Don’t tell MM! It’s NOT a bug’s life! A dolphin’s WHAT? The ER? Is that a body?

[saintstickets]

Now to our day at Discovery Cove…

Get there early! DC opens at 9:00. We arrived about 8:15 and there were already a couple hundred people lined up. Your dolphin swim time is assigned depending on when you arrive so the earlier you are there, the earlier your swim time. Once the doors open, your group will register and get a photo ID. You will also get a small plastic map that can attach to your ID lanyard. Both the ID and map are waterproof. Here is a pic of the map

After your group has been properly tagged, labeled and counted, you then get your complimentary group pic. Here is ours (Notice the one-eyed fat man!)

From there, you wind your way through lush tropical plants until the path opens up to DC. Here is a stock pic

Because we reserved a cabana, we were escorted to it by one of the hostesses at DC. I said it before but if you can fit it into your budget, reserve a cabana. Ours was the first one by the first dolphin area and nearest to the restaurant and Wind Away River. Here are a couple of pictures of the cabana area and our view of the Starfish pool

Those groups are the dolphin swim sessions. They limit each group to 7-10 people. There was a group of 3 with our 6 in our session. There is a trainer and an assistant with each group as well as 2-3 photographers/videographers with each group.

 

[saintstickets]

After showing us to our cabana, the hostess pointed out the locker, stocked refrigerator and snack cabinet. The fridge had soft drinks and water and she said if we wanted adult beverages that she would bring us some. She also said that she would be by several times during the day to see if we needed anything and replenish whatever we had used. We actually saw her only one time during the day but we could tell she had been there because she had put more beverages in the refrigerator, brought a basket of snacks, took our wet towels and brought us fresh ones, left additional packages of sunscreen and swept the sand off the deck! Talk about 1st class service! We felt really pampered.

Next it was off to get your snorkel gear and either swim vest or wetsuit. Inside the tote that has your mask and snorkel, there are packets of sunscreen that are safe for the dolphins and other critters. Here is the sunscreen

I’m here to tell you folks, this stuff is THICK! It has the consistency of sour cream or maybe the cold cream our mothers used to put on at bedtime. When you first put it on, you look like Casper the ghost so you’ll spend 10 minutes rubbing it in!

(I know. DW is gonna kill me but just wait. It won’t be for this pic. Wait until you see the other one I will post!)


The DC employees that are handing out the swim vest/wetsuit must have worked at an upscale clothing store in another life. You walk up and they don’t ask your size (thank goodness since other people are around!). They ask you which suit you prefer (swim vest or wetsuit), size you up and go get the correct size the 1st time. There are changing rooms and showers right there. A word of caution about the wetsuit…after you wear it for a while out of the water, you will get hot…I’m talking sauna hot! However, the water where the dolphins swim and in the Grand Reef is COLD. We’re talking Seinfeld shrinkage cold! (Another one of my favorite episodes-poor George-and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I cannot explain it because then the DISboard monitors WOULD have something to say!) The water in Serenity Bay and Wind Away River is 85-88 F. The water in the Grand Reef is 77 F. But in the Dolphin Lagoon it is 72 F! We started off with the swim vest but then switched to the wetsuit right before our dolphin swim. Also, if you wear glasses, go to Guest Services and ask for a prescription mask. It kinda takes away from the snorkel experience if everything is fuzzy. All you have to do is sign for the prescription mask and return it when you get ready to leave. There is no charge.

 

[saintstickets]

Now that we are all suited up, greased up and geared up, it is time to try the lazy river called Wind Away River. A bit of advice – grab one of the life vests or noodles in a rack at the main pool area of WAR. I don’t know why they call it lazy river because if you try to swim/float it without a flotation device, you will be worn out! It is not a short trip. In addition, there are several areas that are quite deep and over your head. You will not be able to wade the whole course. I didn’t use any flotation device and was weary by the time I finished. I don’t know why I didn’t use a noodle. Fellow DISboard member MEK is the noodle queen and in one of her TR’s, she told her readers her experience with a noodle and how she mastered the technique. Tsk, tsk, tsk….I know MEK, I shoulda…I coulda…I woulda…but I didn’ta (Is that a word?). Here are some pics from the main pool area leading to Wind Away River
DDiL & DW

The newlyweds – DS & DDiL

DS1 being his usual self. I know, I know…that acorn didn’t fall far from the tree!

And here are a few pics of the “lazy” river

And then there is this pic I took while snorkeling the Wind Away River

Now before you females get bent out of shape, I’m not alone in DH’s who prefer to photograph and preserve for posterity their partner’s posterior! I’m not going to mention any names but a certain young cutie from NC here on the DISboards has had her DH take her pic from the same…er…angle and it was posted in her TR! Hey ladies, it’s a sign of admiration and respect. Heck, DW and I have been married for nearly 30 years and she still quivers my liver!

Of course, when DW turned around to see what I was doing and I was reviewing the pics, she knew something was up and even underwater, I get the “look”

 

[saintstickets]

You men know what I’m talking about. The “look” can be disgust, embarrassment, anger or any combination. That’s when we men get the puzzled, what’s wrong, I didn’t know expression on our face. Then we both just shake our head and move on…right? That’s what happens at your house guys, right? That’s what happens at mine, I promise. Excuse me while I make the dog move over. There’s not enough room in his house for both of us!


Now during this excursion, if I would have paid more attention to MEK in her TR and used a noodle, I would not have slipped and gashed my shin. It was bloody, it was messy, it was embarrassing. Wait, I didn’t slip…I got bit by a shark! That’s it…a shark took a hunk out of my leg! I bopped that big ole great white orca on the nose and he swam away as fast as he could! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

After my visit to the first aid station and the women swooning at my bravery in fighting the killer shark and the men giving me high-fives and saying, “You da man!” (It could happen!) it was getting close to the time for our dolphin swim.

A side note here, the people at the first aid station were extremely nice. They even felt sorry, I mean were so impressed by my heroic feat that they treated my “it’s not a bug’s life” eye as well! I’m sure it had nothing to do with that old, fat, gray haired man I saw in the mirror…er... next to me that could not walk and chew bubble gum at the same time or is that he can't swim and take pics of his wife at the same time? Well, anyway, the triage team at the level 1 trauma first aid station were excellent in treating my shark bite!

 

[ToddyLu]

I love the pic of you with the dolphin--it is terrific! I have cracked my knee at the bottom of a lazy river--it took two months almost to heal and that is my line of work. You are really changing my mind about visiting the "dark side". So what is the DDfi thinking about this fantastic/fun vacation? I also love MEK's TR and she is who started me down the path of getting Resort music. She loved the Kidani lobby music and gave a link to the list...the rest is history.

 

[therussells08]

I’ve never tried the HDDR, but it looks like something we would really enjoy! Your description kind of reminds me of the Dixie Stampede they have at Myrtle Beach, but I’m sure it’s much cooler since, after all, it’s Disney!

John and I went to Sea World for the first time last June and I fell in love! We got in totally free thanks to their really generous military appreciation program, and we had a blast! We did not, however, ride any rides. I will have to try that Kraken the next time we go!

I cried like a baby when they asked all military personnel to stand before One Ocean. They really are great to our armed services!

I love that show, by the way. I’m sure you probably remember my description from my TR last summer when I cried the whole time because it was so beautiful. Those orcas are so majestic!

HAHA I love your wife’s tactfulness! That sounds like something I would try with John! We have to be careful with those fragile male egos!

YIKES! A bug flying in my eye sounds like my worst nightmare. Sorry that happened to you!

Yes, to “fiddle” with something is a very complicated verb. It has all different kinds of meaning, just like “yonder” is a very complex term for measuring various distances!

By the way, “eye” really appreciate all your eye puns!

Wow, swimming with dolphins sounds amazing! I know how much I enjoyed feeding them at Sea World, so swimming with them at DC must be wonderful!

Hahaha oh Seinfeld. I was in the pool! I WAS IN THE POOL!

There it is! The infamous picture! HAHAHA! All joking aside, we really should consider it a compliment. Now it’s when he starts taking pictures of other womens’ backsides that we will have a problem!

Oh I know "the look" very well. I think on her wedding day, every woman is taken aside by her mother or the matriarch of the family and is taught how to master "the look". Poor John, he gets it quite often!

 

[TinksThree]

Discovery Cove looks so awesome! I need to note the cabana...talk about getting spoiled!

Uhm...yes, I know how guys can be and dangerous with those cameras!!

 

[IloveDisney77]

By now it is 2:30pm and our room is still not ready. DS and DDiL head to their room to rest a spell. DW, DD and DDfi relax in the main lobby while I do a bit more reconnoitering around WL. When I return, I discover they had been bored and decided to take pics with my camera.

Now I would show you the pic of DW but I want to continue to live with her so discretion is the better part of valor in this situation. Besides, there are a couple of pics later on that I'M SURE will get me in hot water!

It is now 3:00pm and DW goes to the desk to ask about our room. Nope...not ready. She is now speaking to a manager and he tells her that if we would give them our cell phone number that they would call when the room is ready! Uh oh…mama bear is getting mad now but she bites her tongue and told the Manager CM that we HAD given our cell number on two separate occasions and asked the CM to repeat it to make sure it was correct. He checked and said it was not in the system.

She gave it to him for a 3rd time. I have now returned from my sightseeing tour and DW tells me what the Manager CR told her. Before I could make my way to the desk, my cell phone dings with a message that room #3519 is ready. It is 3:10pm – 10 minutes after the time that DW spoke to the Manager CM and well over 4 hours since we arrived. This is the 2nd time we experienced something that wasn’t the “Disney way”.

Great Trip Report! I've enjoyed it!!! I did want to throw it out there (though I'm sure you know) that the rooms are technically not ready until after 4 pm. Many times they are available prior to 4 and many times (based on our experience) they aren't. We've had as early as 7:30 am and as late as 5:40 pm. My personal experience is that online check-in hasn't gained us an earlier time gaining access to our room...though it would be great if it did! With that said, we've also had the exact same issue of giving our mobile number and then checking in later in the day after a swim or quick jaunt to the park to only find out that, gasp, our room was ready but they didn't have our mobile number. Whatever..we are at Disney so we roll with it.

 

[Leasha_Loves_Disney]

I am loving this trip report because it's giving me a chance to experience things that my family would never venture out to do. Gotta admit, I am a roller coaster junkie and I would LOVE to ride The Manta, looks like a lot of fun. You knows it gott be crazy when they have to lock in your ankles Maybe I will adventure out to adventure cove while I'm in Florida for my college program, it looks so beautiful and I LOVE SWIMMING​

 

[MEK]

I love the pic of you with the dolphin--it is terrific! I have cracked my knee at the bottom of a lazy river--it took two months almost to heal and that is my line of work. You are really changing my mind about visiting the "dark side". So what is the DDfi thinking about this fantastic/fun vacation? I also love MEK's TR and she is who started me down the path of getting Resort music. She loved the Kidani lobby music and gave a link to the list...the rest is history.

Gee Thanks!

Stop on over at my newest TR (Something about chill out and pixie dust) which I just started yesterday!

I am trying to get caught up today without pictures and I know, horrors - how can I even think about reading updates on DC without the pictures? So I'll be back to look at them.

FWIW - I took over as the photographer in our family because my DH took one too many "posterior" shots of me. And I'm not kidding. The only thing those shots are good for is posting them on the rerigerator as incentive for sticking to a diet.

I've seen that Seinfeld episode more than once. George really does a great job with that.

One comment about the noodle - if I tried noodling in a lazy river I would probably end up with a shark bite AND a concussion!

Great description of what to do when visiting DC. Can't wait to read more.

 

[saintstickets]

I love the pic of you with the dolphin--it is terrific! I have cracked my knee at the bottom of a lazy river--it took two months almost to heal and that is my line of work. You are really changing my mind about visiting the "dark side". So what is the DDfi thinking about this fantastic/fun vacation? I also love MEK's TR and she is who started me down the path of getting Resort music. She loved the Kidani lobby music and gave a link to the list...the rest is history.

Thanks Lu. That was an awesome experience having that beautiful animal pull me around. This is DDfi's second trip to WDW with us. DD and he have been dating almost 5 years and are getting married in August. He is used to our craziness by now and seems like he really enjoys going. He's a great guy and we like him a lot.

Wow, swimming with dolphins sounds amazing! I know how much I enjoyed feeding them at Sea World, so swimming with them at DC must be wonderful!

This was definately a day to remember...but it's not over yet!

Hahaha oh Seinfeld. I was in the pool! I WAS IN THE POOL!

Poor George

There it is! The infamous picture! HAHAHA! All joking aside, we really should consider it a compliment. Now it’s when he starts taking pictures of other womens’ backsides that we will have a problem!

Notice how I purposefully did not mention your name...er, I didn't let the cat out of the bag about your posterior picture...I mean I didn't tell anyone it was you...OOPS!

Oh I know "the look" very well. I think on her wedding day, every woman is taken aside by her mother or the matriarch of the family and is taught how to master "the look". Poor John, he gets it quite often!

Now that would explain a lot. I need to do an intervention before DW has the talk with DD!

Discovery Cove looks so awesome! I need to note the cabana...talk about getting spoiled!

Uhm...yes, I know how guys can be and dangerous with those cameras!!

Take it as a sign of admiration when your man takes a pic, but as said earlier, if he starts taking pics of others...well, I just hope he has major medical!

Great Trip Report! I've enjoyed it!!! I did want to throw it out there (though I'm sure you know) that the rooms are technically not ready until after 4 pm. Many times they are available prior to 4 and many times (based on our experience) they aren't. We've had as early as 7:30 am and as late as 5:40 pm. My personal experience is that online check-in hasn't gained us an earlier time gaining access to our room...though it would be great if it did! With that said, we've also had the exact same issue of giving our mobile number and then checking in later in the day after a swim or quick jaunt to the park to only find out that, gasp, our room was ready but they didn't have our mobile number. Whatever..we are at Disney so we roll with it.

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, I know the "official" check-in time is 4:00pm but we have never had to wait more than 30 minutes in all of our previous trips. I think it was a simple error that they somehow deleted my cell phone number because it was awfully coincidental that when we gave it to the CM Manager, the room was ready very quickly. We got over it although I've seen others make a BIG scene about it. Their loss...I can't things like that ruin my trip!

I am loving this trip report because it's giving me a chance to experience things that my family would never venture out to do. Gotta admit, I am a roller coaster junkie and I would LOVE to ride The Manta, looks like a lot of fun. You knows it gott be crazy when they have to lock in your ankles Maybe I will adventure out to adventure cove while I'm in Florida for my college program, it looks so beautiful and I LOVE SWIMMING

Thank you ma'am for the kind words. Make sure you tell us what you end up doing when you start the DCP. Do they have a fat, old man program? Would the acronym be FOMP?

Stop on over at my newest TR (Something about chill out and pixie dust) which I just started yesterday!

Done!

FWIW - I took over as the photographer in our family because my DH took one too many "posterior" shots of me. And I'm not kidding. The only thing those shots are good for is posting them on the rerigerator as incentive for sticking to a diet.

Now, I don't believe that about the fridge pics. Besides, we don't take "those" pics of our wives for your enjoyment!

One comment about the noodle - if I tried noodling in a lazy river I would probably end up with a shark bite AND a concussion!

Say it ain't so?!?! The "noodle queen" can do all things in the water!!

 

[saintstickets]

It was time to start the dolphin swim process. We were told to assemble at the Starfish cabana with other groups that had the same reservation time. Your group checks in and you are given a liability waiver to sign. That’s just in case one of those killer sharks gets pass the protective dolphins and does something like what happened to me. (Another high-five from the DC host – apparently my fame is spreading). Then you watch a video of DC promotional material about their dolphin program. It’s educational and not very long. Afterwards a trainer shows up and leads your group to your pool and the highlight of the day.

The 3 pools are large enough to accommodate 3 groups each. Your group is led to your spot in the pool to meet your personal trainer. Yes the water is “Seinfeld” cold and yes the bottom is rough. Wear water socks or pool/water shoes. We picked up some water shoes at Academy Sports for less than $15. You are standing in water about 4’ deep. There is a minimum height/age requirement so check before you go if you have young ones. Also, the dolphin swim part requires you paddle out to a deeper area. You can wear one of the vest flotation devices or you can request a shallow water swim. The trainer asks beforehand and there’s no problem either way. Our trainer asked if my dreadful injury would permit me to make it to the deep water and of course I said it was fine. Another high-five accompanied with an ooh-la-la baby, baby, baby ogle. (How many of you just thought of the Bieb?)

First they line you up, shoulder to shoulder and give a few instructions about touching and handling the bottlenose dolphins. They give a brief informational talk about the dolphins at DC, their programs and then they call the dolphin over to the group. We had 2 dolphins with our group, a young male about 2 years old named Briggs and an older female that was 28 years old named Jenny. Briggs was first. They get him to come right up to you and let you rub him and pet him while cautioning you to not touch his blow hole or the area forward of that (melon) towards his eyes and snout. They get him to come by several times to make sure everyone gets a chance to play. Their skin is fairly smooth but with a rubbery texture. The trainer will get him to do a few tricks and show you the hand signals to make him bob his head, wag his tail or splash water on you. She got him to do a few jumps in front of us and then brought him back to the group. This time she had him roll over so we could see and pet the underside of his body. He slowly swam by upside down and again everyone had several chances to pet/rub him. DDiL was rubbing a bit further past the flippers towards a small slit. The trainer politely warned her to not rub in that area since this was a male dolphin and although he was young, she did not want to cause the male parts of his anatomy to reveal itself due to stimulation! Now you know the story behind the “A dolphin’s what?” portion of this TR’s title.

It was time to take some pictures. Here is our group picture

And then we got a group picture with the dolphin upside down. It was at this point that the trainer said she was watching DDiL to make sure she didn’t excite him and the photographer caught our reaction

Continued in next post

 

[saintstickets]

Then we got to meet the other dolphin in our group. A female named Jenny. She too was introduced to the group and we were able to pet her as well. She had quite a few nicks and scars on her and the trainer said this is common on the older dolphins. It is mostly from the teeth of the other dolphins when they play and sometimes fight each other, especially a female protecting her calf. Then it was time to take some pictures with Jenny. Each member of the group gets to kiss the dolphin. Here are some of our pics
DDiL wasn’t taking any chances at this point. She wasn’t going to give her a wet sloppy and possibly excite her too!

DD however was going to get her money’s worth

And DW, well, let’s just say I’m jealous!

Continued in next post again

 

[saintstickets]

Next we get to pose with Jenny individually. DS’s turn

DD has always loved dolphins

And DDfi takes his turn

And last but not least, we get to swim with Jenny. Mine was posted earlier in this thread.

Continued in next post AGAIN

 

[saintstickets]

Earlier you saw some of the extras that were part of our cabana package. Included was a personalized buoy that Jenny delivered to DD

Jenny, Jenny I got your number 8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (sorry Tommy Tutone, I couldn’t resist)

And once the buoy was delivered, we get another group picture

And that’s all folks for the dolphin swim portion of our trip to DC. It was great. It was fantastic. Dolphins are amazing. I’d do it again in a second. After your swim, a DC host leads your group to the photo cabana where you can select your pictures. As previously mentioned, we received a 25% discount on the premium photo package due to our cabana package. I can’t pass up a bargain like that can I? The premium package had EVERY picture the photographers took and a DVD of almost the entire swim experience. Also included were individual 6x8’s of everybody with the dolphin, 2 picture key chains, wallet pics, a poster and a nice frame. Here are two stock dolphin pics that were on the CD

 

[saintstickets]

And here are links on YouTube to short video clips taken from the DVD we received

The Kiss - DC01 http://youtu.be/RCcVOQ3TxvI

Rub my belly – DC03 http://youtu.be/VD9nBguyEZw

Watch where you pet red – DC02 http://youtu.be/4sFhIUesIkQ

Watch this – DC04 http://youtu.be/MpU4WkgZPoI

DD dolphin ride – DC05 http://youtu.be/fchCQJ-nKEk

DW dolphin ride – DC06 http://youtu.be/4h9VOPNUEdY

Who is training who? – DC07 http://youtu.be/IQPbNJJHSw4

Dolphin delivery service – DC08 http://youtu.be/A9EB-6MGUtM

Jenny outshines Briggs – DC09 http://youtu.be/A9EB-6MGUtM

Bye bye – DC10 http://youtu.be/LmlkoI7jbEE

 

[saintstickets]

But wait, our time at DC is not over! After our dolphin swim, it was lunch time. We all went to the cabana to get out of the wetsuits and the hostess had been there while we were gone. Fresh towels, deck swept clean, all the drinks/snacks replenished and extra packets of sunscreen on the table. Aaaahhh…it’s nice to live like royalty once in a while!

A quick change and off we go to eat. The restaurant is only about 50 yards from our cabana. DC has a nice restaurant with a wide selection to chose from. The food was very good and plenty of it, especially since you could go back as often as you wanted. Most of the seating is outside either under a covered area or tables with umbrellas. There was a reggae band playing and we all sat around talking about the swim we just completed, listened to the music and just enjoyed the moment, the food and the company.

 

[saintstickets]

Next we decided to try our chances at the Grand Reef swimming with the fishes, rays and sharks! I should have put the wetsuit back on…that water was cold!!! Ok, suck it up, be da man; you survived a shark attack so…..hey, wait a minute…I’m fixin’ (another Southern colloquialism) to swim with REAL sharks!! Hmmmm…I survey the scene and there are quite a few people already in the water and there are a few that are more obese than I (barely), I mean not obese but would look tastier to a shark. Besides, I’ve got skinny legs (especially after a chunk was taken out by one of their brethren) so maybe they were already fed today or someone else’s drumsticks will look more appetizing. Alright, I’m game, it’s a go.

I didn’t have much luck taking pics under water here. For whatever reason, my mask kept leaking water in but here is what I took and what DDfi took with the dolphin package camera

More in next post

 

[MEK]

Wow! Love the pictures. Love the video snips. Love the anatomy lesson. Your pictures turned out great and so are the photographers. They really gave you an underwater camera?

I heard that if you are an AP holder at one of the Busch Parks you can get some nice discounts during the off season. I need to look into that. There is a small, children's park up here called Sesame place which is a busch park and has a super cheap preseason annual pass. I may have to look at that for next year. What an amazing experience.

 

[saintstickets]

Continued from previous post

It was surreal watching these creatures swim all around your feet. They are obviously used to people and would swim close to you but never touch you. I didn’t see anyone crazy enough to try and touch any of them and the water where the fish were swimming was waste deep or deeper so there were no small kids in the area. The sharks were actually behind a glass partition so you could not actually swim with them like the rays and tropical fish. Scaredy cats! I was looking forward to showing them a thing or two! (Note to self - say a prayer thanking God for glass partitions!) Here are two pics DDfi took through the looking glass