Who cares about Shamu? I’m here too.

Taken at the SeaWorld.

More Wordless Wednesday

I had an opportunity to drive the SeaWorld’s Manta roller coaster / under water experience, and it was nothing like I have experienced before! I am a huge fan of SeaWorld and the sea life, and the under water experience was amazing! There is a glass ceiling and the string rays swim on the top of you. See the photos below – it was amazing!

And then the roller coaster…

I am scared of heights.
Really, I am terrified to even sit in a ski lift, but I still do it for the love of skiing. Roller coasters are not my thing, or at least those that make you go your head down. But I was pretty determined to ride the Manta, and not let my fears to take over. I was actually excited – I wanted to like this thing. I saw other bloggers like Julia to ride all over and over again, it had to be fun..

I rode it with Janice of 5MinutesForMom.com and Gwen Bell, and we had a very unique experience to get ourselves filmed during the drive! See the video on the top and ride the Manta with us!

After I sat down in the seat of Manta and the seat belts locked down I was OK. Even when the seats turned you down so I was in horizontal position – like flying!- I was OK. Then Manta started moving slowly, and I was OK, actually more than OK, it was the coolest thing ever to slowly fly in the sky, even though pretty high, and I really was ready to love the ride. But then my head was down, and I saw the ground, and my stomach turned… and I closed my eyes. For the most of the drive. Well, my hair was in the front of my eyes anyway making me look like one of them walruses we saw at SeaWorld. But I survived, and wasn’t scared. And I have to say I even enjoyed it… Not as much as Gwen did (watch the video!), but I did like it.

Thanks to Janice of 5MinutesForMom for some of these photos used here.

Thank you IZEA and SeaWorld for sending me to SeaWorld!

SeaWorld’s Manta just opened last week in SeaWorld Orlando. SeaWorld is all about animal encounters and thrill rides, and Manta is the perfect mix of both. Manta is a sea life exhibit, a roller coaster, an aquarium and a thrill ride, all in one.

SeaWorld is running a cool social media campaign for you to win a front line pass to Manta by tweeting to @RealShamu, submitting your “I Love Manta” photo to Flickr and doing four other tasks. Visit the Ride Manta site for details and to win.

I have been chosen to be one of the nine bloggers to attend SeaWorld’s Manta Media Days next week in Orlando, and I can’t wait to see and ride the Manta, see blogging friends, and above all learn more about the amazing sea life that Manta contains. Manta has 10 aquariums and more than 3,000 animals living in these state-of-the-art aquatic habitats. Manta gives visitors a peak into life of hundreds of rays, thousands of exotic fish, sea horses and even a giant Pacific octopus. I can’t wait to see it all, and the rumor goes that we’ll also see the Shamu’s Believe-show, which is amazing, we saw it in SeaWorld San Antonio last summer, and you just can not watch it without having your eyes watering, it is so emotional to see such a beautiful animal so closely.

Did you happen to see the SeaWorld Dolphin Bubbles at ABC news…? This is amazing! These dolphins make air bubble rings and play with them and even show off to others. The dolphin experts say that this is not normal behavior – it’s something, that they have learned to do – just for fun! Normally air bubbles float right up, but these smart dolphins figured out how they can break them a little bit at the time to keep them down. The SeaWorld personnel say that the other dolphins teach their friends how to have fun with the bubble rings. Isn’t it unbelievable?

We visited the San Antonio SeaWorld last summer and we fed the dolphins and my kids absolutely loved it! My 7 year old daughter is obsessed with sea life, and her dream is to become a Shamu trainer some day. I would love to take her to SeaWorld Orlando to see these dolphins – they are the perfect combination of beauty and brain with a attitude of living life to the fullest and having fun. I was looking at some hotel deals at the Orlando and found amazing pricing – if you get three nights, you’ll get two nights for free!

Details on this amazing travel deal to SeaWorld Orlando: You can choose either SeaWorld and Aquatica or SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, visit before September 7, 2009. Packages start at $561 for a family of four – that’s like paying just $28 per night per person. But hurry – you must book by March 31 to get this amazing deal to go and see the Dolphin Bubbles at the SeaWorld.

If you would like to learn more about the Dolphin Bubbles and see some great photos, visit DolphinBubbles.com and let me know what do you think!