Seaworld

In addition to Universal, we also took the kids to Seaworld.

The day was quite cold with drizzling rain all morning, but it cleared up by early afternoon.

It had only just stopped raining when we saw the Killer Whale Show.

The Orcas could certainly catch air and make a splash.

We also saw the Dolphin show, and again these aquatic creatures showed some aerial acrobatics:

After the shows, we went and fed Dolphins and Stingrays, both by hand, and had a good time.

The dolphins approached to be fed with toothy grins:

And they said thanks for the fish, they actually squeaked and chatted through their blowholes and it was very neat indeed.

Feeding them was very cool, as I've never been that close to a dolphin before. 

They let themselves be patted and they appreciated the fish.

The rays were similarly eager to be fed, and with their mouths on their undersides, you had to place your hand at the bottom of the pool with the piece of fish poking out from your hand. They would come by and suck the fish out of your hand and then swim on, it felt like a vacuum cleaner.

The rays felt like wet mushrooms and were quite placid and relaxed with all the people around.

We saw all the various exhibits and aquatic animals and the kids learned a ton about marine creatures, and the theme park heavily stresses education throughout.

We also did a few rides and the kids loved the Shamu Express Roller Coaster and rode it about 10 times in a row.

Seaworld is a much smaller park than Universal and thanks to the nasty weather, it was easy to get into all the exhibits and rides that we could wish to go on.  The only downside was that the food was decidedly mediocre, especially compared to Universal. 

The kids had a whale of a time at Seaworld and I'd recommend going there if you're vacationing in Orlando.  It's worth it just for the opportunity to hand-feed dolphins, with the rest of the park being a cool bonus.