Our Day at Discovery Cove

[christinou]

We were fortunate to spend August 3 at DC. We are a family of 4, my 2 daughters are 10 and 12. We got there around 8:30 and checked in right away, it took just a few minutes to have our picture taken, get our card which will also be our admission ticket for Bush Garden and find out the time for our dolphin experience (10:30) and be on our way.

We then went and had our complementary picture taken, and meet a nice young woman who walked a group of us to the lagoon area and gave us a brief orientation of the park and answered all of our questions. From there, we could go and have breakfast, or get our locker, snorkel etc, we decided to get our equipment and each got a vest, it was very hot that day, and we did not want a wet suit, then had breakfast, it was a nice continental breakfast with pastries, coffee, juice. We then decided to leave our stuff, towels, shoes, between the stingray lagoon and the main pool, and officially started our day.

We went to see the sting ray, and then went to the coral reef, finally to the pool to warm up. After that it was time for our dolphin experience, and after a short video we got to meet Coral, whom we all fell in love with, we were paired with another family of 4. The experience with the dolphin was fantastic, much better than I expected, this day was really for the kids, but I found myself loving it. We then viewed the pictures, which came out great, and of course we bought the package.

Lunch time was next and we all had a delightful meal, salmon, chicken tenders, lobster salad, soda for the kids, and beer for the adults. I should mention that the kids loved the idea of “free” snacks, and made good use of it, we had a couple beers during the day, and some water.

We spend the rest of the day between the lazy river, and the coral reef, the kids spend a lot of time in the aviary, and I think that my 10 year old enjoyed the birds more than the dolphin. We left around 5:30, after a really wonderful day. We felt much pampered from the delicious food to the great bathrooms, with abundant towels, and great soap and shampoo. It was a very relaxed day and never felt rushed, or crowded.

I am happy to answer any questions that you have.

 

[JoyMouse]

It sounds like you had an awesome trip. We went in JUne and loved it as well.
Joy

 

[the_princess]

Sounds like you had a great day... It's such a nice place...

 

[phamton]

Sounds like so much fun. I've never done DC but would love to do it.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Gailie]

Loved your post about Discovery Cove, we'll be there November 5th....quick question, do they have a nice shop there to get charms or jewellery?

 

[Dizneydaz]

Glad you had a great day! We'll be going to DC in Sept. My DD7 and I will do the dolphin experience but my DM and DSis are skipping that part . I'm really looking forward to it. I even got an AmEx card so I could get the $50 gift card back for each full admission.

Thanks for the review. The only thing I'll have to overlook is that DC is a Pepsi park and I'm totally a Diet Coke girl. Guess I'll have to get my caffiene from ice tea.

 

[christinou]

Loved your post about Discovery Cove, we'll be there November 5th....quick question, do they have a nice shop there to get charms or jewellery?

They did have a nice assortment of jewelry and statues of dolphin, my girls got links for their bracelet with dolohins on it, and they had a number of nice piece in the jewelery case.

 

[christinou]

The only thing I'll have to overlook is that DC is a Pepsi park and I'm totally a Diet Coke girl. Guess I'll have to get my caffiene from ice tea.

We got over that quickly by sticking to adult beverages , they did have a very tasty wine cooler type of drink.....

Actually we also mainly drank water, it was very very hot that day.

 

[Belle's Mom Tink]

We will be doing DC and the dolphin swim next June, I can't wait! I know I have some questions but can't think of them right now!!

 

[rpbert1]

Where does it say about $50 gift card, and does it have to be booked using AmEx card.

Glad you had a great day! We'll be going to DC in Sept. My DD7 and I will do the dolphin experience but my DM and DSis are skipping that part . I'm really looking forward to it. I even got an AmEx card so I could get the $50 gift card back for each full admission.

QUOTE]

 

[Dizneydaz]

Where does it say about $50 gift card, and does it have to be booked using AmEx card.

Glad you had a great day! We'll be going to DC in Sept. My DD7 and I will do the dolphin experience but my DM and DSis are skipping that part . I'm really looking forward to it. I even got an AmEx card so I could get the $50 gift card back for each full admission.

I found out about it on mousesavers.com. Here's the details.
American Express cardholders can receive a FREE $50 American Express Gift Cheque with each Discovery Cove All-Inclusive Dolphin Swim admission when you pay with your American Express card. Use code AXPFLA. Valid 8/24/07-9/30/07.

So yes you have to pay with the card and the deal is only good until the end of Sept.

When you put in the code AXPFLA it'll tell you about the $50 gift card (only on dolphin experience for $279). I thought it sounded great that's why I decided to get the card!

HTH

We got over that quickly by sticking to adult beverages , they did have a very tasty wine cooler type of drink.....

Actually we also mainly drank water, it was very very hot that day.

Wish I liked beer, but I think I could drink a wine cooler, or 2, if I had too. And lots of water!

 

[rpbert1]

Thanks Dizneydaz,
Will need to keep an eye on my mousesavers newsletter to see if any offers like this are available for next year