Discovery Cove in Orlando

[prymsu]

anyone done this? I just checked out the site, and am seriously considering doing this even though it is a little steep for what I would like to pay. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The down side is that it includes a seven consecutive day pass to Sea World, and we would be able to use it...

[disneyholic family]

we did it the frist year they opened.....a few weeks after they opened in fact...
we enjoyed it and felt it was worth the money....
they only let in a limited number of guests so you have a kind of country club feel to it...especially in the summer when everything else in orlando is a mob scene...

it was nice and relaxed and very very uncrowded....
the dolphin encounter was fun although very short...

it's a well run operation....

as for sea world....well, if you're going in the summer, not being able to go to sea world is no loss in my opinion....we hated sea world...with a passion.....it was crowded beyond belief....hot as hell...and the lines to just get a lousy drink were longer than i believed possible...

bottom line, go to discovery cove and save your time and sanity by skipping sea world...

[catts5]

we went to Discovery Cove last Oct. and had a Great time. There were 9 in our party, two families and everyone had a super time. Besides the Dolphins, which was cool, but short, they have a stingray pool, a snorkel pond, which has alot of stuff in it including HUGE stingrays. They also have a river that winds around the property and you snorkel in it. We did this twice and it was so fun and relaxing. The food was good, you choose from a cafateria style, lots to choose from. Gift shops are expensive.

I would definately recommend Discovery Cove as it was the highlight of our Orlando trip. We did do Sea World and it was okay. Kids enjoyed the big rides. I enjoyed the baby dolphin nursery.

Go, you'll never regret it!!!

Have fun
Cheryl:smooth:

[tlt]

On the very bottom of all these pages, there is a "Forum Jump" section...there is a section for Sea World/Discovery Cove...bet you can get lots of info there. We are planning a trip to WDW in Dec...so we have been going to the WDW part of these DisBoards and getting great info there. These Disboards are a great help...not just for DCL info.

[prymsu]

thanx a bunch. i never thought about looking there...

[leslieh]

We are going to WDW on Thursday and have paid reservations for Discovery Cove, DDs 19&17 have wanted to do this for years, so i bit the bullet and made ressies. $700+. DH and me are not doing the dophin swim, so ours is 100.00 less. With the 7 day SW pass included, we were at SW at Christmas, the animal show is absolutely great, we liked it so much, well go a few times just for the shows. Ill give a review in two weeks.

[prymsu]

that would be most excellent. I already had hotel and car arrangements to stay close to WDW, but now after reading about discovery cove, this is definetly what we want to do, and now i will be changing our plans. Thanx a bunch! I will look forward to hearing your comments.

[tltjet]

My husband and I are going to Discovery Cove before our cruise in September. I was going to do the Dolphin Encounter in Nausau but thought that it wouldn't be so rushed. I read a lot on the Sea World board that helped in our decision.

[stormkrow]

We're also doing Discovery Cove - in our case, following our July 6th cruise. I just thougt if I'm going to spend $100 plus per person to do the dolphin swim as an excursion durig the cruise, why not spend a little more and have a whole day at Discovery Cove to enjoy.

In our case, we have not told the kids yet. It's going to be a surprise. We downplayed the dolphin swims on the cruise as "too expensive." I can't wait to see the kids surprise when we drive up to Discovery Cove!

:smooth:

[JenniferIsBored]

I just went to discovery Cove over spring break, and it was the best experience of my life!!!!!! It was my dream to swim with dolphins, and that wasnt even half of the fun. The place is beautiful, clean, and just over all amazing. The coral reef is fun, the food is great, and the lazy river and bird aviary are relaxing. They have towels everywhere you go, they give you snorkels and wet suits, or vests, which you have to wear but dont interfere. Everything is nice, they have showers with shampoo and conditioner, it is crowded, there is sand, and plants, and...i could go on forever. It's worth the money. It's a memory to have forever.

[Mulljac]

Stormkrow, you'll have to give us a little trip report about Discovery Cove. We also plan on doing this but not until next year. This is something I've always wanted to do. I received the brochure about 2 months ago and it looks fantastic. Hope you have a great time.

[inkkognito]

We too are considering doing Discovery Cove. We had to get a very late flight home after our Thanksgiving cruise, so we thought it might be a great way to kill some time. It's either DC (which we've never visited) or IOA (which we've been to several times), but this thread is making me lean towards Discovery Cove. I just hope that the weather would be cooperative, and I hate the fact that we won't be able to use the 7-day Sea World pass...they should offer a discount if you don't want that.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.*****************

[disneyholic family]

Barb,
forget sea world....they just throw that in to make people not feel so bad about the very high ticket price for DC...
but really DC is worth it all on its own.....of course, as i already mentioned, we all hated sea world......would never consider going back even if they paid us.....but then again, we're basically uncomfortable with captive animal situations.....including the dolphins at discovery cove.....but ignoring that aspect of it, DC is something you should do at least once...we especially enjoyed the stingray feeding and the lazy river....

and the absence of a crowd is such a treat.....the complete opposite of anything you'll experience at any of the orlando theme parks...

[kcand sunshine]

Just curious what you mean by really expensive!!!!!! I have heard alot about DC but we won't go for a couple of years. How far in advance do you need to book it!! Thanks so much!!!

[prymsu]

here is a link to DC web site. I am really excited now, and will definetly do this...

http://www.discoverycove.com/adventure.asp

[stormkrow]

kcand sunshine,

I believe te cost is now $219 per person. That's alot of money. But when you consider everything you get during this day-long adventure, I think it is worth it! Think of it as a Once-In-A-Lifetime experience.

Mulljac,

I'll definately do a report on our day at DC. I can't wait to see the surprise on my kids faces when we pull int Discovery Cove. Both of them have always spoken about swimming with dolphins (so have I).

Hope the weather is nice.:cool:

[atigeg]

I too am not very big on captive animals. After being to Disney's Animal Kingdom, I can't stand going to the zoos in Chicago anymore as there is no comparison. I have seen some of the animals (the tigers) at AK exhibiting compulsive behavior, but for the most part, it's about the best captive situation that I've seen. Is Discovery Cove like Disney, i.e. nice, large habitats that look more natural?
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.*****************

[kcand sunshine]

Thanks!!!!WOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! That is sooooooo expensive but it sounds like people thinks it's worth it!!!I better start saving now. Is there a certain age that is better than others???? Mine are 7 and 9 now and I was thinking about going back to Orlando when they are 10 and 12 or 11 and 13.Thanks!!!

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Barb, I think you would enjoy the San Diego Wild Animal Park (not the zoo, but the park which is about 20 miles outside San Diego). I'm sure this must have been the model that Disney used in designing AK.

www.sandiegozoo.org/wap

[tlt]

Just a differing view on Sea World...we happen to love it. We go every yr..and spend @ least 2 days there. Sea World does a lot to help animals/sea life. All of the animals there have been rescued from animal shelters and a lot of the sea life there were injured by boats, etc and rescued. Sea World does lots of education re: animal/sea life. They allow school/groups free entrance and do a lot of teaching to educate people. They are not the typical "money making" theme park like Disney, Universal, IOA which never allow schools/groups free admission. I have a friend who has been one of the trainers there for 9 yrs...and it is amazing some of the things they do. Many of the animal/sea life there are safer at Sea World than out in the ocean being injured by boats. I agree with everything said about captive animals... a lot of what is out there is cruel treatment. I do know that Sea World and Discovery Cove take exceptional care to prevent that and have been a great resource for education. Just a differing view.

[CubFan]

Don't forget to add 6% tax on that $219 per person--we are going right when we get off the ship on July 4th--cost for family of 4 is $928.56--we called and reserved about a month ago, but I would call well in advance--we decided to do DC when we tried to book shore excursions and they were already filled up--they said if we were there by 11 am we would still be able to do everything with an afternoon "swim"--other posters said they were off the ship and at DC by 9:30 and kids weren't too tired or anything--so we will see! I will try to get a report together when we return home on July 6-7th--

[disneyholic family]

Barb,
the area the dolphins live in at DC is quite large...much larger than what is typical at a sea world type place...
and they're very protective of them....there are very strict rules about what you can and can't do when you're doing the dolphin swim part of the visit....actually during any part of the visit to DC...
before the swim you have a 15 minute to a half hour explanation about dolphins including safety instructions that are meant to protect the dolphins....
as i said in my earlier post, it is an exceptionally well run operation...
on all counts....service, organization, safety, cleanliness, attitude towards the dolphins as well as the fish and various and sundry sea creatures...

it IS extremely expensive, but it's a one of a kind sort of place....

the people working there are highly trained and dedicated......

i doubt we'll ever go back, mainly because where we live we have access to free living dolphins....but if that weren't the case, i'm sure we would visit again this year...

we all enjoyed the dolphin encounter.....as well as the stingrays (though my daughter was bitten by one when she was feeding them....but the DC people were spectacular in their response......it was only a minor wound...nothing to be concerned about....)....we especially enjoyed the lazy river.....it was such a pleasure to have no crowd at all instead of wall to wall people.......if you've ever been at blizzard beach or typhoon lagoon you'll know what i'm talking about....

and the place itself is lovely and peaceful....and beautifully landscaped.....it sounds silly to mention, but the bathrooms and showers are dreamy....

bottom line, i definitely recommend it....we only spent a half day there as we never spend more than that in the sun.....but you could easily laze away the day there....

so i guess i'm saying that it's worth the money....surprising as that might seem considering how much it costs....

[3cheers4DIS]

we ( myself, DH and DS 12 ) have booked to do DC during the week we are staying at BWV before our Western cruise, we will also go to seaworld at least twice that week ( possibly once during the day and once in the evening after spending the day doing something else )

The main reason we chose this week to go is because we thought it would be an ideal opportunity to get in plenty of snorkel practice in a more "controlled environment" before hitting the seas at Grand Cayman and Cozomel. I must admit though, I'm looking forward to the dolphin swim best of all:)

[Mulljac]

Well, we seemed to have changed our plans once again!! My niece just got back from Disney and decided to do Discovery Cove. She had a blast!! After seeing a picture of her kissing a dolphin I just have to go. So my husband said go ahead and make reservations. Now after our July 6th cruise we will be heading over to the Hard Rock Hotel for 2 nights and going to IOA. Then it's off to OKW for 3 nights and a day at Discovery Cove. Guess we won't need to go to Stingray City after all. I was told I could feed and swim with the stingrays at DC. So that's good. At least I'll save a bit of money there. Besides, I will need it to pay for DC. Total for the 4 of us came to $928.56. My niece said that it is well worth it. And she said the food is great!I'm so happy!!!:Pinkbounc We were going to wait until next year to go, but since we're down there, hey what the heck!:p

[sharond150]

Discovery Cove was well worth the admission fee ..especially with the 7-day Sea World pass. However, the dolphi encoutner was probably something that you could pass on and not feel as though much was missed and use the $100 elsewhere.

[Mulljac]

Sharond150, I thought the dolphin swim was well worth the money and my kids were thrilled. They were so excited that they got to ride on C.J. and we just had to buy the picture for them. We got to the park at 8:30 and we were one of the last people to leave the park that night. I could have stayed another few hours if they had let us. My feeling is that if you're going to experience Discovery Cove that you should do the whole package. Who knows if you'll ever get another chance to do something like this and I wouldn't want to be kicking myself saying "I should have done this or that". We even bought the video even though it was a bit on the high side. It's something that we all can watch to relive our experience. Plus it gave our family back home a chance to see what Discovery Cove is all about.

[danicaw]

We are going to DC on our Sept trip, before our 3 day Cruise.

I am really looking forward to it.
Less than a Month!!!!!!!!!!

[MinivanMom]

We went to Discovery Cove on August 2, following our July 28th Wonder cruise. All 5 of us thought it was great, and worth the money. The grounds are beautiful and the the food choices are very nice. The lazy river winds past a very cool bird aviary. It's well worth the time to get out of the water, and visit the 3 separate aviaries. Employees give you grubs and birdseed to hold, so the fabulous tropical birds sit right on your hand and help themselves.

Snorkeling in the cool, salt-water lagoons with the stingrays and tropical fish is wonderful. If you pay for the dolpin swim, which we did, they assign you a time when you check in. It would be useful to have a watch (we did not) so you know when your swim time is approaching. The swim time is short, and is largely built around phots and video-taping, which of course they encourage you to purchase. They were not pushy, and we did buy 2 photos. It was worth it for one time. If we ever go again, next time we would do the $100 option.

We used the free Sea World pass the next day, and enjoyed it - especially the water ski show, Shamu show, sea lion and otter show. My husband and kids liked Kraken and Atlantis, but I passed on those.

Hope that helps!:smooth: :wave: