Scared Silly But Loving It

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic! I've never been to Aquatica. Loving all the pictures of it. It's just amazing!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Oh I love the update and photos. I loved the aquarium at Atlantis too

Yum re Chilis! I am very impressed by the trees and the decs and the animals such as giant octopus. Def have to give that park a go!

 

[Claire L]

Looks and sounds like you had a fab time. Love all the pics and the weather looks gorgeous

 

[Chilly]

We loved the rapids as well but agree that I doubt we'll return.

 

[dolphingirl47]

That was supposed to be unexpected dinner!

I understood.

Fantastic! I've never been to Aquatica. Loving all the pictures of it. It's just amazing!

Aquatica has some really unique elements, but overall it did not really do it for us.

Oh I love the update and photos. I loved the aquarium at Atlantis too

Yum re Chilis! I am very impressed by the trees and the decs and the animals such as giant octopus. Def have to give that park a go!

Seaworld is definitely worth a visit.

Looks and sounds like you had a fab time. Love all the pics and the weather looks gorgeous

We were so lucky with the weather. It was unseasonably warm. We really had a great time.

We loved the rapids as well but agree that I doubt we'll return.

I think we may be back if we have it included as part of a Discovery Cove package and have a few hours to spare, but we most certainly would not pay for it.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

What a great way to wake up! Zebra Domes and coffee on the balcony.
I hope that they fix the whole DVC problem with the Magic Bands by the time I get there, we had a bad enough time with them on the last trip not being able to make FP+ online. I'll be livid, if I have to show my smartphone every time that I want to ride a ride!
As always you got some great character shots!
I'm so glad that you got to meet up with Pam and her mom! I'd really like to try restaurant Marrakesh someday, but there are just so many. We do have some really good Moroccan restaurants here and I do enjoy the food.
Candlelight sounded wonderful! I've been to the one at Disneyland once and I have to say that I really prefer most attractions like this at DLR simply because they don't have a specific stage for it. Yes, it make things a PITA and that is why they only do it two nights a year, but they do it in front of the train station and having it right there in the park is just so magical, same as like F! I love that it is so organic and woven into the fabric of the park. I suppose if DL had all the land that they wanted they would build theaters and stuff, but they can't so it just increases the magic for me when they have to "find" a place to fit it in.
I'm glad you made it back to your hotel safe and sound. Olive Garden is usually a nightmare wait wise, Even though we do generally like the food, we rarely go there because the wait times are so long. On a weeknight the normal wait around here is 45 minutes, on a weekend forget about it, you've got a 2+ hour wait. I don't know what kind of people have this amount of time to wait for things, but not us. We only go at like 2PM to 4PM for a late lunch early dinner, that way we can avoid the waits.

Will catch up on Day 7 when I get a chance! Life keeps getting in the way!

 

[Pinkocto]

How lovely to relive the afternoon we spent with you, that was really a fabulous day

Boo on the Soarin CM who waved you off, but I'm glad you found somebody who took the time to help. Those CMs make all the difference. The decorations in Living with the Land were pretty, we missed that.

Even though you wouldn't race back to Aquatica it still sounded fun for the day. Floating along in the life vests sounds great. I like the tubes in the lazy rivers but I'd much prefer to be mostly in the water.

This person at Clark's sounded very unpleasant. Glad you were able to find some comfortable sandals though. Hopefully no more blisters.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a great way to wake up! Zebra Domes and coffee on the balcony.
I hope that they fix the whole DVC problem with the Magic Bands by the time I get there, we had a bad enough time with them on the last trip not being able to make FP+ online. I'll be livid, if I have to show my smartphone every time that I want to ride a ride!
As always you got some great character shots!
I'm so glad that you got to meet up with Pam and her mom! I'd really like to try restaurant Marrakesh someday, but there are just so many. We do have some really good Moroccan restaurants here and I do enjoy the food.
Candlelight sounded wonderful! I've been to the one at Disneyland once and I have to say that I really prefer most attractions like this at DLR simply because they don't have a specific stage for it. Yes, it make things a PITA and that is why they only do it two nights a year, but they do it in front of the train station and having it right there in the park is just so magical, same as like F! I love that it is so organic and woven into the fabric of the park. I suppose if DL had all the land that they wanted they would build theaters and stuff, but they can't so it just increases the magic for me when they have to "find" a place to fit it in.
I'm glad you made it back to your hotel safe and sound. Olive Garden is usually a nightmare wait wise, Even though we do generally like the food, we rarely go there because the wait times are so long. On a weeknight the normal wait around here is 45 minutes, on a weekend forget about it, you've got a 2+ hour wait. I don't know what kind of people have this amount of time to wait for things, but not us. We only go at like 2PM to 4PM for a late lunch early dinner, that way we can avoid the waits.

Will catch up on Day 7 when I get a chance! Life keeps getting in the way!

It really was a great day. We never had to wait too long at Olive Garden, but this time round everywhere around International Drive was busy.

I quite like the set up for the Candlelight Processional at Epcot, but then i have nothing to compare it to. I am hoping that eventually I will get to experience it at Disneyland.

How lovely to relive the afternoon we spent with you, that was really a fabulous day

Boo on the Soarin CM who waved you off, but I'm glad you found somebody who took the time to help. Those CMs make all the difference. The decorations in Living with the Land were pretty, we missed that.

Even though you wouldn't race back to Aquatica it still sounded fun for the day. Floating along in the life vests sounds great. I like the tubes in the lazy rivers but I'd much prefer to be mostly in the water.

This person at Clark's sounded very unpleasant. Glad you were able to find some comfortable sandals though. Hopefully no more blisters.

I can understand that all the glitches with the Magic Bands must be really frustrating for the cast members, but I got more than a little annoyed with some of the reactions that I got.

The rapids at Aquatica were great fun, but they alone would not convince me to go back.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 8

That day we were back on a bit more of a time table. We got up at around 7:30 and got ready. We did not have to worry about breakfast, as we would get this at Discovery Cove. We headed out about 8:00 and walked over to SeaWorld. There was already a family sitting at the pick up point for the Discovery Cove shuttle. I asked them if they had already called the shuttle and they said they had, but had been asked how many people were in their party. I did not think that this would be an issue as they normally use a mini bus for their shuttle, but I decided to call anyway. I was advised that the shuttle was on its way. It did not take long for this to pull up. They now show a brief video on the shuttle about what was expecting us. When we got to Discovery Cove, we went through the bag check and then headed towards the check in desks. There was a short line for check in and they seemed to have a few technical issues, but we waited less than 10 minutes. Check in was a bit complex that day. We both had booked Seaventure and I was also doing the dolphin swim so they had to coordinate the two activities. They did a great job with this. We did the first Seaventure of the day at 9:15 and my dolphin swim was at 12:15. So I had plenty of time in between the two. I had also been told on a previous visit that I could request a specific dolphin. Since our last visit, my favourite dolphin Dash had returned to Discovery Cove. She was the first dolphin I ever swam with and I have met her a few times while she was at SeaWorld as well. So I had decided to request Dash. The person checking me in made a phone call to find out in which lagoon Dash lives and shortly afterwards somebody came up to the check in desk with this information. She completed our check in and we were on our way.

As we headed down the path, one of the photographers took our complimentary photo. I then went inside the shop that is opposite the restaurant to see if I could get new water shoes. They did not stock them, but told us that the shop closer to the lockers did. We went there and not only did they have water shoes, but they were also a reasonable price. I got a pair and then we headed to breakfast. Breakfast has changed quite considerably since we last visited Discovery Cove. It used to be a continental breakfast. Now it is a full breakfast with some cooked options. We both had Coffee and Orange Juice. Graham had Fruit with Yoghurt, the
Breakfast Platter, which consisted of Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Ham, Breakfast Potatoes and Biscuit. He also had a Danish Pastry. I had some Fruit, the Breakfast Platter and French Toast Fingers with Syrup. This set us up nicely for the day. We learned that Ibis like Scrambled Eggs. There are always a bunch of birds hanging around the restaurant and that day was not exception either. The people who had been sitting on the table next to us had finished and left, but there was still food on their trays including scrambled eggs. The Ibis spotted this and came for their breakfast. Although there was a bunch of different foods on those trays, they went straight for the Scrambled Eggs. It was quite amusing to watch.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Once we had finished breakfast, we went to get changed and put our stuff in a locker. We were going to pick up a wetsuit, but we were sent to another area to get our wetsuits. We decided to head towards the Grand Reef, as our time slot for Seaventure was getting closer. We managed to pick some wetsuits up on the way. We had no clear idea where we needed to go to check in, but as we were getting closer, this became obvious. There were a bunch of helmets lined up at the far end. We headed towards them and found a cabana where we were checked in. We had to sign a rather ominous waiver document and were shown a short video. One of the staff came out to tell us what to expect and share a few ground rules and some of the hand signs that would be used. She then walked us through what would be happening and then asked if there were any questions. I had one. In the video, we had seen that people were feeding stingrays. I used to have a complete phobia of stingrays, but I have built up a certain tolerance as far as they are concerned. I now can be around them and won't freak out if they touch me with their wings. I have even been known to gently touch them. However, one thing that still freaks me out is feeding them. So I asked about this and was reassured that we would not be feeding any of the inhabitants of the reef and there may even be times when we would be asked to tuck our hands away while the staff was feeding the fish. I was pretty happy with this. We were warned that there are fish in the reef that like to nibble on peoples' legs. We were reassured that they had no teeth and would do us no harm, but they were essentially the cleaners of the reef and were removing parasites from the other inhabitants and the odd passing visitor. We were also asked if we needed an underwater camera. We were told that if we had brought our own, we were welcome to bring this. However, they also had a limited number and for a fee they would burn the photos that you took on one of theirs onto a CD. We both had brought our underwater cameras, so we were OK.

With all the preliminaries out of the way, we were escorted out to the dock. One of the dive masters ran through the various hand signs with us once more and introduced a couple more. Then the time had come to get into the water. We were asked to take turns to step down the ladder until the water reached our shoulders and then stop. They would then lower the helmet over our heads and then we would step all the way down to the bottom of the reef. A guide at the bottom would check if we were OK and if we were, we would then step over, hold on to a handrail and wait for the rest of the group to arrive. This sounded easy enough. It did not fill me with joy that they needed to use a hoist to get the helmets on people, but I knew beforehand that the helmets weight about the same as a fully packed suitcase. Neither of us was about to volunteer to go first. Eventually there was no way that I could stall any longer. I stepped on the ladder until the water reached my shoulders, had the helmet put into place and then my foot could not find the next rung of the ladder. I was trying to find this, but could not. I tried a few times more and started to panic. They lifted my helmet to see what was wrong. I explained what the problem was. One of the guides in the water said that the rungs further down where further apart and she said she was going to gently push me towards the next rung. She did and soon my foot connected with it. I had to go down another couple of rungs and then I was at the bottom of the reef. The guide waiting for me there made the sign for "OK" and I returned it to confirm that everything was fine. She then pointed me towards the handrail where the others were already waiting. Graham was not far behind me and then the group was complete.





It did not take long until the fish came to check out their new friends. Once I was at the bottom of the reef, I was absolutely fine. Actually, I was more than fine. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and started to giggle. We took it nice and slowly. Initially we were just standing by the handrail to get used to our new environment and watched the fish. After a few minutes, one of the guides came past everybody in the line and made the "OK" sign to make sure that we were all fine. Once everybody had confirmed this by returning the sign, she then signaled us to follow her. There were some more guides in the water with Etch A Sketch boards. Apart from the hand signals, this was the way the guides could communicate with us. It was all rather clever.


Our next stop was the sharks. Our guides used the Etch A Sketch boards to tell us what kind of sharks we are looking at. They were all safely behind glass, but because we were at the bottom of the reef this was not all that obvious. At this stage the guides took photos of us with our cameras.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Once everybody had some photos taken, we were signaled to follow one of the guides again. Another guide communicated via Etch A Sketch board that we would meet some different sea creatures. A couple of the guides had picked up a crab and a lobster and were passing them around. I was quite happy to hold the crab, but drew the line at the lobster.




















After a while we moved on again. The guides with the Etch A Sketch boards let us know that this would be the big finale. They put some food out for the fish and we were suddenly surrounded by a huge cloud of colourful fish. This was absolutely amazing. There were fish in whichever direction I looked. Once they had left the area we received the signal that it was time to return to the land. We all lined pup by the handrail again and took turns going up the ladder. This was pretty much the same process in reverse. We went up the ladder until the water was just up to our shoulders and then waited until they had removed the helmet before going up the ladder the rest of the way. I was a bit worried about this, but coming out was a lot easier than going in. Before I made my way up to dry land, the guide at the bottom of the ladder gave me a message via the Etch A Sketch board. She told me that I had to touch a stingray before I left that day. I would have done if I had come across one. Once we were back on the dock, we were passed towels. We were escorted back to the cabana and the people who had borrowed cameras were looking at their photos. We asked if we were free to leave and we were told that we were.

 

[dolphingirl47]

 

[dolphingirl47]

As we were already at the Grand Reef, we figured we may as well explore this from a different perspective. We picked up a bag with snorkeling gear each and put on some of the sunscreen that came with that and then went back to the reef. We both agreed that we much prefer this to the old reef. This may have something to do with the fact that we learned to snorkel since we had last visited Discovery Cove so could experience this in a completely different way. I still think they have done a wonderful job with this. We spent a good 45 minutes in there snorkeling and exploring and then we had enough of the water for now. We grabbed our stuff that we had left on a lounger and then slowly made our way to the aviary.

 

[dolphingirl47]

On the way, we decided to check out the conservation cabana. There was a member of staff there with an animal that I had never heard of before, a Kinkajou. The Kinkajou is also know as a Honey Bear and is related to Raccoons. They live in the Rain Forest. It was very cute, but not in the mood to be photographed. It kept hiding on the back of its handler's shoulders.

As the Kinkajou was not in the mood to be sociable, we pushed on to the aviary. I was a little concerned. Normally we head there first thing and the birds are really active. This time round we had been doing other things for a good couple of hours. I did not need to worry. The aviary was virtually empty and it did not take long until we had some new best friends. We did miss some old friends though. I have always loved the Sun Conures and even though they are still in the aviary, they were roosting somewhere where we could not see them. Graham's favourite birds, the Red-legged Seriemas, have unfortunately moved out and now live at SeaWorld. Apparently they had a few issues with the birds attacking bikini strings. We initially spent some time in the large bird aviary. We were soon visited by some beautiful green birds that were only too happy to come and eat our food. Some of the Guinea Fowl also discovered us and were eating the sand of our feet. I am not sure if it was the sand they were after or the salt, but they stayed with us for quite some while. Once the various birds that had kept us company had left, I went for a walk around. They have some birds that belong to the toucan family at Discovery Cove. They are extremely shy and don't normally come down. There was one sitting in a tree near me and I decided that I would try to coax it down. I did not really think that I would succeed. I was surprised and delighted when the bird jumped down and onto the edge of my food bowl. There were some photographers in the aviary and they took some photos. I was worried that this would spook my new friend and he would fly away. However, rather than him flying away, he was joined by another friend. I was delighted to have two toucan friends.























Once the toucans had got bored with me, we moved on to the small bird aviary. This is my favourite part of the aviary and contains my favourite birds: the Spotted Mousebirds. They are not much to look at, but are real characters. They are also incredibly sociable. It did not take long until we had some more Mousebird friends. Unfortunately one of our old Mousebird friends, Captain Jack, has gone to the big Mousebird roost in the sky, but there were plenty of others willing to take her place.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Time definitely flies when you are having fun. Soon it was time for me to think about heading to the Sand Dollar Cabana for my dolphin swim. I did have enough time though for a quick snack. I had some frozen White Cherry Fanta, which was delicious. Graham tried a bit of mine and then had some frozen Banana Fanta, which he seemed to enjoy. We then went our separate ways. We arranged to meet at the restaurant and I headed off towards the cabana. I dropped my camera and snorkeling stuff at the locker on the way. It was still a little early so I headed out towards the beach to watch the dolphins for a bit. When I returned to the cabana, there were already a number of people there and a member of staff arrived shortly afterwards to check us in. I had to sign another waiver form, but this one was much shorter than the one for Seaventure. We watched a video and got an introductory talk and then we met our trainers. I had been advised when I checked in that morning that I should check again at that stage that I would be swimming with Dash. Unfortunately I was told that Dash was finished for the day. I was a little disappointed, but this was not going to spoil the dolphin swim for me.

We headed down to the lagoon and I very quickly realized that there was a problem. I joined an extended family from Brazil and none of them seemed to speak a word of English. I got this sinking feeling. I had experienced this kind of scenario once before when I did a dolphin swim at the Atlantis in Dubai and this did spoil things quite considerably. I have to say though the trainers that worked with us handled this fabulously. The main trainer seemed to know a few phrases in Portuguese and this and a lot of good will was enough to communicate. We were introduced to our first dolphin, Kyla. Kyla was born in June 2009 and would have been a tiny calf the last time we were at Discovery Cove. She is a real beauty and we got to touch her, got her to vocalize and then we got a dolphin kiss. Then we were introduced to our second dolphin. Rascal is 16 years old and was actually born two days before Dash and they were both born at SeaWorld Ohio. So at least we sort of kept it in the family. Again, we were allowed to touch him. He vocalized for us and showed off a few behaviours that are unique to him. We also then had a photo opportunity with him. As I was by myself, I got some real quality time with him. Then it was time for the dorsal tow. Rather than swimming straight out, we walked along the ledge to the end and then just swam the short distance to the point were Rascal would come to pick us up. I was nearly to the end of the ledge when I slipped and went underwater. The trainer seemed quite alarmed. I was not bothered by this at all. I came up straightaway and carried on like nothing had happened. Shortly after this, we got the signal to swim out and once we were on the correct point, Rascal came and got me. He is a very powerful dolphin and I got quite a thrill ride. It transpired that not only did the family I had been teamed up with not speak English, but most of them could not swim either so they did a shallow water ride. While we were waiting for everybody to do his or her ride, I got some one to one attention from the trainer who stayed with us. Not only was I the only person he could communicate with quite easily, but he also picked up on the fact that I had been to Discovery Cove a number of times before and knew quite a few of the dolphins. So we were chatting away in between him pointing people to where they needed to go. This actually ended up being the best dolphin swim that I had. Once everybody had done the dorsal ride, all the dolphins showed off together and then it was time to say goodbye to Rascal and head back to the beach. We were heading to the photo cabana when Graham came up the path. He joined me to look at the photos. I did rather like them and the photos that had been taken in the aviary where pretty good, too. I told the photographer that I was hoping to get some more photos and would get a photo package on my way out.

 

[dolphingirl47]

By then, we were both ready for some lunch. We headed towards the Laguna Grill. Graham had some Water, Caesar Salad, Home-style Chicken Tenders with Fries and Cheesecake for dessert. I had Orange Soda, Caesar Salad, BBQ Pulled Pork with Jambalaya and Sugar Cookies for dessert. The food was not as good as I remembered it. It was OK, but no more than that. The best part of the meal was the Sugar Cookies, which were absolutely delicious.

After lunch, we headed back to the aviary. The birds in the main aviary and the big bird aviary where not interested in us so we headed to the small bird aviary. We were soon covered by Mousebirds. One of them tried to make a nest out of my hair. We spent quite a while playing bird perch, but then decided to move on.





















It was getting close to 15:00 and we had been told at the photo cabana that the photographers are normally out until about 15:30. We really wanted a photo in front of the waterfall and when we checked this out on the way into the aviary, there was no photographer there. This time round we were lucky. We had to wait for a bit for people to pass through, but the photos came out really well. As we were already in the water, we decided we may as well do a lap of the lazy river. This was a lovely temperature and we took our time floating around.



















There was one last thing that I had not seen yet and that was the new Freshwater Oasis. I could not quite imagine on how this would look, but they have done a great job with this. Graham had a look earlier while I did my dolphin swim, but had not seen any of the animals. We entered the Freshwater Oasis near the Marmoset Island and at first we could not see anything. However, as we made our way around the island, the Marmosets were quite active and we saw plenty of them. Once we had enough of the Marmoset, we moved on and headed towards the Otter habitat. We spent quite a bit of time there. The otters were pretty active. One of the staff tried to clean the habitat and they tried to play with the cleaning tools. It was so funny. By then we had enough of water for one day. We stopped briefly at the old stingray lagoon, which now has semi-submerged loungers in it and relaxed on a lounger for a few minutes. They are not all that comfortable though. There was a snack bar near this area and as we were done with the water, we decided to get an alcoholic drink. Graham had a Budweiser and I had a frozen cocktail with Mango and Rum, which was delicious. We then went to get showered and changed.









Afterwards we went back to the aviary until it was time to leave. In the main aviary, some Imperial Pigeons took an interest in us. They were surprisingly heavy for birds and their claws left a few marks on my arm. Then we headed back to the small bird aviary to see the Mousebirds. They seemed to have grown bored with our company. We got the odd quick visit to get some food, but they did not hang around. So after a while we decided to head for the exit.



We timed this perfectly as there was hardly a line at the area where you could purchase your photos. I went for a package that included some prints, two key rings and the photo CD and this ended up a Dollar cheaper than the CD alone. They also had some really cute photo Christmas ornaments and they were $10 for two so I got those as well. Once they had printed my photos and burned the CD, we headed for the exit. We had a short wait for the shuttle that was supposed to take us over to SeaWorld. When we got on the shuttle, the driver asked if anybody was staying at one of the SeaWorld Partner Hotels. We told her that we were staying at the Doubletree and she told us to stay on the shuttle when we get to SeaWorld and she would drop us off at the hotel. I thought that was really nice. Graham asked her if she could drop us off at the back entrance. This was closer for her and also closer for us. She was happy to oblige. We thanked her when we got to the hotel and headed for our room.

When we got to the room, we quickly hung up our swim stuff and then headed out for dinner. We were both pretty tired and decided to just go across the road to the Village Inn. Dinner was nothing fancy, but it was very nice. Graham had an Ice Tea and the Classic Chicken Pot Pie, which consisted of Grilled Chicken Breast with Carrots, Celery, Peas, Potatoes and Onions in a Creamy Sauce topped with a golden brown, flaky Pie Crust. It also came with Mixed Salad and he chose Thousand Island Dressing to go with it. I had Coke and the Shepherd's Pie, which consisted of Beef Pot Roast, Sautéed Mushrooms and Carrots in rich Brown Gravy, topped with fluffy Parmesan-crusted Mashed Potatoes. It also came with Mixed Salad and I had Ranch Dressing with this. If I am totally honest, just one course would have been more than enough for me. However, when we had been there for breakfast the previous day, one of their pies caught my eye and I really wanted to try this. I am not really into desserts normally, but I love everything with Peanut Butter and they had a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Pie. This consisted of a Peanut Graham Cracker Crust layered with Dark Chocolate French Silk and chunky Peanut Butter Cup Silk topped with Whipped Cream, Peanut Butter Cups and Roasted Peanuts drizzled with Chocolate Ganache and Caramel. I had expected that I would take most of it back to the room, but it was so good that I had it all in one sitting. This may have been the best dessert I ever had.

Once we had paid, we headed back to the hotel. Graham read for a bit and I checked in online before getting ready for bed.

 

[jedijill]

Wow! What a day! I need to try Discovery Cove someday...I loved the dolphin swim I need in Cozumel and DC looks like it is so much more!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

What a fun and amazing day! This is now definitely on the list.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great pictures of Discovery Cove and the animals. You look like you were having a heap of fun with the dolphins.

Looks like DC is on my list too; should I ever make a trip back to Orlando.

 

[PJB71]

Oh Corinna your dolphin pictures are amazing

I can't believe how we missed each other in Epcot

Really looking forward to the next update