Discovery Cove - Is it worth it?

[stevenorth]

We have kept looking at this since we decided on our Disney trip at the start of the year, but with 4 of us (2 DDs), it works out very very expensive for 1 day.

I know you get Seaworld included, and we would use that, but still £500 is expensive for 1 day.

The problem is, my oldest dd is dolphin mad and keeps going on about going swimming with Dolphins when she goes to Florida.

Has anyone been here, especially with two young girls, (7 & 6). We would only do two dolphin swims and two without.

We can budget this in, but other things will have to cut out, so I would annoyed if we pay and then are disappointed.

Thanks, in advance

Stephen

 

[davidr]

We all did this last August (family of 5) and will be doing it on our trip next year too. I guess that tells you that it is worth it. Of course you have to balance the enjoyment you will get against the cost, but we loved the whole day.
I would suggest you read some other peoples trip reports on DC and decide how much you think you will like. I would add that I think you should all swim with Dolphin if this is possible - I wouldnt want to be the one who missed out.

 

[CowGirl]

I've got to children and just the smile's on their faces made it worth it for me. Would do it again.... and prob. will again

 

[laluna]

Hi - we did the dolphin swim last year but our children were all too young to so they had the non swim option whilst supervised by grandparents. Mmmmm whilst we had a lovely day - the setting was lovely, it was well organised and lunch was great - we felt that the dolphin swim itself was a bit contrived. It was an experience to be so near a dolphin but I dont think it was worth the money really. My DH, on the other hand says, if it is worth the experience, it is worth the money and he felt it was definitely something to do once in a life time.

We went to Typhoon lagoon the next day and TBH, we had just as an enjoyable time, particularly the children. Its also worth mentioning that at DC, the dvds and photos of the swim are expensive but you kind of feel obliged because it is likely to be the only time you swim with the dolphin. We also didn't really get our money's worth from the free Seaworld entry as the park was very busy at the time we went and we much prefer Disney! We did pop back for a couple of evenings just to ride Kraken when the queues were less.

We did have a lovely family day at DC (to celebrate my parent's ruby wedding) but I think it was very expensive for what it was, but then again I am not a dolphin freak!

Laluna

 

[traceycooper]

We are going for the 3rd time!! DD was 7 on our first visit, last 2 times we all did the dolphin swim, this time my DD is doing the swim with her grandma & we will not, this was more due to saving money than not wanting to swim, & i would sooner go & not swim than not at all!
I try to think that well we are saving money on our seaworld or BG ticket & we wont have to spend any money on food that day either, so there is a bit of a saving!!
If you want pics the cd is the best option, they havnt tended to advertise this much in the past, so make sure you ask.
I say if you can afford it go for it, you wont know unless you try it & DD will love it

 

[stevenorth]

Thanks for the info - its sounds like it a good day.

Another question?

Do you need to be a good swimmer to enjoy this the most. Both DD's can swim, but the youngest is only 6 so shes not quite olympic standard yet?

Do they provide lifejackets etc??

Just trying to cover all areas before I splash out?

Thanks
Stephen

 

[davidr]

They wont need to be strong swimmers but they will need to feel comfortable in about 4 feet of water i think. 20 min or so interaction in that depth and then swim out 10 or 15 yards and get brought back by your Dolphin.
No more than half hour with the Dolphin but a nice relaxing day in lovely surroundings. But its not cheap.

 

[wayneg]

We did it on Friday for 2nd time, will probably do again next year. Now its all inclusive its even better.
I did not do dolpins this year just dw and ds. I prefer the bird aviary, birds just fly down and eat from your hand and fish lagoon is superb they say there are aver 8,000 fish in there.
Only 2 things I dont like, quality of photography so I do my own and no inside eating areas, its too hot outside and dw has a fear of birds. We filled in comment cards so hopefully someone will listen.
If you are a Seaworld AP holder you get between $30-$100/person discount depending on time of year.

 

[jockey]

We went to DC back in 2004 and had a great day! There are lots of other great things to do as well as the dolphin swim and the lunch they provide is fab too! It is well worth the money as it will be an experience your children will remember for a long time. The photos and video can work out expensive.

 

[richard_andmel]

We did it without the dolphin swim due to the fact that DH isn't a super confident swimmer. We had a really wonderful time. I know Richard had huge doubts about the whole experience but he had a great day too. Next time we may try it with the dolphin swim, but maybe not. We found tons to do without it. The only bad experience is that my non swimmer was pretty sore the next day from using muscles in ways he's not used to. He said he'd do it at the end of the trip next time.

 

[Camac]

Another vote in favour of DC. We did it as a surprise present on Christmas Day 2003 for our two. We all had a great day - each Christmas Day since has been compared to DC and found wanting so we are doing it again this Christmas Day.

As has already been said, now that the day is all inclusive it is better value. Not needing to buy SWand/or BG tickets can result in a better deal also. In my little mind I juggled the ticket prices of all the parks I want to go to this trip and found by taking advantage of various offers that my trip to DC was only costing £36 per person more than if I had not booked it and gone with my original ticket choices! When you think how much Christmas costs at home I reckon £36 each for four of us is a pretty cheap day. Well, that's how I've sold it to DH!!!

If you are tempted to buy the photographs do buy the CD as you also buy the copyright so are able to print out as you get all the photographs they took and you can then print out your own copies. It is pricey but has been worth it.

Enjoy your day, you are building memories, you and your kids will talk about it for years to come.

Camac

 

[Deedee]

We have done it twice and it is well worth it especially for dolphin lovers when are you going to get the opportunity to be this close to these wonderful creatures again.

 

[janine]

We loved it. I was thinking ugh, it's a lot of money for one day, (4 swimmers), and I am not so keen on water parks anyway, but we did it because we were being married at Disney then also, so it was 3 weeks of everything we wanted to do.
It was such a magical experience to swim with a dolphin. The setting was beautiful, it was limited to 1000 people, so it never felt busy.
The food was 1st class, and it's free all day, drinks too. Plus you then get admission to Seaworld also, so it was fabulous.
So after feeling gutted that I had spent so much beforehand, I can honestly say I would love to go back and do it again sometime.
Its an experience not to be missed.

 

[traceycooper]

Thanks for the info - its sounds like it a good day.

Another question?

Do you need to be a good swimmer to enjoy this the most. Both DD's can swim, but the youngest is only 6 so shes not quite olympic standard yet?

Do they provide lifejackets etc??

Just trying to cover all areas before I splash out?

Thanks
Stephen

They provide life jackets infact they provide everything!!
sun cream, snorkles, goggles, towels even shampoo & conditioner in the showers
You just need your swimming costume, tickets & camera! (lockers provided too)
The jackets are quite boyant too, you basically cannot sink when wearing one. I would recommend the zip up all in one suits for the dolphin encounter as they retain more heat, our first time DD was shivering all the way through the dolphin swim, 2nd time we had suits & was much warmer you can swap them after the swim if you dont want to keep them on all day

 

[Stickers]

We went last year with my wife and eldest daughter then 10 doing the dolphin swim. They both loved it. myself and the youngest daughter then 1 watched whilst i took video from a vantage point.

I thought that the place was wonderful but the price was high. The free tickets to seaworld included where not all that of an incentive. The photos were v expensive, wish i had known about the cd. The video price was way too expensive and only available on VHS.

all in all it was a great one off experiance that we would have not missed for the world.

 

[Stuartpaul]

Not wishing to be a wet blanket but I think it was hugely expensive for not a lot of dolphin contact.

Yes, - it's a great park and the overall experience is good but I have more abiding memories of our hot air balloon trip than DC.

Perhaps I'm biased by the cost of 5 of us going (ouch ££££) but from memory something like 4 minutes (or less) of actual contact just wasn't worth it.

 

[Ella1]

We(daughter aged 16 and myself) went to Orlando last year for the first time and we didn't really enjoy it that much (we prefer Disneyland California)but I have to say that we just loved Discovery Cove, it made the trip worthwhile.
We arrived at 8am and stayed till 6pm and it was just beautiful. We did the dolphin swim and, even though its a lot of money, it was money well spent. We never stopped smiling from the minute we got in with the dolphins till the minute we got out, it was the most amazing thing we have ever done
We went on 4th July and then went over to Seaworld to see the fireworks which were fantastic.
I don't swim, but I was helped out into the deep part and the girl made sure that Hutch was there waiting for me as I didn't want to be seen wearing a lifejacket in the photos.
We bought the DVD and the photos and we cherish our photo of us kissing Hutch. Our DVD was very good quality.
I wouldn't do it again, as to me it was a once in a lifetime experience which would be spoiled if I was to do it again.
Love Ella