Discovery Cove - Daughter Too Young By 3 Months!

[angel659]

Hi

We wanted to book our Dolphin experience for next October. We found on the age restrictions that you have to be 6 years old. She will only be 5. She is too young by only 3 months....

I cant believe that.

My husband and I swam with dophins in Mexico and we have a video and everything. We showed it to my uncle and after we watched it he pressed record on the TV and recorded over it...... I was not happy at all....................... So we have lost those wonderful memories on a video.

My husband wont pay the price to do it again and we said that we will take Casey with me next year as a treat she would love it. She is too young :0(

Do you think they will let her if she is only too young by 3 months?

Knowing USA they will stick to the laws incase they get taken to court if anything should happen.

I am so dissapointed.

Sorry to ramble on and on. I knew this forum would understand.

Regards
Michelle

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Michelle,

Why not send them an email and ask? Personally I would have thought they would not bend the rules - after all if it's OK for someone 3 months too young, then is it OK for someone 4 months too young and so on - where do you draw the line?

I can understand why you are disappointed though. We've got the same situation this trip ourselves as our DD will be 5 months too young, so we have not scheduled DC into our plans.

You will have to book another trip to do it when she is old enough

Let us know what they say if you do ask them!

Best wishes,

Karen

 

[allie5]

This is also something my DD is very anxious to do. She is only 4 at the moment, but has made us promise that she can go the "minute" she turns 6!!! I hate being to close to anything "fishy" (am I the only person in the world who DOESNT want to swim with a dolphin??!!), so DH has to do the deed!! Fortunately, its something he really wants to do as well, and he is well past 6!!

I really dont think they will bend the rules, as they will not be covered by their insurances.

Another one she wanted to do, was the Serengeti Safari at Busch Gardens. You have to be 5 for that, and she will be 3 months shy of 5 when we go. This I really did want to do, so we will line that up for next year instead!!

 

[vernon]

You're not asked to produce ID on the way in, so if the child looks like she's old enough I can't see you getting pulled on it. If you ask, they are going to tell you no, legally they have no other option.

IMHO age is a pretty arbitrary way to decide on a child's ability to complete the experience, but however they decide to put the limit there will be kids who are capable of completing the experience with no problems who are under the cut off point, and there are kids that will struggle even if they are 3 or 4 years older than the limit. As a parent it's really up to you to know if your child has the physical ability to complete the experience and the mental strength to do so without causing any problems by panicing.

It's a lot of money to have a failed experience if the child proves to be not ready for the experience so I would always advise any parent think about their child's abilities (even if they are over the age "limit") , if you're regular visitors to Florida I always think it's better to leave this experience until you are 110% certain they are ready for it. It's not something you're likely to go back to next year just because you had a less than perfect visit this trip.

 

[angel659]

Hi

We have decided to wait and not even ask.

My dh said that they have put guidelines in for a reason. If something would happen we wouldnt forgive ourselves.

We are now just going to visit Seaworld, let her feed the dolphins instead and take her in a couple of years.

Thanks for all your help and advice.

Regards
Michelle

 

[keswick1uk]

Same happened here. Our son swims well but was 6 weeks to young. We decided to go next time so we could all enjoy the experience together. I don't think its something they ever forget but I do think if they have a little more age on their side they will remember it better.