Discovery Cove/Seaworld question

[Lizzy Lemon]

Bit bored today so browsing on what we can do next year in WDW. Looked at Discovery Cove site and saw that you get free admission to Seaworld as well as 10% off pre booked tickets at the moment ($279 each). Was thinking of going to Seaworld anyway which I think costs $60 something thereabouts, so I'm wondering your opinions on spending over $1000 for the four of us. Anyone been, it looks wonderful but do I do it?

 

[Rain]

Wendy we have done it and found it a great experience. Discovery cove is a beautiful place. I can't say if it is worth it for you as £550 or there abouts is a lot of money ( There was only 2 of us)
If you decide it is too expensive there is one Dolphin experience I found suited me more than the swim.
It is the Dolphin Nursery tour at Sea World. We spent far more time with the dolphins than we could at DC. There are only 6 people in each tour and 3 trainers. You get to spend time with each trainer and the Dolphins. You do behaviours with the Dolphins, get to hug a Dolphin, stroke its tongue and tickle its tum as well as feed them buckets of fish. You learn all about the babies in the dolphin nursery pool and get to feed them. I think the experience with the Dolphins was about an hour and cost around 80 dollars.

 

[Minniespal]

Wendy if it is within your budget I would recommend it. We have done it twice and will be doing it again in November. It is so worth the money and the experience is not to be missed. SW is one of my fav parts and it is certainly worth scheduling into your itinerary.

 

[jtlover]

It is a wonderful day, if you can budget it in your holiday definitely go.

 

[Ware Bears]

We did Discovery Cove and it was a fantastic day. The highlight of our holiday. I would definitely recommend it.

 

[brer rabbit 28]

It's an amazing experience that will give you some wonderful memories.I can't recommend it highly enough.Please go ahead and book it,i promise it is a day worth every penny

 

[CustardTart]

We did it in August 2004 and plan to repeat it on our next big family WDW vacation in 2009. Absolutely fabulous day and full of memories for everyone...

 

[Rascal1003]

I feel a little isolated with my opinion because so many people have found DC such an amazing experience, but I have to say that it is really not very good value for money.
Firstly, the Dolphin encounter is about as intimate and personal as the big pool in Seaworld, just with less people. It is not really a "swim" with dolphins, but more a 10 minute session of the dolphin eating fish, then dragging you 10 metres through the water.
The rest of the day is spent either in the reef pool or on the lazy river, which after a couple of hours can become quite dull.
I do not rate DC as an all-day activity, but if you cant book your dolphin encounter early, then you will be a bit trapped there for the day.

I think you will do as well to save the cash and spend it elsewhere. Go to Seaworld and stroke the dolphins there because DC is not really that once-in-a-lifetime experience that it is meant to be.
The lunch provided is excellent though, definitely no complaints about that.

Sorry to sound so negative, but I do think that DC is not the best way to spend so much money in Orlando.

Note - This is just my opinion of course.

 

[grianan]

Wendy we have done it and found it a great experience. Discovery cove is a beautiful place. I can't say if it is worth it for you as £550 or there abouts is a lot of money ( There was only 2 of us)
If you decide it is too expensive there is one Dolphin experience I found suited me more than the swim.
It is the Dolphin Nursery tour at Sea World. We spent far more time with the dolphins than we could at DC. There are only 6 people in each tour and 3 trainers. You get to spend time with each trainer and the Dolphins. You do behaviours with the Dolphins, get to hug a Dolphin, stroke its tongue and tickle its tum as well as feed them buckets of fish. You learn all about the babies in the dolphin nursery pool and get to feed them. I think the experience with the Dolphins was about an hour and cost around 80 dollars.

Hi Rain, I'm new to this forum, but had exact;y the same question and that is great advice. Will definately check out this option.

 

[Debbied]

We have done it and before we booked DH was grumbling about the price, but as we were in a group of 8 he went with the flow....and guess what he reckoned it was one of the best days of the holiday and would happily do it again. It also offers a day of tranquility after the hustle of the parks as the visitors are limited to a set amount daily. If you can afford it do it.

 

[speedysam]

We did this at Easter 2005 and had a great day. Our daughter was not 6 so could not do the dolphin swim. We are going back this xmas and all participating.

It was a great day chilling out and not chasing around ticking off rides. Our highlights were actually swimming with the fish and walking through the aviary. In fact the dolphin swim actually seemed a little contrived.

Try and do the dolphin swim early when they are fresh. If there are several of you consider splitting into two groups with different time sessions. Then you can take your own photos of each other.

We made good use of the 'free days' at SeaWorld, doing one am session and one pm one. However we paid extra for Busch Gardens and were very dissapointed.

 

[edinburghlass]

We did Discovery Cove and while I did enjoy it and the lunch was lovely, value for money it was quite an expensive day at the beach and even more expensive were the photos. We did love just drifting round the lazy river.

Last year we did the Behind the Scenes at the Dolphin Nursery Tour and value for money at $40 it was a much better deal. The Seaworld photographers were on the other side of the pool and we didn't realise they were there until one of the trainers told us although the best photos we got were the ones the trainer took using my camera. There was no restriction on taking photos unlike at DC.

I'd certainly do the Seaworld tour again

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h80/Edinlass/Amydolphin.jpg

these two photos are not so clear as they were scanned in the pc

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h80/Edinlass/seaworld.jpg