a good value. We all chose the plain broth, which was still flavorful and tasty. In a place like Tampa, where there isn’t much Chinese food, this definitely hit the spot.

That night, we were able to switch rooms smoothly at the hotel and finally got a peaceful night’s sleep.

The next day, we got to see Tampa at 4 a.m. The hotel was very close to the airport, and with so few people around early in the morning, we made it to our gate without any trouble. The airport lounges in Tampa that we could have used were not close to our gate, so we didn’t make a detour to visit them. Even though our flight was delayed by almost an hour, with the time difference we still made it back to Seattle by only 10 a.m.

This is the last post from our Christmas trip.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, Lazy 33’s Food, Drinks, and Fun. All of the articles are original and well worth reading, so if you’re interested, feel free to follow the account.