Discovery Cove and Sea World- in 1 Day!

herb102211

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Mar 4, 2011
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My fiance and I are headed to Disney for Memorial Day weekend and will be going to Discovery Cove on Memorial Day. We've been to Disney several times but this is our first time at Discovery Cove and SW. We are doing the Dolphin Swim, too. How long do most people stay at Discovery Cove? We were hoping to head over to Sea World for a few hours as well.

Also, how will the crowds at SW compare on Memorial Day to the crowds at Disney?

We plan on taking a cab from our hotel (The Beach Club) to Discovery Cove and the shuttle from Discovery Cove to Sea World.

I think someone told me there are cabs outside Sea World you can get to take you back to your hotel. Is this true?

Thanks!
 
I think there is way to much to do at both parks to try and squeeze them into 1 day. But thats just my opinion.
 
My fiance and I are headed to Disney for Memorial Day weekend and will be going to Discovery Cove on Memorial Day. We've been to Disney several times but this is our first time at Discovery Cove and SW. We are doing the Dolphin Swim, too. How long do most people stay at Discovery Cove? We were hoping to head over to Sea World for a few hours as well.

Also, how will the crowds at SW compare on Memorial Day to the crowds at Disney?

We plan on taking a cab from our hotel (The Beach Club) to Discovery Cove and the shuttle from Discovery Cove to Sea World.

I think someone told me there are cabs outside Sea World you can get to take you back to your hotel. Is this true?

Thanks!

There are cabs in the parking lot at Sea World. But I don't think you will be able to do much in either park if you try and do both on the same day.
 
Discovery cove closes at 5:30 ish and Seaworld is open until 10.

Now - I am not recommending this but if this is your only time to go to SeaWorld - If you arrive at opening at DC and have an early dolphin swim, you could have a nice full day and be done at 3 ish - but I think you'd be short changing yourself. If you are young and have stamina then you could have some time at SeaWorld. You could catch the last One Ocean (Shamu show) and Clyde and Seamore.

You might want to pay for the quickqueue if you plan to ride any of the rides that evening.
 

Thanks for the info! We plan on getting to Discovery Cove when it opens at 9am and are hoping for an early dolphin swim. We bought the Sea World Annual pass so we will be returning for a day on our honeymoon in October and then again in March. Our main focus is Discovery Cove this go around and then we just planned on checking out Sea World for a few hours.
 
To get an early dolphin swim, i'd suggest planning to be there even earlier; more around 8 or 830.
 
You can choose to have 14 days free of Sea World with your Discovery Cover admission. We did both in the same day, but only got in the Christmas shows (went this last Thanksgiving weekend) after Discovery Cove, then spent the next day at Sea World also.

We were one of the last people to leave Discovery Cove.
 
Unless Seaworld is open late, I wouldn't do this.

My DH is not really a theme park guy. Around 3pm on our DC day, I asked him when he wanted to leave and he said "I'm staying until they escort me out forcibly." We stayed until they were telling us to get out of the water, it was the best day we've ever had at a park and it went fast.
 
My husband and I are going to Discovery Cove, but the children are staying with my sister that day. Since SeaWorld is open later, we plan to spend most of the day at Discovery Cove, but hit SW just so we can do the rides my kids are too small for. We'll go back as a family the next day.
 
I wouldn't do this. Discovery Cove is not a theme park. It is meant to be a day of pampered relaxation. If you are spending your day there thinking about how you are going to cram in time for Sea World, you are going to spoil some of that for yourself. A crowded theme park after a day in the water at DC? Bad idea imo.
 
The only reason we are doing SW is because of the 14 day ticket. I plan on taking the kids over to SW Saturday morning and then that way we have the whole day Sunday just for DC. :) We might squeeze in a few more hours Monday morning at SW before heading to our next destination.
 
Thanks for all of the help! We've decided to stay at DC until they make us leave and head back to the Beach Club and go to the Boardwalk tonight. We'll save SW for another trip!
 





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