{"id":269,"date":"2011-07-15T22:29:50","date_gmt":"2011-07-16T04:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/?p=269"},"modified":"2011-07-16T10:17:55","modified_gmt":"2011-07-16T16:17:55","slug":"family-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/?p=269","title":{"rendered":"Family Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class='mp-share-buttons'><li class='mp-share-buttons-fb'><div class='fb-like' data-href='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heiserfamily.com%2Fhappenings%2F%3Fp%3D269' data-width='' data-layout='button' data-action='like' data-size='small' data-share='true'><\/div><\/li><li class='mp-share-buttons-tw'><a class='twitter-share-button' href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/share'?url='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heiserfamily.com%2Fhappenings%2F%3Fp%3D269' data-via='Breaker119'><\/a><\/li><li class='mp-share-buttons-li' style='margin-top:-10px !important;'><script type='in\/share' data-url='http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/?p=269'><\/script><\/li><\/ul><div class='mp-share-clear-fix'><\/div><p><iframe title =\"Preview\" scrolling=\"no\" marginheight=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width:320px;height:240px;padding:0;background-color:#fcfcfc;\" src=\"https:\/\/skydrive.live.com\/embedphoto.aspx\/.Public\/11.jpg?cid=5cf1b9d2f051f4cd&#038;sc=documents\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We took our first real family vacation to Sea World San Antonio this week.  It was successful if I must say!  We had a great time even through the heat, a nearly 3 year old, and a 9 week old.  Our decision to go in the dead of summer was largely due to us being cheap &#8211; we wanted to get Sara there before she turned 3.  It was really a good trip (Wednesday through Friday), and I have a few things to list that we learned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>General Travel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1.\tDon&#8217;t feed a toddler a Fiber One bar for breakfast before a road trip.  I&#8217;ll let you, dear reader, figure out why for yourself.<\/p>\n<p>2.\tPlan for an extra hour or two of travel time due to number 1<\/p>\n<p>3.\tYes, San Antonio really is a destination city.<\/p>\n<p>4.\tCheck for hotel deals just before you leave.  We had a $125\/night hotel booked, but a Groupon for $73\/night (with breakfast and parking) on the Riverwalk came through the day before we left.  We bought 2 and saved a bunch!  The hotel was the El Tropicana \u2013 the first hotel on the Riverwalk.  Think \u201860s swank.  It was great and all I could think of was AMC\u2019s Mad Men.  This image was even stronger when seeing the pool \u2013 particularly at night.  Everything was \u201860s except maybe the fake grass!<\/p>\n<p>5.\tI\u2019m not a taxi guy, but it was worth taking a taxi home late at night with a tired toddler and hungry baby.<\/p>\n<p>6.\tCheck for all your belongings when leaving a taxi with a tired toddler and hungry baby.  We left our diaper bag.  Oh well \u2013 minor loss, but a great bag.<\/p>\n<p>7.\tTake the taxi receipt when offered (see #6)<\/p>\n<p>8.\tPay cash for everything!  It is fantastic to not have to worry about some plastic to pay off when you get home (see Dave Ramsey or even the Bible for that matter)<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the Park<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1.\tLook into buying year long passes.  Parking is $15 per day.  Year Pass holders get free parking plus 20% off many purchases in the park.<\/p>\n<p>2.\tSea World offers a $29.95 all you can eat deal.  This is a rip off IMHO.  You can only use it in the restaurants, and unless you plan on eating 5 times per day you don\u2019t need it.  For us, we could all just split a sandwich or two for $9.  It was so hot that\u2019s all we really had an appetite for.<\/p>\n<p>3.\tYeah yeah \u2013 we\u2019re not the smallest folks, but it was obvious that many park-goers were taking full advantage of #2.<\/p>\n<p>4.\tBuy the $8.99 collector\u2019s sport cup!  It costs $1 for refills and if you go in the summer you\u2019ll spend $3 to $5 on refills.  Totally worth it!  We refilled with lemonade slushies, clear sodas, and water.<\/p>\n<p>5.\tSpread your park visit over multiple days if you can swing it.  Our trip was immensely more pleasurable since we weren\u2019t worried about trying to fit everything in in too short a time.   We did some shows and oriented ourselves with the park on day 1, shows and waterpark on day two, and shows, attractions, and rides on day 3.<\/p>\n<p>6.\tI can\u2019t stress this enough \u2013 THERE IS NO MORE FREE BEER.  I guess that Busch used to be more involved.  Our last trip was blessed with free tasting \u2013 not this time, and we were really looking forward to it only to find out they were now $6.50 a pop.  Consequently, the bar was empty!<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<p>Park Attractions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1.\tThe Shamu shows just aren\u2019t really good anymore \u2013 particularly the night show.  I know, you can\u2019t go to Sea World without seeing Shamu, but it\u2019s just not that great anymore\u2026maybe if you want to sit up front and possibly get splashed, but we just didn\u2019t feel it.  Plus, the stupid song they play through the whole afternoon show made me want to gag.<\/p>\n<p>2.\tAzul is pretty cool \u2013 very Cirque du Soleil<\/p>\n<p>3.\tPay to feed the dolphins \u2013 it is worth it if you have kids.  If you don\u2019t, well\u2026whatever.  The park doesn\u2019t really have anything to offer you if you don\u2019t have kids.<\/p>\n<p>4.\tThe kids splash park is completely concrete!  Maybe I\u2019ve been spoiled at fancy splash parks, but Hey, Sea World, they\u2019ve got this great cushy rubber material that you should use!  Running kids, crowds, and concrete always covered with water is bad news waiting to happen!  Luckily, we had no knee scrapes or anything, but I can see it happening.<\/p>\n<p>5.\tThe Elmo 4D experience is fun (and air conditioned).  I\u2019m generally not a fan of 3D movies, but it was awesome to see the kids reaching out trying to touch things coming out of the screen.<\/p>\n<p>6.\tGo see the penguins (also air conditioned).  Penguins are always fun, and there\u2019s a moving walkway\u2026again, always fun.<\/p>\n<p>7.\tThe Cannery Row Caper is always worth seeing.  Seals and Otters make me laugh \u2013 enough said.  Go feed them during times well away from show times at the Rocky Point Preserve.  It is less crowded.<\/p>\n<p>This post is already too long, and I should be in bed after driving home.  All in all, very fun, and I&#8217;ve got great kids and a great wife.<\/p>\n<span id='mp-share-below-action'><\/span><ul class='mp-share-buttons'><li class='mp-share-buttons-fb'><div class='fb-like' data-href='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heiserfamily.com%2Fhappenings%2F%3Fp%3D269' data-width='' data-layout='button' data-action='like' data-size='small' data-share='true'><\/div><\/li><li class='mp-share-buttons-tw'><a class='twitter-share-button' href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/share'?url='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heiserfamily.com%2Fhappenings%2F%3Fp%3D269' data-via='Breaker119'><\/a><\/li><li class='mp-share-buttons-li' style='margin-top:-10px !important;'><script type='in\/share' data-url='http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/?p=269'><\/script><\/li><\/ul><div class='mp-share-clear-fix'><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We took our first real family vacation to Sea World San Antonio this week. It was successful if I must say! We had a great time even through the heat, a nearly 3 year old, and a 9 week old. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/?p=269\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vacation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heiserfamily.com\/happenings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}