Manta Mania!! Win a Trip for 4 from Izea to SeaWorld in Orlando
February 11, 2009
This past weekend, if you were reading my Twitterstream you know I got to go to SeaWorld in Orlando thanks to the wonderful people at IZEA & SeaWorld. I spent my weekend feeling like a kid again while getting to spend some of the most amazing moments with @eMom, @juliaroy, @pop17, @aschek & @tedmurphy! I keep blaming my laryngitis on ‘travel plague’ that I seem to get every time I’m in an airplane – but I think it actually started someday mid-way thru Saturday with all of the squeeing and screaming I did, if I’m being honest…
I went to SeaWorld in San Diego once as a kid. My big memory outside of Shamu the Killer Whale was that my older brother got a pearl out of his oyster from the pearl divers while mine came up with an empty shell. So when Ted Murphy told me that I got to go to SeaWorld in Orlando to experience a hard-hat tour of their upcoming Manta attraction? My first thought was “yeah, I’m going to head straight to the pearl divers! hah!”
You know what? They still have pearl divers – but we were so busy doing other exciting things? I kind of, um, forgot to go do that even tho I walked by more than once. Don’t worry, I’ll be doing it again soon enough with my own family (or so I’ve been informed by my daughter upon seeing footage of my weekend) so it will be on the list then I’m sure!
I’ll be honest that I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I mean, when someone says “Orlando” I used to think of that big park with the mouse, ya know? And before this weekend? When I thought “SeaWorld” I didn’t think “roller coaster” or “up close experiences with sea creatures” or even really much beyond “rotten-oysters-that-didn’t-give-me-a-pearl” and “Shamu” – so I didn’t exactly go in expecting to have the day of a lifetime. I mean, I didn’t even know that anything outside of the hard-hat tour was on the agenda before about a week out.
But dude. I had the day of a lifetime. I got to feed (and touch!) dolphins. Real, live, happy, frolicking, smiling, wonderful dolphins!! And it’s not an experience that is kept to the “select few” either. Sure, in order to get us through even a small portion of what the park offers visitors, we had VIP access that got us to the front of many lines – but there were lines. You? You can feed dolphins… and manta rays… and even sea lions (but man, those sea lions? a bit on the “fishy-smelly side” yikes!) All you have to do is go to Orlando, buy a ticket to SeaWorld and buy some smelly fish and wait your turn… well, for the dolphins anyhow – the mantas and sea lions are sort of a ’step-right-up and feed away’ deal.
Even with all of that, I was still totally stunned by all of the stuff that is going into the new Manta experience. I say ‘experience’ because it’s waaaay more than just an incredible one-of-a-kind coaster. There’s also the immersive aquarium experience and so much more than I can fit into just one blog post. (Yes, there will be more informational posts coming – I’m like that, remember?) Seriously, it’s not a “ride” it’s an experience. I personally can’t wait to get back there when it’s open. (See Ted Murphy’s video for a feel of how excited we all were.)
What? You don’t see it in the budget this year? You should. Seriously, I’m frantically figuring out a way to put it in my budget for later this year. But yeah, I understand – easy for me to say. I just got back from there. Not everyone is so lucky.
Aren’t you lucky then that you’re reading this? Because the awesome folks at Izea & SeaWorld have teamed up to create this wicked cool contest called Manta Mania.
Someone (You?) is going to win a trip for 4 to SeaWorld Orlando to be one of the FIRST people to RIDE the new Manta!! (Not to mention get to see all of the other cool stuff for themselves!)
What do you have to do to enter? Seriously, it’s so easy it’s almost done already:
1 – Blog Comment:
Leave a comment on this post sharing why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld to ride Manta. Make sure to include valid information so we can contact you if you win!
2 – Twitter Tweet:
Tweet out why you want to go to SeaWorld and ride Manta in 140 characters or less. Be sure to include http://bit.ly/gmswc, #mantamania and @GeekMommy in your tweet to be registered. For example:
I want to go to SeaWorld @GeekMommy I’ve got #mantamania because __ fill-in-the-blank __ http://bit.ly/gmswc
3 – Blog Post:
Write a post about why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld and ride Manta. Be sure to leave a comment or trackback on this post with the URL of your post.
Each tweet, comment or post counts as ONE registration. A person can enter UP TO three times. The winner will be chosen at random by IZEA based on all valid contest entries.
I’ll be giving away a SeaWorld Schwag Bag to one winner who enters on GeekMommy.net and IZEA will choose the grand prize winner randomly from all entries on the 6 blogs participating in the giveaway. The bloggers participating in the giveaway are the ones who went on the SeaWorld trip with me – Wendy Piersall, Sarah Austin, Julia Roy, Alex Schek and Ted Murphy.
Just don’t sit too close to Ted Murphy if you’re at the Shamu Believe show – it’s um, a damp experience
Important Legal Stuff
The Manta Mania Contest is open to anyone who is a legal U.S. resident and legal residents of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, or Dominican Republic and is at least eighteen (18) years of age. The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 10, 2009. Please be sure and read the full contest rules here.
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