The park we were most looking forward to and the one that indeed proved to be the coolest was Sea World (we loved it so much, we went 3 times!). They did a great job at creating those moments of wonder and making all their animals accessible for interaction.
You already saw Delia's reaction the first time she saw Shamu swim by. At the shows she was even more awestruck, as was I. These animals are incredible-- huge, graceful, gentle, sleek. I got chills when I watched them.
The beautiful beluga whales were found in a neat Wild Arctic exhibit with polar bears, walruses and penguins.
"Mingos" on parade. These guys just roamed around, escorting us to our next attraction at one point!
The pool of sting and bat rays (with no stingers) was totally awesome. We got to feed them fish and since they know people as food sources, they would swim right up for some love!
At the Shark Encounter, an underwater tunnel that allowed you to see sharks swimming all around you, Ella was really cute about encouraging us not to be scared. Here she reassures Dave that the sharks can't get him (we came up with this game because Ella truly was afraid). 
Sea World featured a little Sesame Street amusement park in the middle of it. The few rides and crazy play area may have been Ella's favorite part.
The highlight of Sea World for me was a beautiful night time Christmas Shamu show. We went to it skeptical that it would be annoyingly general about the "holidays" and only make reference to Santa. How incredible it was when the entire program was choreographed with live musicians playing Christian Christmas music and Luke 2 appeared on the jumbo screen. The finale of the show was an invitation to all of us to stand and sing Joy to the World while the whales did their most impressive set of jumps and flips. I'll never be able to sing this song in church again without picturing this amazing image of God's creation!
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