Discovery Cove - Yay or Nay?

[BlondeViki]

I'm thinking of having a day at Discovery Cove... It looks quite good, would anyone like to share their views? It's quite expensive, is it good value for money?

If we go, I'd go in with the dolphins but OH probably wouldn't - will he be allowed to go close enough to take pictures of me having my turn with the dolphins?

Also, it says it comes with a 14 day Seaworld ticket - if we have our DC day in the second week of our holiday can we enter Seaworld before this?

 

[WeeScotchLass]

I love Discovery Cove and been 4 times, three times as a swimmer and once as a non-swimmer.

I think that although it is expensive as the food and drinks are free you can make it worth the $. If you get there for park opening and eat an early breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as eating and drinking the snacks throughout the day it really works out money wise.

The dolphin swim is great, you get a good amount of time in with them and they are such lovely creatures, I also loved swimming round the lazy river in to the Aviary and going in with the sting rays, plenty to do! My family always try and get the dolphin swim in early morning (10-12 ish) as we generally go in the summer and don't want our swim to be cancelled by a Florida shower.

The last time I went I couldn't swim with the dolphins as I was ill and I *think* (please correct me if I'm wrong other Dis-ers) the rule is something like 1 non-swimmer with every group (?) I know it is definitely allowed and have watched people walk right up to the waters edge to take pic's of friends and family, as long as they aren't IN the water it seems ok.

I can't help with the Seaworld question though, your best bet might be to drop discovery cove an email and ask?

Anyway I love Discovery Cove and would recommend it to anyone, the only thing I don't like about it is the special sun cream you have to wear in the park!

 

[consumermonkey]

Yep, go for it.

You will be treated like a star for the whole day.

Yes, you can get into seaworld for 14 consecutive days, just use your reservation email at the gate.

 

[WiganTony]

With regard to the cost, if you take out of the equation what it would cost for a 14 day Seaworld and Aquatica ticket (approx £75) and the cost of buying breakfast, lunch and snacks/drinks in another theme park (probably cost you around £15-20), then it starts to look more reasonable.

I'm fairly sure that your DH could video/take photos from the edge of the lagoon, but depending on where your swim is, the view may be obscured.

And yes, you can use your tickets in advance of your day at DC. The only snag with this when we did it a few years ago is that you have to get single day tickets each time, and the queues can be a bit long at park opening time. However, we visited Seaworld twice before DC, then they just gave us another 14 days when we picked up our DC pass.

 

[wayneg]

Done it twice, 2 excellent days but we get AP discount, not sure about full price, see if there are any offers on either direct or via a UK agent. AP rate is $169 with swim, $69 without, I am not that bothered about the dolphin part, I don't think its worth $100 for about 30 mins with a dolphin but DW does. Last time I got on the rocks to take pics no problem, I wasn't impressed with their photography on our 1st visit so it was good to get good shots myself.

 

[scoobydooby]

We bought DC tickets for Christmas day 2010 as a surprise present for our children. The weather that fortnight was awful for a week, we had 5 days wearing gloves (!) but Christmas day was the hottest day, about 70 degrees so we got lucky. I would say it is worth the money, with the dolphin swim at least once. The park is beautiful and would be a fab place to go even without the dolphin swim. We will probably do it again without the dolphin swim on a future trip but I do find it hard to justify the money for a day now we have done it once. This year we upgraded to the Beach Club from our usual moderate WDW hotel for about the same price as a day for 4 at DC with dolphins. We decided Stormalong Bay every day was a better spend for us. I guess it depends how much cash you have and how you want to spend it. For me it was a choice of deluxe at WDW for 2 weeks or moderate and 1 day at DC. I can't say it isn't a wonderful day out though, because it is. You can use your Sea World entry before you go to DC, we did. Just take whatever you print off line to the shop at the entrance of Sea World and they sort you out.

 

[BlondeViki]

Thanks - you've given me a lot to think about! I think we're pretty much decided to do it, me having the dolphin swim as I've never done anything like it before and OH taking pics

You're right, factoring in the food and drink and what we would have paid to go to Seaworld makes it more appealling!

I saw you could get quite reasonably priced tickets on Travel Republic, but they give you a date bracket rather than a specific date... Does anyone know what this means? Can we go on any date within their bracket or do they allocate a date on booking? We'd like to go on a specific day, so I'm happy to pay the extra and book direct if that's the only way to be specific.

 

[bazzanoid]

Discovery Cove's policy is one swimmer per group, so you could have 6 going and only one doing the dolphin swim. HOWEVER, if you phone and speak sweetly to them they will allow no dolphin swimmers at all as long as they have good availability for the date you want, especially now the dolphin swim is a 'feature' rather than the 'main event' of discovery cove since the expansions.