The Little Mermaid

Last Friday, my Mom & I took Annabelle down to Weeki Wachee to see the mermaids. It’s an old Florida attraction that dates back to the 50’s. Momma took my Georgia cousins and I one summer about 20 years ago, around the same time that we had a slight obsession with Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

We’d heard the park had closed down a few years ago, but that the state bought it and recently re-opened it as a State Park. We wanted to see what it was like now and thought it would be a fun Friday day-trip!

 

We made it to the park around 10:30…perfect timing for the 11:00 show!

The underwater theater was just like I remember it (only MUCH smaller). Things seem so big when you are little.    

It’s basically just a huge aquarium with stadium seats where you sit and watch the mermaids perform. They still have the oxygen tubes that they all carry, which I remember being so disappointed at when I was little. I don’t know how they breath with those things, though…I’d panic, forget to breath through my mouth and snort water up my nose for sure. ESPECIALLY if I was underwater with a “fin” on… those “mermaids” really do deserve some serious credit for being able to do that!

AB was excited when the curtain finally came up and when she saw a fish swim by. But when the mermaids swam up, she was slightly caught off guard. She was pretty concerned about them. She watched the whole 30 minute show with a puzzled look on her face. She was taking it all in and just trying to figure it out. She did wave at the last mermaid though and even flashed a smile!

Mom and I agreed that the show was pretty cheesy, but we expected that. (we’re the kind of people that like cheesy, anyway, so we enjoyed it). We thought it was worth the ticket price for sure.

The one thing that was REALLY cheesy, though, (even too cheesy for me) was the turtle… Bless his heart… having that big turtle costume just took it to a whole new level… he was only in one scene though… he was thrown in for the extreme cheesy people that were there, I guess… not just us semi-cheesy peeps…

After the show was over, we had our picture taken with the mermaid.

She had a special chair that she sat in and when the picture time was over, one of the guys came and carried her away. I don’t know why that surprised us, because how else is a girl with a fin going to get around??? “Flipping your fins you don’t get real far…” 

Just beyond the Mermaid Theater is the other part of the property (its two separate parks in one location), called Buccaneer Bay.

AB thought it looked fun…

And we did, too! It’s a spring, so it’s crystal-clear fresh water with those big slides landing in it! How fun is that?

We walked through the park…and stopped at a all the photo-ops… we paid our 13 bucks and did it all…

 

  

except for the “riverboat cruise”---we passed on it.

Before we left, we did have to make a stop at the gift shop, because what trip would be complete without bringing something home?!?!?

On our way out, we asked the ticket lady take our picture, since we didn’t have one of all three of us. It’s blurry, but at least we have one!    

It was a fun little day trip and I can’t wait to take AB back after she really gets into movies and watches “The Little Mermaid”!!!

~amw~