I'm Not As Tink As You Kronk I Am - Final Thoughts on Mustard's January Trip to WDW

[mnmrmustard]

I continued strolling around the reef

As you may have noticed you can hardly see a picture without a lifeguard in it. The resort is VERY focused on the safety of the guests. And with so many different land and water features I must say I was impressed with their ability to cover all the angles.

I strolled over to the pool area (other side from where I was earlier) so I could get pics of the whole thing and especially the waterfalls.

You can really see the side openings for the cave section of the tropical river in this one

And here you see the snack bar located in between the resort pool and ray pool. Here they had those big soft pretzels, a slurpee-styled concoction called cherry snow, chips and other munchies, plus a big chunk of the Anheuser-Busch line of products. Since all food/drinks were part of the ticket price I enjoyed several Amber Bocks throughout the afternoon – Whoohoo!

Okay, back to the show ;-]

The Ray Pool

I walked around to the other side and discovered that the rest of the fam had gone in to say “hi” to the rays

There’s my girls!

…and the rest of the ladies

Notice the ever-present birds in the background waiting for a piece of fish to come their way ;-]

My Pumpkin Girl

The moms

And of course my Beany Girl

She gets in one more good pet before getting out with the rest of the ladies. As I said, the water is a bit cooler in the areas with sea life

Where there is a beach and sand you will always find kids who want to play with it

The moms discuss their continuing adventure

And now from a different perspective, DW with one of the waterproof cameras, so rewind to:

MiL getting tickled

My mom taking a turn

DD11

And DD8

Got a couple more pics with the rays then we’ll move on to other fun stuff. Tune in next time for more!

 

[Leger13]

another update!! You're on a roll. Great pictures. That snack bar sounds awesome. And all the beer you can drink huh? Nice!!

the ray thing looks awesome. I never knew what the draw was to this place but now I can see through your pictures. Very cool. You are making me want to take a detour there some time on a future WDW trip. hmmmmm

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

that really looks like so much fun.

 

[kindakrazy2]

Great pics Mike!

I haven't heard a lot about Discovery Cove so its great to see so much of it! Must not let my girls see or they will want to go!

 

[mnmrmustard]

another update!! You're on a roll. Great pictures. That snack bar sounds awesome. And all the beer you can drink huh? Nice!!

the ray thing looks awesome. I never knew what the draw was to this place but now I can see through your pictures. Very cool. You are making me want to take a detour there some time on a future WDW trip. hmmmmm

I'm trying to stay on track ...I had really slacked off the last couple of weeks Yes, I can see going there without the kids and having a very "relaxing" day drinking bocks and floating on that river

Yes, it is such an interactive and relaxing experience and you do what you want when you want except for the scheduled meal times and actual dolphin interaction. It is something we will do again in the future

great update and pics.

that really looks like so much fun.

Thanks and yes, it was a lot of fun - I recommend it to anyone who likes water and getting up close and personal with nature.

Great pics Mike!

I haven't heard a lot about Discovery Cove so its great to see so much of it! Must not let my girls see or they will want to go!

Thankyee! It was tricky with all that water around and still getting some good pics. But after not getting good pics at Typhoon Lagoon I made sure to do a "walk around" so my peeps could get a feel for the place.

Next time I'll have my waterproof setup for my camera so I can take some good underwater shots

 

[mnmrmustard]

A couple more pictures from DW’s camera in the ray pool

The girls say “cheese”

Bean found a new friend

Pumpkin Girl had a whole line of them swim past her

Smile ladies!

After everyone was out I panned over and caught a couple of quick shots of the coral reef section from the other side

MiL needed a rest and the girls were hungry so we had some snacks and drinks at the snack bar. Then the girls went to warm up in the pool area. I talked to my mom for a couple of minutes and we decided to check out the aviary. Once inside I took a shot of mom in front of this interesting monolith-looking thing.

There were birds in the trees all around us

They have people situated in each area with cups of food to feed the birds with

And then we had a visit from these little deer …they told me the name and origin of it, but I can’t remember it.

We walked back to one of the bridges and were followed by some friends

The trees are pretty big in there, allowing for some pretty big birds to roost

Another colorful friend visited mom

We then walked down towards the water wall exit on the river. There were some peacocks in the trees above us

And a cool yellow parrot that simply refused to get close enough for a good picture

Here’s a shot of the water wall I’ve been talking about. It is interesting to swim under and makes a really good deterrent to keep the birds inside the aviary.

Here is another one of the interesting features they built into the river. It really works well to immerse you in another world

Looking “upriver” in the aviary

Then we turned around and found that we had a little visitor

They are very cute and only a little skittish. We said goodbye to the little guy and walked through to another chamber of the aviary. I think there are three chambers total, each with different types/sizes of birds. I’ll pick up in there next time!

 

[Leger13]

that place with all the birds looks so cool. Where else can you possibly have exotic birds like that land on your arm to take food from a cup? Sooooo cool!! And those little deer. Awwwww. That just looks like so much fun. Can't wait to see more pictures of the birds. Hope y'all didn't get pooped on (yeah, I had to)

 

[scottny]

well if I ever want to off Biff I know where to take him, he is deathly afraid of birds.

great pics.

the deer was so cute.

 

[Leger13]

well if I ever want to off Biff I know where to take him, he is deathly afraid of birds.

great pics.

the deer was so cute.

now that is down right evil

 

[scottny]

now that is down right evil

it is true, if pigeons are on the sidewalk he will walk in thestreet or cross it.

 

[Leger13]

it is true, if pigeons are on the sidewalk he will walk in thestreet or cross it.

now that is too funny I think cars are a little more dangerous than pigeons.

 

[scottny]

now that is too funny I think cars are a little more dangerous than pigeons.

not to him.

 

[mnmrmustard]

that place with all the birds looks so cool. Where else can you possibly have exotic birds like that land on your arm to take food from a cup? Sooooo cool!! And those little deer. Awwwww. That just looks like so much fun. Can't wait to see more pictures of the birds. Hope y'all didn't get pooped on (yeah, I had to)

We managed to avoid getting pooped on and it was pretty cool. The little deer were an unexpected bonus

well if I ever want to off Biff I know where to take him, he is deathly afraid of birds.

great pics.

the deer was so cute.

Yeah, that would probably be a nightmare scenario for him then

Thanks for the compliment :-]

it is true, if pigeons are on the sidewalk he will walk in thestreet or cross it.

Man, I can only imagine how tough that would be with the amount of pigeons in the city

now that is too funny I think cars are a little more dangerous than pigeons.

One would think, but I've seen people afraid of stranger things.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Across the bridge and through to the next area we were greeted by a turkey of all things

Some other birds

I stepped out one of the other doors and snapped a shot of the “entrance” water wall

And upriver towards the resort pool area. You can just see the exit of the cave area

And back in to go to the last area of the aviary which held the smaller birds

We walked back out and stared to round up everyone to lunch and found MiL and Bean talking to one of the life guards. He was a pretty cool guy who we ran into several times that day. Again, big kudos to the staff there.

We swam a little bit longer and then it was time for our dolphin interaction We had to do an orientation consisting of a video and a talk with the dolphin handler assigned to us and sign a waiver. We then walked out to the pool and one by one waded into the water. Our group consisted of our family and a young couple from Miami.

They had us stand in a crescent and brought up our dolphin Jenny. The handler talked about dolphins in general and Jenny’s history. She had been a show dolphin at Sea World San Antonio. She floated in front of us and let us pet her back and tummy and we learned how to do some hand signals for tricks. We each got to feed her a couple of fish after certain tricks or interactions.

Then it was time for the individual interactions. Pumpkin Girl was up first and gave Jenny kisses

Played a little

And then went for a ride

Next up was Bean – she gave big kisses

And then took her ride :-]

DW had her turn

 

[Disneydad99]

wow Mustard...Sorry I havent been over posting much I seem to see you have posted and then end up somewhere else....ya Know like Moron Land something like that....

any who Ive heard about Discovery Cove...but had never seen this much detail in Photos....Great Job Bud....

will pay more attention...dont shoot me yet!@!!!

oh and a Swim with the dolphins....That had to be AWESOME!!!!! I am so Jealous!!!!

disneydad

 

[scottny]

once again a great update and gorgeous pics.

so did u get pics of u with the dolphins? that looks like so much fun.

 

[mnmrmustard]

wow Mustard...Sorry I havent been over posting much I seem to see you have posted and then end up somewhere else....ya Know like Moron Land something like that....

any who Ive heard about Discovery Cove...but had never seen this much detail in Photos....Great Job Bud....

will pay more attention...dont shoot me yet!@!!!

oh and a Swim with the dolphins....That had to be AWESOME!!!!! I am so Jealous!!!!

disneydad

Ahhh, moron land - I know that place well If they gave frequent flyer miles there I'd have a free trip built up by now

No worries, it is the nature of the boards to take us back and forth randomly through all that is Disney - glad you stopped by :-]

Thanks for the kudos on the pics, the place was suprisingly easy to photograph despite all the sand and water

Yeah, the dolphin interaction was a big high point - glad we did it.

once again a great update and gorgeous pics.

so did u get pics of u with the dolphins? that looks like so much fun.

Thankyee sir! Yes, gonna post the last leg of the day right now indluding my happy pics with ole Jenny

 

[mnmrmustard]

Next was my mom, who must have given Jenny at least a dozen kisses

MiL had her turn

As you can see she really enjoyed her ride!

Sorry, no pic of me kissing the dolphin – I did do a chivalrous bow to her, but they didn’t catch it on camera ;-]

And then a couple of family shots with Jenny to wrap up the experience

After saying goodbye to Jenny we headed over to have lunch. Due to the scheduling of our interaction we were one of the last groups to eat but there was still LOTS of good food We all had our fill and the moms both decided they had had enough aquatic fun. My mom called my pop and he came by and picked her up.

DW helped MiL get changed and helped her up to guest services next to the gift shop while the DDs and I took another turn around the lazy river. I caught a couple of pics of the girls, most of which didn’t turn out. I tried to get one of them sitting under water on a sunken cannon and this was the best one of the bunch

We popped up in the aviary and Bean tried to get some birds to come to her, but no cup o’ food, no birdie ;-]

We finished the circuit and the four of us got back together and entered the coral reef. It has dozens of varieties of tropical fish and HUGE rays – some with wingspans wider than six feet! Here is DD11 saying “hi” to one of the medium sized ones

Both girls exploring

And coming to get me!!!!

We swam around the reef for a while just watching the big fish and rays swimming right around us. It was very cool but it was also getting pretty chilly! DD11 and I did one more turn around the river while DW and DD8 checked out the aviary.

We were basically chased out of there by the lifeguards as it was closing time. While we were swimming around I looked down and saw someone’s ID badge in amongst the rocks on the bottom. I thought I’d be doing a good Samaritan job by giving it to the lifeguard until I looked at the picture and saw it was Beans!!! Lucky break that she didn’t lose that as a memento.

We all met back up by the restaurant and I took a quick shot of the now calm and empty dolphin pool, one lone life guard keeping watch

I enhanced the light on that one, it really looked like this as we headed to the gift shop

We met back up with MiL and bought some trinkets at the gift shop and spent WAY too much money on the picture package. We all trudged back out …darn them for making the way out uphill!! But being as that was my only real complaint about the day I’d say we did pretty good

We loaded up and went back to the resort for showers and such while our minds floated on the great day we had. Our minds also wandered to what we would see and do the next day, AKA our last day at WDW!

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

That really looks like so much fun. thanks for sharing the pics with us.

last day at WDW.

 

[Leger13]

The interaction with the dolphins looks super cool!! You got some great shots on the dolphin rides! The dolphin even looks like she's smiling