Discovery Cove, is it worth it?

[Summer-Caitlin]

My fiance and I had planned to go to Discovery Cove when we vacation in Orlando in August, however he is not keen on the idea of swimming with Dolphins or Stingrays, not too sure about the brightly colored fish either at this point

I would love to swim with Dolphins but the ticket seems really pricey just for me to swim with a Dolphin for 30 min (not even that) we intend to go to Sea World and Busch Gardens but it seemed financially better to get the Orlando 5 Park Flex Ticket, this way however we would miss Discovery Cove

Would there be anything else for my fiance to do at DC? I'm trying to convince him that Dolphins are great so he may change his mind closer to the time.

Or can anyone recommend anywhere else I may get a similar experience?

Thanks

Summer

 

[Capt_BJ]

My fiance and I had planned to go to Discovery Cove when we vacation in Orlando in August, however he is not keen on the idea of swimming with Dolphins or Stingrays, not too sure about the brightly colored fish either at this point

I would love to swim with Dolphins but the ticket seems really pricey just for me to swim with a Dolphin for 30 min (not even that) we intend to go to Sea World and Busch Gardens but it seemed financially better to get the Orlando 5 Park Flex Ticket, this way however we would miss Discovery Cove

Would there be anything else for my fiance to do at DC? I'm trying to convince him that Dolphins are great so he may change his mind closer to the time.

Or can anyone recommend anywhere else I may get a similar experience?

Thanks

Summer

Concur - doesn't look like DC is a match for you. It is kind of an expensive way to just soak up sun if you don't want to 'swim with the fishes'

There are lot's of other places to swim with dolphins...just not in Orlando. Is that you only US destination. For example there are places in the Florida Keys....but that's a LONG drive from Orlando.

Assuming you're including Disney in this trip (why else would you be on this board?) are you aware of Dolphins in Depth : http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/tourDetail?id=DolphinsInDepthTourPage&bhcp=1

p.s. if you are a certified scuba diver there's a tour where you can dive in the Living Seas main tank too! Very Very cool.... http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/tourDetail?id=EpcotDiveQuestTourPage

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Thanks for the reply

No, I wasn't aware of the Dolphins in Depth, that looks like it may be the way to go. Have you done this before? I am vacationing for 3 weeks in total, that includes a 3 night stint on the DCL to the Bahamas, but other than that I will only be in Orlando.

 

[jeanie]

It has been awhile since our DCL cruise but I thought that they had dolphin or stingray excursions in Nassau. You may want to go that route if you really wish to see or swim with the dolphins...

The DCL board would have more info....

Cheers

 

[TravelinGal]

We did DC a few years ago. It was OK. Not worth the cost IMO. The water that the saltwater fish were in felt COLD! As in 'it didn't start to feel warmer after we were in it for a while' cold. And there were no fish at all in the freshwater 'river'. At least that water was comfortable to swim in.

 

[Capt_BJ]

Thanks for the reply

No, I wasn't aware of the Dolphins in Depth, that looks like it may be the way to go. Have you done this before? I am vacationing for 3 weeks in total, that includes a 3 night stint on the DCL to the Bahamas, but other than that I will only be in Orlando.

I've done DC and we had a great time...and I've swam with dolphins in the Florida Keys but that was long ago...WAY b4 it became so popular and available. And, had the best experience swimming with dolphins by chance near Bimini while on a dive trip...we were zipping along on zodiaks and got intercepted by a playful pod. We all grabbed are masks and dropped in the water and the pod played with us for better than 30 minutes. Truely amazing....but I digress

I've not done D in D but have done Dive Quest, the trip into the EPCOT main tank and loved it....{many divers have commented it was their best dive ever, altho I thnk that's because of the opportunity to ham it up in front of the crowd}. DQ was SO well run that I'd expect DinD to be a good time as well.

 

[lbarnes]

We loved our swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. Even though it was only 30-45 minutes, the whole day at DC was so calm and relaxing. It was a great place to unwind in the middle of our trip. You can also purchase a non-swim package for a day at DC that is about $100 less than swimming with the dolphins. Perhaps this would work for your hubby? Or perhaps there is something he'd rather do by himself all day that you aren't interested in .... wide world of sports at Disney (driving a race car)???