Trip Report Discovery Cove, SeaWorld and other stuff.

So we went to Orlando in September and while there we purchased SeaWorld annual passes. It was one of our mostly relaxation type trips. My wife had some vacation time left she needed to use or lose so we went back in October.
SeaWorld annual pass holders get a significant discount to Discovery Cove and since it is something we have talked about doing for a long time we decided to go ahead and spend a day there.
It was fantastic...better than we imagined. I hope this mostly non-Disney trip report is OK here and trust the mods will remove it if not.
So we went the week of Oct. 15-22 and the weather was fantastic. We stayed at a place called Marriott Grande Vista off of International Drive near SeaWorld. It is a beautiful property and we enjoyed it a lot. We went to SeaWorld several times, went to Discovery Cove and went over to WDW and went resort hopping too.
I will start out with Discovery Cove, the highlight of the trip. Here is the lobby:

 

[epcotisbest]

 

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Try the butternut squash soup if it is on the menu when you are there...delicious.

 

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Gotta go out and view the wildlife while there:

 

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Can't forget about the zebra:

 

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Love the lobby at Kidani:

 

[LisaBelle]

So happy you wrote a TR about your trip to DC. Have never been there, but have always thought it looked like fun. Our kids are older now and I think they would really enjoy it, too. The bread service at Sanaa looks so delicious. We've never been there but I only hear rave reviews.

 

[epcotisbest]

So happy you wrote a TR about your trip to DC. Have never been there, but have always thought it looked like fun. Our kids are older now and I think they would really enjoy it, too. The bread service at Sanaa looks so delicious. We've never been there but I only hear rave reviews.

Thanks for reading. Saw lots of kids of all ages that appeared to be having a wonderful time at DC.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

Discovery Cove looks pretty cool. We skipped out on SW on our August trip. Our previous trip in 2008 we didn't have a great experience there. Not exactly SW's fault, but my sister wandered off without her cell phone and we spent over 2 hours trying to find her. We were so busy on this last trip I'm kind of glad that we decided to cut it out. Maybe next time...

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you again for a wonderful TR and Sanaa

 

[Sans Souci]

DC looks amazing. I had the opportunity to stay at Kidani back in Sept. We had a savannah view and it was so cool to see the giraffes feasting in the morning.

 

[epcotisbest]

Discovery Cove looks pretty cool. We skipped out on SW on our August trip. Our previous trip in 2008 we didn't have a great experience there. Not exactly SW's fault, but my sister wandered off without her cell phone and we spent over 2 hours trying to find her. We were so busy on this last trip I'm kind of glad that we decided to cut it out. Maybe next time...

Thanks for reading. We enjoy SeaWorld and have been going for many years. We slowed down our approach to the theme parks several years ago, spending less time in the parks, less hurrying to try to do so much and something strange happened...we started enjoying our trips much more, doing less, slowing down, really enjoying the moment instead of rushing to get to the next moment. I wish we had figured out that less is more, much more, years ago.

 

[epcotisbest]

Thank you again for a wonderful TR and Sanaa

Thanks...more to come.

 

[epcotisbest]

DC looks amazing. I had the opportunity to stay at Kidani back in Sept. We had a savannah view and it was so cool to see the giraffes feasting in the morning.

We stayed there last year...amazing place. We loved the pool area and also truly enjoyed having breakfast on the balcony watching the animals.

 

[epcotisbest]

@figmentfan423 have you ever made a butternut squash soup? We are thinking about trying it. Would you roast the squash first then blend it and add the cream and spices?

 

[Figgy1]

@figmentfan423 have you ever made a butternut squash soup? We are thinking about trying it. Would you roast the squash first then blend it and add the cream and spices?

I think it comes out just a smidge better if i roast the squash first but if it's a busy day i put everything in the pressure cooker. That's one thing we didn't try at Sanaa due to dairy allergies

 

[epcotisbest]

OK, let's take a look at our room. We stayed at Marriott's Grande Vista off International Drive. It is between the Premium Outlets at Vineland and the SeaWorld area, quite close to SeaWorld. Here is the tastefully decorated living room:

 

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This is the second bedroom of the two-bedroom condo. We did not need a two-bedroom, but it is what we had. Did not use the second bedroom, but snapped a pic of it. For some reason I did not take a photo of the master bedroom:

 

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This is part of the huge master bathroom area and then a photo of the quiet pool from our screened-in balcony.

 

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Here is the kitchen. Not the biggest kitchen of some of the condos we have stayed at, but functional:

 

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Here is one of the quiet pools: