Dolphin in Depth info

[CruznLexi]

Hubby and I are coming to Disney in Jan and want to do the DID has anyone done it? If so how was it? Has anoyne done it on a Friday? Would you do it again?
Lexi

 

[mking624]

My husband and I did it last June...we did it on a Monday. It was an absolutely fabulous experience...we would do it again in a heartbeat!! It's a 3 hour experience, with about 20-30 minutes in the water with the dolphins. You get your picture taken with them and you have the choice to take it by yourself with the dolphin or with whoever you came with. The rest of the time is spent learning about training, anatomy, progrrams at The Living Seas, conservation, etc. You also get refreshments and a tshirt.

It really was an awesome time and I highly recommend it. If you pick up a copy of the Birnbaum's guide, there is a 15% off coupon for DID for up to four people.

 

[Meezers]

Thought I would share the essay my brother wrote to share his experience with some others.

Disney’s Dolphin Experience
by: George Hardy



The Disney dolphin experience starts with the guide explaining that you are going “backstage” at Disney and will see things like: garbage dump areas, cast members and characters both in and out (or in the case of characters half way in between) dress outfits. You then get to walk on the outside of the “tank” that the entire water exhibit is housed in. You are given information on how much water is in the tank, some of the various species and things like that. You then go for a brief tour of the facility and informed of what process takes place in which area for example bathrooms (where you can change in and out of the wetsuit)food preparation area, veterinary service area and things of this nature.

It is at this point that the true part of the Dolphin Experience begins. You are taken to the very top of the water tank area and are seated on a catwalk around a monitor and are given some basics of how dolphins are trained, the techniques used and which dolphins can do certain things. On my tour we then were given special headsets that listened in to our guide and the one of the trainers. We then went through a special door and got to sit down in an area that is “roped” off for cast members only while one of the dolphins did a series of “identification” type tricks (he was shown an object and then had to go to another area and pick the object he had been shown) and having the special headsets allowed us to hear things that no one else could.

Next we went back behind the scenes and were given a chance for some refreshments while shown a video on dolphin biology and what we know about their intelligence, family structure, breeding habits, places on the dolphin that you should and should not touch and things of this nature.

Now came the best part when we go change in to our wetsuits and get in the water with these wonderful mammals. A strong bit of advice here, when you go wear normal street clothes and take a bathing suit with you. You are given an opportunity at the beginning to put anything in a locker that you do not want to carry and then when everything is over you need to shower for “contamination” reasons and the bathrooms have showers with shampoo, soap and conditioner in them, I only wore a bathing suit with a shirt and some sandals and wished that I had worn normal clothing and changed in to my bathing suit (and then put the provided wet suit on over it) because walking around in a wet suit afterwards is not pleasant.

Disney cannot guarantee that the dolphins will interact because they will not force them but our guide and trainers informed us that this had only happened once and I got the opinion from them that one of the tourists did something to upset the dolphins.

The experience with the dolphins is 30 to 45 minutes of actual time in the water with them. In my visit we had 6 tourists (Disney allows a maximum of 8) and we had 2 dolphins along with 2 trainers. We split in to groups of 3 and visited with 1 dolphin and 1 trainer then after a period of time you switch with the other group. While you are interacting with the dolphin you get your picture taken (either by yourself or with a partner if you choose, again Disney allows a maximum of 2 people with 1 dolphin in a picture), you also learn some basic commands to make the dolphins tail dance, do high jumps, talk (cackle) and things of this nature. When your time is up with the dolphins you then go back down to the bathroom to shower and change.

The last thing you do is go back up to the room you had refreshments and watch a video on nature conservation and what we as humans are doing to kill off marine life (or nature in general) and what we can do to try and do as little harm as possible. You are then presented with your picture and given a T-Shirt made from 100% recycled goods (and it is something like 80% plastic) and then the tour guide walks you out of the behind the scenes area back to the Wonderful World of Disney and all of its magic.