Discovery Cove without the dolphin swim?

[SillyMe]

Is the day still enjoyable without the dolphin swim?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Is the day still enjoyable without the dolphin swim?

Absolutely .

The dolphin swim really is a very small part of your day.....only about an hour from start (meeting at one of the cabanas for a short waiver signing/orientation) to finish (viewing your photos after the swim). The interaction is about 30 minutes long, so in the overall scope of a 7:30 am arrival to a 5:30 pm departure, not having the swim won't impact you hardly at all.

You would still have full access to all the other areas of the park.....the Wind Away River, the FreshWater Oasis, the aviary, the Grand Reef, and the sand beach. You would still have unlimited breakfast, lunch and snacks, and all-you-care-to-enjoy beverages (including alcohol). We have done DC three times.....twice with the dolphin swim, and once without. While I highly recommend the dolphin interaction (it really is an incredible experience), DC is still awesome and amazing without it. You will still find the day flies by!

 

[SillyMe]

Thank you, Gina. I'm thinking about surprising my daughter with a day at DC during our May Disney trip. I was trying to figure out the financial end of the trip, but I do know she has been wanting to swim with the dolphins. I did just check Undercover Tourist and noticed I could save quite a bit with the dolphin swim. The only dates available are the day we arrive and the next day. Was hoping for the middle of the week, but oh well. I'm undecided on what to do.

 

[chabs]

I agree with Gina. We did the dolphin swim once, wasn't enough to impress me to do it again. We've been back twice since and had enough to do to spend the whole day until closing time when they threw us out.

 

[chabs]

To me, the dolphin swim sounds much more fun than it really is. It's very "scripted" and you don't really get to truly interact with the dolphins. It's pretty much, say hi to the dolphin, kiss the dolphin, take a picture and take a spin on it's back. Oh, and hang out with another family for a while if you have a party less than 8 people. I didn't enjoy it much, but some people probably think it's great.

 

[SillyMe]

That's why I asked. It's a big difference in price.

 

[Jaime4004]

Agree with previous posts! We are going in Aug without the dolphin swim, which we usually don't do. Totally amused from open to close I've done the dolphin swim twice and really wouldn't want to do it again...

 

[SillyMe]

Agree with previous posts! We are going in Aug without the dolphin swim, which we usually don't do. Totally amused from open to close I've done the dolphin swim twice and really wouldn't want to do it again...

Thank you!

 

[canadiankim]

We are heading back to DC in August too. Last time there (2012) the kids did the dolphin swim and we didn't (we did a swim a few years before at Marathon Key in Florida). This time we asked the kids what they wanted to do and they were both happy to just do the day and not the swim! DS is 15 and DD will just be 13 and they loved hanging out and swimming in the Grand Reef. The new freshwater oasis will be a new area for us to go and we can't wait!

 

[Portugal1000]

Definitely. My son did the swim in 2013 when we were with my brothers family. He really enjoyed it but last year just the three of us went without swim and we loved it. We got there at opening and left at close and spent about 10 minutes on our sun beds. The rest of the time we were in the water. My son loves the snorkelling so much and in August it lovely in that cold water. We went round the lazy river so many times, never got bored. It was a perfect day weather wise.
I just booked our next day this morning. 24th August. Can't wait..our favourite park now.

 

[SillyMe]

I booked it!!! I'm so excited. My daughter has no idea yet. She knows I planned something, and it's driving her crazy. I don't think I'll be able to keep it from her for another month. Now she's going to have to decide whether she wants to do one day at Sea World (since tix are included) or a day at the beach.

 

[HopperFan]

Dolphin once. Resort Day only four times. Will keep going for non-dolphin days!!

 

[MofromMass]

So happy to come across this post. We are going to Universal and Discovery Cove in August. The price difference for the 5 of us with the dolphin swim was quite substantial. My instinct was that we would enjoy DC without the dolphin interaction, glad to have some confirmation of that!!

 

[hdnwaters]

We LOVE DC and have done the dolphin swim twice. We have a couple of great photos but I doubt we will spend the extra money to do it again. Our favorite part of DC is the aviary and the interaction with the birds. We found if you are patient and polite with the DC employees in the aviary they will in turn give you special food to attract more birds. They also will give you interesting facts. A thank you goes a long way. We found a really nice young lady in the reef also who told us names of the sting rays and gave us some tips as to where to swim! Be sure to show up when they give talks about some of the other animals. Love the sloth and anteater! You can pet and feed them also!

We are headed to Orlando in September. My daughter says she wants to spend a day at the beach. (about an hours drive to the East coast) I said to her, "You know where the best beach in Florida is don't you?!" I guess I need to start saving a little extra money!