Anyone have pictures of Dolphins Up Close Tour at SW?

[ten822]

I'm talking about the 60 minute tour that is $45 a person. Feedback is appreciated but pictures are even better!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

How soon is your trip? My son and his girlfriend will be doing this tour at the end of April.

 

[leiaorgana]

I did it last July and it is definitely worth the money. I have pictures too but I'd prefer not to post them because my family are also on them.

It started off with all of the group meeting up by one of the backstage gates near the underwater viewing area at 9:15am. Normally they'd do the introduction talk there but because it was so hot already that morning our tour leader took us down into the underwater viewing area and she gave us some information about the Dolphins for about 10 minutes, I'd say, there and then she split us into 2 groups of 8. After that we went into a roped off area in the dolphin bit and were told to leave all our personal belongings and anything loose by the wall where she'd keep an eye on it all.

There's one trainer per group and each group is then seperated into you're family or whoever you're with and given your own dolphin. The trainer takes you through some basic hand signals and you really do get to have A LOT of interaction with the Dolphins so that alone we thought was worth the money. You do get wet though because some of the hand signals are getting them to do jumps and flips so be prepared for that.

There are also several photographers across the other side of the pool and every now and again the trainer will get you to do a hand signal and then tell you to look at your group's photographer while doing it so they can take your picture.

It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it and would definitely do it again. The only downside for us is that we bought the $60 photo package so that we'd have all of the photos from our tour but when we got home and looked at them we realised that they'd put some of the other people in our groups photos on instead of ours so if you do the photo package pay attention to what photos they're putting on the cd.

 

[ten822]

How soon is your trip? My son and his girlfriend will be doing this tour at the end of April.

Not until August

 

[ten822]

I did it last July and it is definitely worth the money. I have pictures too but I'd prefer not to post them because my family are also on them.

It started off with all of the group meeting up by one of the backstage gates near the underwater viewing area at 9:15am. Normally they'd do the introduction talk there but because it was so hot already that morning our tour leader took us down into the underwater viewing area and she gave us some information about the Dolphins for about 10 minutes, I'd say, there and then she split us into 2 groups of 8. After that we went into a roped off area in the dolphin bit and were told to leave all our personal belongings and anything loose by the wall where she'd keep an eye on it all.

There's one trainer per group and each group is then seperated into you're family or whoever you're with and given your own dolphin. The trainer takes you through some basic hand signals and you really do get to have A LOT of interaction with the Dolphins so that alone we thought was worth the money. You do get wet though because some of the hand signals are getting them to do jumps and flips so be prepared for that.

There are also several photographers across the other side of the pool and every now and again the trainer will get you to do a hand signal and then tell you to look at your group's photographer while doing it so they can take your picture.

It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it and would definitely do it again. The only downside for us is that we bought the $60 photo package so that we'd have all of the photos from our tour but when we got home and looked at them we realised that they'd put some of the other people in our groups photos on instead of ours so if you do the photo package pay attention to what photos they're putting on the cd.

I'm assuming they let you touch the dolphins as well? Or, just doing hand signals the whole time?

 

[macraven]

I did it last July and it is definitely worth the money. I have pictures too


we really enjoyed it and would definitely do it again.

Excellent info!

Thanks for sharing this and the details of that day with us

 

[leiaorgana]

Yeah, you get to touch the dolphins loads as well as interacting with them through hand signals. You use hand signals to get them to come over to you or to get them onto the ledge and that's when you can touch them. This was done in 10 - 15 minute periods and then you would take a little break so the dolphins don't get restless and during these little breaks your trainer talks to you about the dolphins, how they got into training, how they look after them etc and answer any questions you have and then afterwards you'd go back to interacting with the dolphins.

 

[macraven]

i bet that was exciting!
so up close and physical contact with the dolphins.


well worth the money to have that experience!

 

[ten822]

Yeah, you get to touch the dolphins loads as well as interacting with them through hand signals. You use hand signals to get them to come over to you or to get them onto the ledge and that's when you can touch them. This was done in 10 - 15 minute periods and then you would take a little break so the dolphins don't get restless and during these little breaks your trainer talks to you about the dolphins, how they got into training, how they look after them etc and answer any questions you have and then afterwards you'd go back to interacting with the dolphins.

Thanks for info! This helps! I was debating between this experience and the one at DC. For $45 pp this sounds almost as good as DC dolphin swim. The only thing missing is being pulled through water on dolphin -but that scares me a little anyway (esp for my young kids). And the dolphin swim is additional $140 pp when I'm going!

 

[ajbtv2]

My SeaWorld photos are here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#A45qXGF1PuzP8

When I did it we started at the nursing tank and were able to feed the pool by throwing small fish from a short distance.
Then we went over to Dolphin Cover and were able to interact with the dolphins. All the Dolphin photos are grouped together toward the top of the album. There are also a few short video clips and the PhotoKey photos toward the bottom of the interaction.

 

[ten822]

My SeaWorld photos are here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#A45qXGF1PuzP8

When I did it we started at the nursing tank and were able to feed the pool by throwing small fish from a short distance.
Then we went over to Dolphin Cover and were able to interact with the dolphins. All the Dolphin photos are grouped together toward the top of the album. There are also a few short video clips and the PhotoKey photos toward the bottom of the interaction.

WOW! Great pics! Thanks!

 

[macraven]

My SeaWorld photos are here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#A45qXGF1PuzP8

When I did it we started at the nursing tank and were able to feed the pool by throwing small fish from a short distance.
Then we went over to Dolphin Cover and were able to interact with the dolphins. All the Dolphin photos are grouped together toward the top of the album. There are also a few short video clips and the PhotoKey photos toward the bottom of the interaction.

i just finished looking at all your pictures and watched the videos..

you did a FANTASTIC job !!
all of what you are showing us is absolutely wonderful!!

i hope everyone takes the time to go thru all the pics and videos you are sharing with us.

 

[ten822]

My SeaWorld photos are here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#A45qXGF1PuzP8

When I did it we started at the nursing tank and were able to feed the pool by throwing small fish from a short distance.
Then we went over to Dolphin Cover and were able to interact with the dolphins. All the Dolphin photos are grouped together toward the top of the album. There are also a few short video clips and the PhotoKey photos toward the bottom of the interaction.

how far in advance did you book the up close tour?

 

[ajbtv2]

how far in advance did you book the up close tour?

The dolphin encounter was maybe a week or two out if I remember correctly.

** Of course experiences vary.