Instead of gifts this year we decided to try out a Christmas experience. We knew we would be in Florida over the break. We hemmed and hawed between Universal Studios and Disney World. Little Man desperately wants to do Harry Potter World and the others desperately want princesses and Mickey Mouse. They're both expensive parks and we knew we really only had one day when could go. We didn't want only part of the family to be happy. We discussed it as a family and all agreed on Sea World Orlando. We have good friends who are experts at getting the most out of amusement parks. I consulted with them and researched it, and it was all worth it, because the day went swimmingly!
We made the decision to splurge and get most of the fast passes. We got the show fast pass, so that you only have to show up 15 minutes before the show starts and you have reserved seating that is in a prime location (and out of the splash zone). We also got the food pass (which more than pays for itself). You get unlimited drinks and every 90 minutes you can get food. The kids had 3 full meals. Their favorite was getting icees and taking them to the shows.
Little Guy used to always watch videos of the animal shows on our friend's phone when we went on morning walks. The look on his face when he got to see it in person was priceless! We did the dolphin show, the sea lion show, and the killer whale show. The killer whale show was so packed that we wouldn't have gotten in if it weren't for our passes, so we were definitely grateful for them!
We loved all of the different aquariums and animals. BB was particularly excited about the shark tank. He's been writing reports on sharks at school and his favorite shark is the Mako.
It was calling for rain so we were a bit worried, but the weather ended up being perfect. In fact, it was a record high in Orlando that day with clouds so no sunburn but nice and balmy.
I think the single best purchase was the fast pass for the rides. Little Man just barely eked through as tall enough for the roller coasters, and to say that he was thrilled was an under statement. The fast pass is unlimited at Sea World, so you can ride as many of the rides as you want as many times as you want without waiting in lines. Joel and Little Man rode almost all of the roller coasters 3 times each. Little Man had the biggest grin on his face that I've seen in a long time. He has discovered that he LOVES roller coasters.
Little Lady is tall enough to ride the coasters, but she's afraid of heights, so she went with BB and Little Guy to the Sesame Street Land.
Little Guy went on his first roller-coaster and loved it. It was actually a pretty decent coaster ride for it being a kid's ride. It was pretty funny to see Little Guy love it and Little Lady say she'd rather not go on it again.
I just have to take a moment and share my sadness at the fact that my children don't know who Bert and Ernie are. They said the orange and yellow guys! What?! They love Elmo, but don't know a lot of the side characters.
One tip I got was to bring ponchos for the water rides. I'm so glad we did, because you get completely soaking wet on the Infinity Falls ride. It was Little Lady's favorite ride. Everyone went more than once, but she went 5 times! In fact, it's the last ride we rode before calling it a night!
We played hard! We got there before it opened and left 12 hours later. The amazing part is that none of the kids had any meltdowns and mommy and daddy didn't either. All 4 kids said it was the best Christmas gift ever! It was definitely a perfect day, and we're so grateful it all worked out.
We made the decision to splurge and get most of the fast passes. We got the show fast pass, so that you only have to show up 15 minutes before the show starts and you have reserved seating that is in a prime location (and out of the splash zone). We also got the food pass (which more than pays for itself). You get unlimited drinks and every 90 minutes you can get food. The kids had 3 full meals. Their favorite was getting icees and taking them to the shows. 
