discovery cove help

[wendy522]

We have 4 kids and the have just discovered Free Willy and Flipper on Netflix. So, we are considering Discovery Cove, we just want to be sure that the $200 is worth it since I have so many kids. Am I understanding this correctly they feed you breakfast and lunch, if so what is the food like? The kids are 6,7,8,10.

 

[tookydo]

We went in 2009. My two boys were 7 and 9. Yes, you get breakfast and lunch. Breakfast, at that time, was more of a continental style breakfast. Lunch was pretty good. My kids had hamburgers and fries, but what they enjoyed most was the unlimited drinks and snacks they could grab all day long. For us, I thought it was worth it. The dolphin interaction lasted about 30 minutes and there were only 8 in our group so there was a lot of interaction. Since they limit the number of guests that can enter the park, it was not crowded at all. The snorkeling was also an awesome experience. I would definitely go again if I had the chance.

 

[Miss Kelly]

We were just there earlier this year and it is definitely worth it! Visit the Seaworld Forum and you can find more information about food, the experience, etc

 

[lisabarr]

We took a Girl Scout troop there a few years ago when they had the special of $99 no dolphin swim and $149 with the swim.

All food is included including beer. The food was great and snacks all day long. Very quiet, not crowded. I would do it again especially at that price.

 

[buzz2400]

We went last year. they do give you breakfast and lunch and snacks and drinks throughout the day. When you get there they will assign you a dolphin swim time. Mind you, you are only in the water for about 30 minutes with the dolphin with a group of about 8 people. What they do is say you have a group of 3, 3 and 4. The lady will have the first group come up and touch the dolphin, that group steps back and the next group moves up and so on. at the end you get to swim out a little ways and the dolphin will bring you back. The water is very, very cold and the only way to get used to it is go under right away. After the swim you are allowed to stay for the remainder of the day, they have a little area where you swim with stingrays, a lazy pool kind of thing where you can get a floatie thing and hold onto that, they have a bird sanctuary. They are opening something else but I never looked into that. You also get free admission to seaworld with your ticket to discovery cove. That is how I made it worth the money. If you go on a cruise you pay about $200 to swim with a dolphin so the price is good. Like the other poster stated, go to the other forum and you will get more info.

The lunch was hamburgers, hot dogs, I believe some kind of chicken, mack and cheese, plus more that I can't remember and you can go back and get more if you want. The snacks were ice cream, cookies, potato chips and such. Free beer also if you like that kind of thing.

 

[mrsklamc]

My niece and nephew at 8 and 9 rated it the best part of the trip, over Disney. We loved it.

 

[Cindy B]

We have gone twice. It is the best thing we have ever done. We first went back in 2001 (the park was new then) and a few years ago. It is wonderful. Don't forget that you get a free 7 day pass to Seaworld as well with your Discovery Cove ticket. (I think you can also pick Busch Gardens.. at least this was the deal a few years ago.)

 

[canadianjovigirl]

We all agree that this was the highlight of our Orlando trip a few years ago. We all loved it!! We bought the tickets that included Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, Sea World and Aquatica and that way we got 4 days of fun for a much more reasonable price for our family of 5.

 

[scootch]

Ditto.... LOVED it... food was good too, they had great options when we went, fancy pastas, salads, not just burgers and fries. If you can afford it, a very memorable day! Plus the kids enjoyed going to Sea World too

 

[louey]

We went in 2006 and did the dolphin experience. It is an Awesome park would do it again in a heartbeat It is a must do at least once, I highly suggest it I want to go back and go to see the Grand Reef and do the walking on the bottom tour that looks so cool

 

[aprilgail2]

Ditto.... LOVED it... food was good too, they had great options when we went, fancy pastas, salads, not just burgers and fries. If you can afford it, a very memorable day! Plus the kids enjoyed going to Sea World too

The food was really good- I didn't even notice that they had burgers and fries--there was a chicken dish, a fish dish, a meat dish of some type- then cakes etc. You can get as many drinks and snacks as you want during the day. The stingray pool was nice and then they have a bigger snorkling area. The lazy river was awesome, we just grabbed a noodle float and floated around there for hours! My daughter really enjoyed the birds there and getting to feed them. I would not bother getting a cabana there because most people are never just sitting around and there was PLENTY of empty seats all day long!

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

I have to agree with the previous posters, it is SOO worth it. It is something that we will always remember. Also, we went to Sea World the next day and that was neat to experience too.

 

[Disneyliscious]

I didn't know you got theme park tickets with it too! I had considered doing this for my son but we were going to be spending 2 days in US/IOA and just didn't want to pay another $200 for a one day event.

So the $200 gets us admission to DC and a 7 day US/IOA ticket too?

 

[java]

I didn't know you got theme park tickets with it too! I had considered doing this for my son but we were going to be spending 2 days in US/IOA and just didn't want to pay another $200 for a one day event.

So the $200 gets us admission to DC and a 7 day US/IOA ticket too?

No It used to get you a seven day pass to sea world and busch gardens. I think it is just sea world now.

But dc was by far the best "park"day we ever had. I just took my oldest, I had a broken foot, and it was still the best day. When we went I remember having a delicious piece of salmon for lunch with a caribbean band playing nearby. It was lovely.

 

[krnlmustrd]

When I went earlier this month, it included 14 days of unlimited admission to Seaworld, Busch Gardens or Aquatica. We selected Busch Gardens, but in retrospect, we should have chosen one of the other parks since Busch Gardens is about an hours drive away and we only went once. Next time, I'd pick one of the closer parks.

I don't think the food was all that amazing. In fact, with the exception of the desserts, I wouldn't even call it good. And you have to wait in line to be served the food from a server, which at the busy lunch rush means waiting quite awhile. It would be more efficient if you could walk up and select your own food like a traditional buffet.

I believe they opened up a new section of the park right after we went, so I don't know what that entails. But the snorkeling was pretty good with a lot of fish. It was very neat snorkeling with the sting rays. They were HUGE. You could also feed the smaller stingrays if you timed it right at the walk in sting ray lagoon. It would have been nice if they posted the times of these sort of "events". (Or if they did, I missed that.)

I'd always wanted to do a lazy river and was really excited for that. But it's really long and kind of boring. They advertised things to see along the lazy river like sunken treasures or whatnot, but those are very few and far between. Mostly, it's just staring at rocks.

After paying the price of admission, I felt like I needed to stay the entire time to maximize the benefit. But in the end, it just got a little too boring, so we left with an hour or two left on the clock.