Feedback required on Discovery Cove DVD

[paulhunttery]

My Wife and I are visiting Orlando at the end of October and plan to spend a day at Discovery Cove. The photo and DVD packages seem expensive for what you get, and based on comments by some forum members the DVD is not great. I am planning to buy in advance the middle package (with photo CD/without DVD), with the intention of seeing what the DVD comes out like before buying. From previous comments I don't think this incurs much extra cost.
I would appreciate any feedback on the quality of the DVD, Photo CD and photo album provided by Discovery Cove as I have a Digital SLR and HD video camera I will be taking. I'm wondering if there is an advantage to buying the DC package as opposed to shooting your own, if this is possible.

Thanks in advance for any comments or feedback.

 

[willstewart]

From what I've read about the dvd (not from personal experience so can't say if it's 100% true), it that there's very little of you actually in it. There is supposed to loads of other general bits of the park, music and what you do see of the dolphin bit features not only you but the entire group, so there could be next to nothing of you depending on the group size and/or the camera person.

As for shooting your own, you are back on the beach so can be a bit away from the action and probably won't get the best angles - they're not there for you to do it yourself when there's loads of $$$ to be made from selling everything to you!

 

[lwickell]

I used to work at DC & can say the photo cd comes out great. You will be able to preview the dvd. You also might want to go there earlier to preview as it does get really busy at closing time.

You will get (unless it changed) a complimentary photo of you & your party upon arrival after you enter the park.

If you bring your own video camera you will get lots of beautiful shots. Cameras are not allowed in the dolphin pools, but you can film from the beach area. Be sure to visit the bird aviary, go early & the birds are very active. You can get there as early as 7:30 am.

Hope this helps.

 

[pacman9a]

We were a little disappointed with the DVD as it had music dubbed over the action so you could not hear the dolphin's reaction to our instructions, which were hilarious and cute! As the previous poster said, the footage does include the rest of your group, (there were anther family of 4 with us).

The official photos are very good though.

I will be recommending Discovery Cove to anyone who asks as my whole family (from age 11 to 42) thought this was the best experience of our whole 3 weeks in Florida.

 

[disneyohbear]

We were a little disappointed in the DVD too. We bought it though because its the only video of the dolphin interaction and we wanted that. There are some great shots in the video but overall with a few adjustments it could have been alot better.

Our video showed alot of the other groups in the lagoon (far away viewing) and had side views of our group so that the other couple which was with us were blocking views of us sometimes. When I looked at the video before buying it I mentioned to the guy that they should fix that so that the video got face shots instead of sideways shots. He said it was a common complaint they receive and that the video's had to be taken more to the side to keep them out of the dolphins way. Based on that then maybe they should use the zoom and film from the group more diagonal to you in the bay to provide better views. Who knows if they will change this or not and it could have also been in part to our video person of the day because it was clear to me in watching the video that it could have been better without being in the dolphin's way.

the pictures on the other hand were absolutely priceless. We got the CD of pics and those are just awesome. I don't think there is a picture that wasn't oohed and ahhed over. I've really enjoyed being able to print those at my leisure too instead of just having the handful of printed ones we purchased. We gave away the printed ones to family upon returning home and I was able to reprint for myself whatever I wanted. As a scrapbooker that's a great thing cause I could print and reprint as needed.

I didn't think I'd say this before going but we are going back. Will we get the DVD again? who knows. We have a slightly different group going so maybe maybe not. Guess that'll be up to the grandparents that are going. I myself don't need another copy. But i'll definitely be getting ALL the pics and this time trying for more pics in the bird avery as those were sadly lacking in our first trip.

One more thing....I wouldn't take a camera\video camera unless you aren't going to spend alot of time in the water activities. We took some disposable ones but I wouldn't want to take a video camera or a nice digital that wasn't water proof. We spent the whole day in the water and the lockers aren't really close by so you'd spend alot of time going back and forth. The water disposable ones worked great so that we got shots in the water (snorkeling and stingray area along with the river area) and didn't have to worry about a nice camera getting messed up or stolen. We saw people with video cameras walking around but that was the thing...they weren't participating in the snorkeling or stingrays or river. they were walking around doing the video thing. We were too busy having fun to worry about a video. That's so not me either. I love to video the kids so i worried about the fact we wouldn't have any of that day but looking back I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

I bought the whole package.

The only part of the DVD I wanted was my son's dolphin ride......unfortunately, you get all the rest. Yes, they put corny music over the whole experience.

I can say that you should make sure you are in position to be seen during the experience. We were lucky to be next to the trainer and she would tell us to curve around....meaning we could be seen in the shots. The rest of the group was standing in a line and you can't really see them too well. I am just saying that because if you are going to buy it you should make sure you are going to be in it or seen as much as possible.

I think it is a giant rip off but it was something I had to have since I didn't have anyone on the beach to tape it for us. If you can video tape it I would just do that and then maybe buy the photo CD. I agree to view your stuff early. You can view the DVD and then choose not to buy.....although, once you see it, it's hard not to....at least for me

The photo's do come out great

This one is blurred in the corner because I had to photoshop out a person and I never went back and touched it up.....

It is a wonderful park.

 

[Brook1099]

I think its absolutely worth it, we just watched it again the other night to gets us phsyched for our up coming trip and to see my DD who was six for her first dolphin swim she is now 9 was a blast a wonderful memory. This year I am getting another because my son who is 8 now wants to do it too!

Discovery Cove is the highlight of our trip every year! Worth every penny!

 

[jpeppers]

The DVD sucks but the photo CD is great!

 

[Natasha&Matt]

How much is the Dvd and photopackage please? and what do you get with it?

 

[Dolphina]

there are different packages available. i bought the ultimate photo package and it was about $ 219 or something like that. I got 10 print outs, 2 keychains, 1 poster, the photo cd and the dvd. I hope I didn't forget to mention anything. the photo cd is great, but i wouldn't buy the dvd again...