aero21 Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 A few weeks back during the Bay Area Bash, My friend and I struck up a conversation with Captain Lee about how cool it would be to play around with the animals. Being the cool guy he is, he gave us his contact information and told us to let him know when we would be back. After a few exchanges of emails we set today as the day we would head down to the park to meet up with him. We arrived at the park around 11 and met up with the Cap'n at the Tiger exhibit. Little did we know or expect that we would have the best day at the park ever! Captain Lee set us up with VIP seats for the Killer Whale show, right on the front stage no less than 5 feet from the whales! After the show came the best part of the day, Exclusive Tiger Time with the parks newest additions Mischa and Maksim. We were escorted to the nursery and spent almost an hour just interacting and playing with the two cutest tiger cubs. I want to thank Captain Lee for letting us have this amazing experience! Discovery Kingdom continues to get better and better thanks to people like Lee and his efforts, I look forward to going back. On to the pics: Getting ready for the Shouka show poolside. We could almost touch them. This is Merlin, he and Shouka are BFF DK is famous for their Diving Cats. These are some big cats, we need something more "our size" This is Mischa, she decided to use my foot as a pillow. Yeah, I can say I held a Tiger. The girls. She actually broke skin on Cap'n Lee, purely on accident though. They don't know their own strength yet. She gave me a little scratch, but i'm OK. Besides when people ask I can just say "it was that darn tiger", that's awesome! Lee explained the vocalizations the cats would make and how we could "talk" back to them. Big cats cannot pur but they can roar, small cats can pur but not roar. Learning is fun. This is Maksim. At almost three months his paw was almost as big as my hand. Just like a future ACE members, Mischa spotted the food and was done playing. Alright guys, back to bed. Captain Lee gets to take these guys home at night, he doesn't recommend it for people not named Captain. Not to leave out the coasters...Kong though Medusa's lift and the trees. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 This. is. the. coolest. thing. ever. Â Captain Lee really sounds like a cool guy. And those tiger cubs were so freaking cute! I can't believe he'd let you do all of this. That's awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the ghost Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 ^Agreed,awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jive Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Triple agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster-crazy Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Captain Lee really is a nice guy. I've emailed him a few times and had a great experience with him when I won a VIP contest at the park back in April. He's really generous and a great overall person. Â Heh, every Six Flags park should have one of these guys... too bad you don't find many people like him. Glad you enjoyed the park! I got to sit in that spot for the Shouka show as part of my VIP experience, except, it was raining on the day I was there - BRRR!!!! Â ~Nicholas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnEscapeArtist Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Is this experience available for all guests that purchase a VIP Package at the park? Or was this only for you because you knew someone that worked at the park? Â My significant other is VERY interested in these types of things and I'd love to take her there on a trip to have the same experience you had! Â Very cool! Thanks in advance for any answers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Palooza Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 WOW! Very jealous, I wish we could have done that. What you guys did is so cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCo Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Super Awesome Lucky Smile ETT! This rocks out like nobody's business. So cool that you got all that quality kittie time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aero21 Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 I Must clarify, This is not something that is available to the public or even something you can win. This happened because Bay Area Bash happened (thanks TPR!). While heading back to Tony Hawk for the challenge we stopped Lee and asked if he needed help with the baby tigers, almost as a joke. To our surprise he was cool with it, but just not on that day cause it was getting late. After a few weeks of emails and getting times situated, we're both very busy people, we finally got our times situated and made it happen. We were very lucky to get to do this, those cats are not going to be small for long. They grow almost a pound a day right now and it will not be long before they will be just too risky for untrained people like myself to be around them. I really owe this all to Lee and I can't thank him enough. If you are not friends with him on Facebook I recommend doing it now. Cat in my Lap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre8 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 That tiger looks so cute! The animals are one of the best things in SFDK. This makes me jealous! Nice PTR! (Photo Tiger Report, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckrazy06 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Why cant scientists find a way to genetically mutate tigers to stay that small so they can be sold as pets? I want one!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six Flags Enthuseast Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Those are such cute little tigers! I'm going to ask Captain Lee if he wants help with the tigers next time I'm at SFDK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woogle Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 This is a great update and must have been a fantastic experience as well. Wish I was there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milst1 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Great post! We really enjoyed SFDK when we visited a couple of years back, and I remember spending a fair amount of time watching in awe of the staff guys that were hanging out inside the cage with the big tigers, playing and feeding them from baby bottles. Great that you were able to have such an intimate and special side experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1br3tto Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 What a great experience! I've only petted a baby tiger and I'd love to play with one someday. It sounds like Captain Lee really does a lot for the park (not that I didn't already know that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslinterpreter Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 That is pretty cool that you found a place in the US that will let you do that! The only places we have been able to are overseas, where as long as you got the money, they dont really care....like in.... Africa! This was not that bad at only 30 Rand each And Thailand.This was at Tiger Kingdom in Chang Mai Notice my wife does not have on the orange scarf anymore, the guy there said the big tiger might rip it off! You can see the Thai people in the background wondering why this crazy Farang wanted to go in with the adults!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PortugePunk Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 That's cool, man. I grew up in Vallejo and I remember petting baby tigers one time when I was very small and they were still all about the animals. Those cats are awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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