I don't even know where to begin. We had been looking forward to our trip to San Antonio for a couple months now, hyping the kids up to go to Sea World to see dolphins, penguins, sharks, etc. All packed and ready to go in the new Tahoe! The drive down was actually pretty good, making it in a little under 5 hours. The boys did great, entertaining themselves with movies, snacks, etc.We arrived at the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch around 3pm on Sunday and got all checked in. I stopped by the concierge desk, bought our tickets for Sea World and booked us a slot on the hotel shuttle there first thing in the morning. All set!
After getting settled into our room, we headed down to the lazy river at the resort. It was complete with a sandy beach that the boys LOVED!
On the way back to our room from s'mores, the concierge came running out frantically, telling us that they just found out that Sea World changed their schedule and is CLOSED this week. W.T.F.?!?! I thought this was a joke. We ran back to the room and I grabbed my iPad to look it up. Depending on where you click on their website, it says they're open this week, and some say closed. This can't be happening! I have promised two little boys a trip to Sea World! I checked their website a hundred times in the past two months booking this trip, ensuring that they were open. This was the last full week they were to be open, before resulting to weekends-only. I had no idea what we were going to tell the boys.
Woke up early the next morning, went down to the concierge desk and confirmed yes, they were indeed closed until Friday. Ahhhhhhh! The whole point of this trip was to go to friggin' Sea World! I didn't know who to be mad at, the hotel, Sea World, myself?! Needless to say, I was feeling the mother's guilt of promising my boys something spectacular only to let them down. I guess it sorta didn't make me feel as bad since the hotel still thought they were open (selling tickets and booking people on the shuttle), as did other hotel guests. This was quickly turning into an expensive staycation......5 hours away from home. At this point, there was nothing we could do. We were already in San Antonio and just had to make the best of our trip. After getting ahold of somebody in the Sea World HR department, I gave the lady a piece of my mind. I directed her to where on their website it STILL said they were open and she quickly refunded my $200 in tickets. The money wasn't the point, we wanted to see Shamu, dammit!
Luckily, we planned to stay at a resort with lots of activities, not just a run-of-the-mill hotel. We ventured down to the Riverwalk area and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Austin loved it, while Chase wasn't too sure about the animals coming to life every fifteen minutes. They got to paint at the kids camp at the resort and got glitter tattoos.
Most of the time, we just relaxed out on the beach and played around in the lazy river. It definitely wasn't what we expected from our trip, but we had to make the best of it. Jordan and I loved spending so much time with the boys and created some great memories. The boys loved building sandcastles and Austin even made some friends down in the water. One night, we even got to watch a movie outside under the stars on big screen. And we grilled out on one of the grills one evening for dinner. Austin kept saying that he loved camping. :)
The guilt ate me up and now we're planning another trip back down to San Antonio in about a month to spend a long weekend at Sea World. I hate to give them by business after they basically just screwed me over, but I have to give the boys what I promised! They asked a few times if we were going to Sea World, and I just told them they were closed and we would have to take another vacation really soon to come back. That (surprisingly) ended their inquisition and that was that.
On the way back home yesterday, we stopped off in New Braunfels and visited two of our favorite spots........ate lunch at the Gristmill and stopped in to Gruene Hall. Jordan and I have been here many times and it was great to bring the boys by (although, I don't think either one of them appreciated their greatness!).
Jordan said our trip reminded him of National Lampoon's Family Vacation, where Chevy Chase's family drives all the way to Wally World, only to arrive at an empty amusement park. Don't think that the thought of breaking into Sea World didn't cross our minds! :)
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