Booked Discovery Cove

[JayneL]

BIT THE BULLET CLOSED MY EYES AND BOOKED!!

Just signed away £480 for the 4 of us to do the dolphin swim at Discovery Cove. I did the special offer with the code I got off this site so thanks so much.(Ican't remember who posted it but thanks)
It works out to about £120 each but doesnt include sea world or busch gardens, but we are getting a flex ticket to cover that anyway so worked out cheaper.

Does anyone have any hints or tips to make the day go well? DS's are 13 & 15.

Is there a best time to book the dolphin encounter? I think I read somewhere here a while a go that it is best to split your party up and do the swim in two groups. Is there any advantage in doing this?

I'm sooooo excited I'm driving every one mad and there's still 16 weeks (tomorrow) to go.


Jayne

 

[Rain]

Lucky you!!!

We are thinking of booking it for November.

I imagine the benifit of doing it in two groups are that you can take lots of photo's of each other.( I heard that the seaworld photo's are very expensive)

 

[silverka2002]

If you split yourselves into 2 groups, you'd have 2 sets of photos and 2 videos. Yes the photo's and video are expensive but if you do decide to buy the video which one do you buy? Both!! If you are in one group, you will make up half of the group (usually 8 in a group) and therefore would be in the video for half of the time (does that make sense?)
Depending on where you are situated for the swim the others may not get very good pics from the shore. (this is so hard to explain lol)
Personally I'd do it together as a group so you can all share in the great experience together.

 

[MsPennieLane]

Hubby and I went to Discovery Cove in January and had a wonderful time, you'll love it. You are allocated your dolphin swim time when you arrive in the morning. To be honest, I would do a group of you. The groups are only small, usually about 6 or 7 people, so the video will be mostly you so it's worth purchasing the one. From what I remember, family members aren't allowed to take any photos as they want you to purchase their own, they were moving people away last time. Do it as a group, then you've also got group memories of your experience

Anz

 

[disneyholic family]

i would definitely do it as one group...
not just for the video part, but because you'll want to see for yourself, your family members' reactions...
experiencing it with your family is at least half of the fun...

as for when to schedule....we did this when discovery cove first opened so i don't know if they've changed things since then...
when i made the reservations i booked the swim time then...
i took first thing in the morning (since we were there in the summer.....)..

we arrived, got ready for our swim.....got done with the swim and then visited the stingray pool, then the lazy river sort of thing they have.....then ate lunch....and then left...
i know other people spend all day there, but we never spend an entire day in the sun....

in any case, it's a wonderful place...i'm sure you're going to enjoy it...

 

[JayneL]

That was what I was thinking, that I would want to be with all my family when we experienced the dolphins.

How much is the video and photos?

I'm so looking forward to this. I was thrilled just to feed the dolphins at sea world last year. I cant imagine what this will be like.

 

[silverka2002]

I'll second what Anz said. Times are allocated on a first come first serve basis. The earlier you arrive at DC the earlier the swim. I don't know whether you can change your time but I'd imagine you only be able to get a later time, as all the earlier times will have been given out.
Do it together !!!
If I can get into photobucket later I'll post a pic we took from the shore and one DC took and you'll see the difference.

 

[florida sun]

You will love it!
My daughter and I went last December and as much as we love Disney this definatley was the highlight of our holidys. They will assign you a time for the Dolphin swim when you get there. So if you want to do it early arrive as early as you possibly can, then you can spend the rest of your day enjoying everything else they have to offer.

They offer varoius packages as far as photos go and if I were you I would do the whole group together as they can work out very expensive.(but well worth the money).6 months later and we still get the photos out to remind us of the best thing we have ever done in Florida.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy this once in a lifetime oppertunity.

 

[bath1960]

Videos are $59 each and photos can be up to $20 each - we had our photos put on cd at $20 each but because we bought 10 images it worked out cheaper - $150 for 10 images and you own the copyright. You can then print as many as you want. On our group, we had a mother of two girls in our party right at the side taking photos and another party over the other side had the same thing. If you were inthe 2 middle parties, then you would not get such good photos but the trainers were really helpful. We have played our video and although there was only two of us - love it. It is expensive but the memories priceless.

 

[SEVANS2208]

The earlier you get there, the earlier your dolphin swim - I would recommend getting there early to avoid the risk of having your swim planned when the afternoon thunder storms are due!