What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[pinkxray]

I checked out the empty arcade

AKL has tons of things to do. Check out the activity board

I passed the empty pool again. Right after I took these pictures two people were heading in for an early morning swim. Next trip we need to have a day where we can have a nice early morning swim in an empty pool. If it wasn’t our Discovery Cove day I would have seriously considered canceling all plans and diving right into that pool. It just looks so inviting.

Pool Bar

I checked the map and saw that the Flamingos were near. You can’t go back to the room without seeing flamingos!

One of the hot tubs

Random pictures

Goodness, enough dilly dallying- we have somewhere to be!

 

[pinkxray]

I was back to the room around 7:30. DH was waking up already so I woke Caitlin up. I told her all about my walk and seeing the flamingos. She wanted to go see them right now. She asked me why I kept taking walks without her and stated that she never knew where I was. I am pretty sure she would not like being woken up at the crack of dawn and that she had never shown any signs of waking up while I was gone but I did promise next time I would try to wake her up to go for a morning walk.


We were ready to go and out the door around 8.

We made it to Discovery Cove quickly. Driving down the entrance road just reminded me of AKL for some reason. The plants and hut look roofs I guess.

You enter a main building where there are a bunch check in desk, just like checking in a hotel. I was surprised to see that so many people were there at 8:30 but I guess they read the DIS too and knew to arrive early. We got in a line to be checked in. Once you head to the counter they check everyone’s ID and then, they take a picture of you for your badge.

The ceiling of the lobby area

I have our badges somewhere but I am way too lazy to find them, cover our last name , scan them and upload to photobucket. The badges haven’t changed much since our last trip so here is one from 2003.

The only difference is that they now put if you are older than 21 on the front since they have free beer. They put the badge on a lanyard and you need to have it with you when going to the dolphin swim. You will see later that you wear a vest, so you just tuck it under the vest.

Once you check in you are lead outside to an area where they take a family photo. We got the photo CD but I don’t remember seeing the family photo on there. I have to go back and check b/c I just remembered that we had it taken.

There were DC employees about every 5 feet that would approach you to tell you where to go and help you out. At first it was nice, but after awhile it was a bit annoying to constantly have someone approaching you. It was only when we first arrived. I guess they just want to make sure everyone knows the deal.

We had the first dolphin swim time which was 9:30 am. Your time is given to you based on when you make your reservation at Discovery Cove. Since I always book early we have always booked about 3 months in advance we have always had the first swim. Next time I am going to wait a bit so we can have an afternoon swim.

We headed to the lockers and changing rooms to put on our swimsuits. You are not allowed to bring anything into the water with you. You are allowed to wear your wedding ring and that is it. They also give you a special sunscreen that you have to wear since it is animal safe. It is very thick and pretty much impossible to spread. Use a little at a time. DH put on too much and could rub it in or get it off. He was very white for awhile.

Before you go into the locker room you can pick up your swim vest or a wetsuit. They also give you a net bag that contains your snorkel, goggles and gross sunscreen.

It was about 9 so we had a little time before going to see the dolphin. The cabana where you check in for the swim was about 30 seconds away from the eating area.

We headed to the dining area- Laguna Grill. All of the food at Discovery Cove is included in the price.

There was a bit of a line and it was moving very slowly. I was worried we won’t get our food in time. Our swim was at 9:30 but breakfast stopped at 10:30. I wasn’t sure if we would have time after our swim and Caitlin was hungry now. We decided to give it until 9:15 and if we weren’t eating we would get breakfast later. Thankfully the line picked up and we were able to get our food. I know some of you have seen these pictures before but I am sure not everyone reads dining reports. Besides who doesn’t like extra food pictures?

After breakfast we headed to the cabana to sign in. They give you some forms to fill out. A trainer comes in and explains what is going to happen, where you can’t touch the dolphin and answers any questions. They play a short video that gives everyone time to go grab a life vest if needed, place things in lockers that you didn’t know were forbidden or hit the bathroom
Then, it is on to the beach.

 

[pinkxray]

We meet our 2 trainers who were Mike and some very nice girl that I can’t remember the name of. They gave us another run down of what we could and couldn’t do. Don’t touch the blowhole!

They lead us into the cold water. We said hello to our dolphin, Lester. Lester was 40 years old and to be honest he looked 40 years old. He was a great dolphin but not the most photogenic dolphin I’ve seen. He didn’t even look like the typical dolphin you would expect. More like a gray whale. He had tons of scars that the trainer said he got from the other dolphins.

Oh yeah, you have 8 people in your group so it is very personal. You go into the water up to about your waist. I felt a bit bad for Caitlin b/c she couldn’t touch the bottom and she was wearing a life vest so she was just kind of floating there trying to stand at the same time. DH held on to her but I don’t think she liked the vest very much, she seemed a bit uncomfortable.

You spend some time getting to pet the dolphin, feel his fins and feed him fish. They get pictures of everyone kissing the dolphin. DH had to hold Caitlin and she is not very happy that he is in her picture. They also take a photo of whatever group you are with. There was one couple, a family of 3 and then 1 guy by himself. The guy by himself had his girlfriend with him but she was on the rocks watching since she didn’t want to so the swim. After our session they asked her if she would like to come in so she could be in a picture with her boyfriend and Lester. I thought that was very nice of them to do.

Lester did a few tricks. They have 3 dolphins out in each section (3 sections, I belive) and his girlfriend Cindy was in the group next to us.

After that they start bringing people out to the deep end to ride Lester across the water. They offer a shallow water swim for those who aren’t great swimmer. We thought Caitlin would be fine at first since she swims in 12 foot water at our local pool, but she needs to keep moving. Since she would have to treed water for a bit and she would be far out if she slipped off we choose the shallow water for her. I figured DH would go while I held Caitlin and vice versa but they had us go out together and the lady trainer held on to Caitlin so she didn’t float away.


I got to go first. So exciting!!! The way that they have you hold on seemed a bit awkward to me and it felt like I was about to slip off. DH claims we held on differently last time, but I don’t remember. I also accidentally kicked my feet a few times and kicked Lester’s tail. Don’t kick your feet! He does all the work for you.

The nice trainer Mike came over to take Caitlin over for her swim. I was very nervous she would slip off since I thought it was hard to hold on. Thankfully she held on tight.

Everyone gave her a big round of applause when she returned. She was beaming.

It was all over. It was an amazing experience and Caitlin loved it. I was worried she wouldn’t like it or that she would be too small but it was incredible.

After your swim a guide comes over and leads you to a hut where you can see all of the pictures they took of you. You can buy them separately, a photo CD, a DVD of the whole thing, etc. We decided to get the Photo cd and a couple of prints plus 2 key chains. Grand total was about 150-160? If you were to buy the disk alone it was only about 20 cheaper. I thought about getting the DVD too, but figured the pictures were good enough.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Love AKL, I wish they hadn't changed the look of the pool, I loved it when it had that green look to it making it look more like a "water hole".

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oops, clicked submit before I was done commenting.

Discovery Cove sounds really neat, well aside from the gross sunscreen.

I liked that the food is included in your admission, makes it easier during the day to not have to worry about money.

 

[heartse]

Do you happen to know if you have to be staying at AKL to do the ceramics? My DD LOVES paint your own pottery places... and this would be something fun to do for a break one day, but we are staying at POFQ.

Thanks!

 

[bouncycat]

Wow!! I wanna go try that now!! Looks like a bunch of fun!!!! Glad the little one liked the swim and such, I can see where you'd be nervous!!!

 

[amandaw]

Loved the update and all the great pictures! You really have me wanting to stay at AKL. I guess since it'll be a while before we return to Disney, I have time to convince Ed that we need to try it. That is pretty cool that food is included in the price for Discovery Cove. Caitlin looks like she was having a blast with the dolphin. Sounds like y'all had a great time!

 

[pinkxray]

Love AKL, I wish they hadn't changed the look of the pool, I loved it when it had that green look to it making it look more like a "water hole".

Oops, clicked submit before I was done commenting.

Discovery Cove sounds really neat, well aside from the gross sunscreen.

I liked that the food is included in your admission, makes it easier during the day to not have to worry about money.

I never saw the green pool in person, but do remember seeing pictures of it. It looked like it really fit in with the theme of the resort. I wish they could have kept it the same too.

It is great having the food included, but don't worry they still get you money with the pictures and gift shop.

Do you happen to know if you have to be staying at AKL to do the ceramics? My DD LOVES paint your own pottery places... and this would be something fun to do for a break one day, but we are staying at POFQ.

Thanks!

I'm not sure. I would think it is open to everyone If you really want to try it I would ask on the AKL thread on the resort board. They would probably know the answer.

All the activities look fun.

PQFQ is one resort I would love to try soon. I love the new rooms and the short walks to anywhere in the resort

Wow!! I wanna go try that now!! Looks like a bunch of fun!!!! Glad the little one liked the swim and such, I can see where you'd be nervous!!!

It was awesome!

I was so nervous Caitlin would slip off and something bad would happen. Didn't matter that she had the life vest on and the trainer was a few feet behind her, my imagination can come up with all sorts of things that could have gone wrong. She loved it and kept asking to go back during the week.

Loved the update and all the great pictures! You really have me wanting to stay at AKL. I guess since it'll be a while before we return to Disney, I have time to convince Ed that we need to try it. That is pretty cool that food is included in the price for Discovery Cove. Caitlin looks like she was having a blast with the dolphin. Sounds like y'all had a great time!

You have to try it! I can't believe I actually found a resort that everyone quickly agreed to stay at every trip. DH did not like WL and would have preferred POR. Caitlin did not like the small rooms and wanted to stay in a 2 bedroom villa offsite like we did last year. Apparently she needs her space and a jacuzzi tub to fully enjoy her vacation. A 1 bedroom at AKL will make everyone happy.

 

[jenbear123]

Discovery Cove sounds really neat. I love dolphins but have never been a big fan of these places that keep them in captivity like that.... just my opinion please don't flame me You're right about Lester having quite a few scars. He still photographed well though. How much does that whole experience cost, minus the photos of course.

I love AKL and how they have so many activities. I was sad to see all those things going on when I was only staying there 1 or 2 nights. One day I hope to stay there a week to enjoy everything that place has to offer. Thanks for the pictures of the bar prices. Gosh, alcohol sure is expensive!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Love your Discovery Cove pics! It looks like so much fun. I can't wait until DS is big enough so we can go do that!

The Mara does open at 6--at least it did while we were there. Oh, and anyone can do the crafts, you don't have to be a guest of that resort to do them.

As much as I love all your AKL pics, now they are making me homesick! Crazy, I know! I didn't take nearly as many pics of the resort this time as I have in the past simply because we've stayed there so many times before. I didn't realize this until I was reading your updates and looking at all the great pictures you took.

Oh and by the way, that Southern Sunrise at Uzima Springs was AWESOME in the heat while relaxing at the pool. I became very addicted to that drink since my family spent so much time swimming!

 

[pinkxray]

Discovery Cove sounds really neat. I love dolphins but have never been a big fan of these places that keep them in captivity like that.... just my opinion please don't flame me You're right about Lester having quite a few scars. He still photographed well though. How much does that whole experience cost, minus the photos of course.

I love AKL and how they have so many activities. I was sad to see all those things going on when I was only staying there 1 or 2 nights. One day I hope to stay there a week to enjoy everything that place has to offer. Thanks for the pictures of the bar prices. Gosh, alcohol sure is expensive!

No flames from me The prices range depending on time of year. I think they start at $199 a person and go up to $259. When I first looked into it for May it was $199 but went up as time went by. Totally worth it in my opinion though. We spent the whole day there and it was fantastic. Of course DH and DD insist we have to do it the next time too.

Oh, they also have a non dolphin swim price which is $100 cheaper if someone wants to come but doesn't want to swim with the dolphin. You still get everything else included. I have no idea why you wouldn't want to swim with the dolphin but I did see some grandparents and people with younger kids watching the rest of their party with the dolphin.

Love your Discovery Cove pics! It looks like so much fun. I can't wait until DS is big enough so we can go do that!

The Mara does open at 6--at least it did while we were there. Oh, and anyone can do the crafts, you don't have to be a guest of that resort to do them.

As much as I love all your AKL pics, now they are making me homesick! Crazy, I know! I didn't take nearly as many pics of the resort this time as I have in the past simply because we've stayed there so many times before. I didn't realize this until I was reading your updates and looking at all the great pictures you took.

Oh and by the way, that Southern Sunrise at Uzima Springs was AWESOME in the heat while relaxing at the pool. I became very addicted to that drink since my family spent so much time swimming!

DC is just amazing. I can't wait to go back again.

I am really looking foward to having the whole week next trip to check out AKL. All the activites and bar drinks. Southern Sunrise here I come.

I tried to take as many pictures as I could b/c I knew a few people have mentioned wanting to stay there. My sister was considering it and I was hoping she would be convinced she NEEDED to stay there. She is sticking with WL, but next time will pick AKL. Maybe I shouldn't spread the word too much though, I don't want to have trouble booking it when I want to go back.

 

[jenbear123]

The prices range depending on time of year. I think they start at $199 a person and go up to $259. When I first looked into it for May it was $199 but went up as time went by.

That's pretty decent for a dolphin swim. I'd definitely scope out the cheaper days though

Oh, they also have a non dolphin swim price which is $100 cheaper if someone wants to come but doesn't want to swim with the dolphin. You still get everything else included. I have no idea why you wouldn't want to swim with the dolphin but I did see some grandparents and people with younger kids watching the rest of their party with the dolphin.

I guess some people are afraid of swimming with them. I could relate because the first time I went in that pool at Typhoon Lagoon where you can swim with those fishes and sharks, I was terrified

 

[pinkxray]

Only about 20 minutes until Caitlin gets home from school and she is off until Sept. How many updates can I squeeze in before she gets home?



We decided to head to the reef area. It is a fairly large area with tons of fish. You can get in on two sides and really can go either way but it everyone seems to go the same direction around the big circle.


Honestly when DH said he wanted to come to Discovery Cove with Caitlin I thought he was crazy. He seems to overestimate her swimming ability. She took a swim safety course last year, but hasn’t mastered really swimming. She took a course called ISR which teaches kids how to survive if throw off a boat or if they fall in a pool. She jumps in 12 foot water, swims for a bit with her head under water, and when she is tired she was taught to turn on her back and float. DH insisted she would be fine but she had a tough time trying to snorkel. She kept trying to turn on her back and then water would get in her snorkel. She seemed to be getting the hang of it after a few minutes. What could throw her off?

Can you stop with the pictures!!

Since this whole thing was DH’s Idea I left it up to him to get her gear on, teach her how to use it and get her in the water

Our first fish

Right as I stepped away from them a huge school of fish swam by my feet.
“Caitlin, look at the fish!”


She looked and she didn’t really seem very impressed

I floated around while DH dealt with whatever issue Caitlin seemed to be having

Caitlin seemed to be getting the hang of it so I held on to her while DH explored

 

[pinkxray]

Everything is going good. Caitlin is starting to allow herself to just float. If she just floated on her belly and didn’t try to turn she was okay. Once in awhile she would get some water in her snorkel, but that was easy to fix.

We had finally made it out of the shallow part when I stuck my face under the water. I look down and there is a humungous sting ray. Huge! I pop my head up, DH and I say at the same time “Did you see that sting ray!” Caitlin freaked out. I felt awful. Have you ever seen a child try to run while in water? Not a pretty picture. I handed her back off to DH. Do we go back or continue on? The string ray went where we came from but that way was shorter. We could continue on but would she flip out again? We decided to keep going since people were all coming towards us. I floated peaceful through the water while DH just about dragging Caitlin through the whole thing. Honestly I should have felt bad having him drag her the whole way, but hadn’t I said I didn’t think she would like swimming with fish so close?

You can’t tell how big it is in this picture, but DH took on later with a person near it so you can see how large it really is. I know they aren’t harmful but since I wasn’t expecting to see it and they were so big, they were a bit startling.

If you look in the top left corner, that is the entrance. The boat is in the middle and you basically swim around in a giant circle. There is a second exit which is where you can see DH dragging Caitlin out.

We decided to cross the sand and hit the no fish zone. It is a basically a large pool area that will bring you to the lazy river if you chose to go to it. There is a cave to go through behind the waterfalls.

The little hut is where you can get beer and snacks.

.

 

[pinkxray]

We decided to take a stroll through the cave. Not very interesting but it does lead you to the lazy river.

There is nothing scary about the caves, but it is a bit dark.

We get to the end of the tunnel. You can continue straight on to the lazy river or take a left and go back to the pool like area. I thought we were going back to the pool area. DH wanted to do the lazy river. I didn’t think it was a good idea. Caitlin had given up her life vest at some point and the lazy river got deep. DH insisted she would be fine.

We swam on. It was okay at first but once it got deep, Caitlin kept running into the issue of turning over and getting water in her snorkel. She could not handle swimming with the snorkel on in deep water. A life guard asked if we would like a vest. DH said no. He wanted her to swim. She was not listening to his instructions though and a few minutes another life guard asked if she wanted a vest. Um, no. Finally we made it to a stairway were we could get out. I grabbed Caitlin and told DH we needed to get out. Either she needed a life vest or she needed to just forget about the snorkel. She probably would have been fine if we took the snorkel aspect out of it, but she didn’t want to give it up. DH was pretty annoyed that Caitlin wasn’t listening to him when swimming since he had been working on her swimming and taking her to the YMCA a lot to use the pool. I thought she was doing okay since swimming across a pool is much different than having to constantly float, but he was a bit annoyed. I saw the sign for the aviary and thought maybe we needed a break from the water.

DH didn’t want to go in so he went back to the fish area that had the huge sting ray. Caitlin didn’t want to go to the aviary either, but since she is 6 and I can still force her to do things we went anyway.

Once you walk through the door you can pick up some food to feed the birds.
Caitlin grabbed a cup.

It is a good size area that has a bridge over the lazy river (I think you can see it but since we didn’t make it very far, I’m not sure). When you stand on the bridge you can hold up your arm and the birds come down from the trees, land on your arm, and eat out of your cup. There are also birds walking around on the ground.

Caitlin was having a hard time getting the ones in the trees to land on her so the lady next to her tried to hand off the one on her, but those orangish birds wanted nothing to do with Caitlin.

After we were done we went to find DH. While he was away he went through the whole lazy river, which he said was very cool. I have no idea what he said he saw, but he did say I should go down it. Caitlin was very excited about the birds and asked DH to go back to the aviary. It was lunch time though so we headed off for lunch.

 

[pinkxray]

That's pretty decent for a dolphin swim. I'd definitely scope out the cheaper days though



I guess some people are afraid of swimming with them. I could relate because the first time I went in that pool at Typhoon Lagoon where you can swim with those fishes and sharks, I was terrified

Oh, I forgot to mention- if you buy the regular pass from Discovery Cove you will get a free admission to Sea World, Aquatica or Busch Gardens. I used up purchasing an Aquatica season pass to get Discovery Cove for $169 but it didn't include the free admission to Seaworld. We went last year so I took the savings. With the purchase of the AP to Aquatica it saved about $100 off what I would have paid normally.

I have never been to TL. I want to try it some day but don't know about the sharks. We'll see.

 

[basketkat]

Love all of the AKL pics! Silly people giving you dirty looks...they must not DIS! LOL!

Wow DC looks so neat!!! We will have to put it on our bucket list for sure!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Discovery Cove looks amazing!

I love to snorkel so that reef looked like so much fun, much larger than the one at Typhoon Lagoon, which was also fun.

I liked your line about Caitlin being 6 and still being able to force her to do things and then she ended up liking the aviary!

 

[saintstickets]

Thanks so much for all the info and pics about Discovery Cove. DD has been wanting to swim with dolphins since she was your daughter's age (she's now 23) so we will definately do this when we go back to WDW in May, 2012. Since you cannot take anything in with you when swimming with the dolphins, I assume all pics are taken by a DC employee and you then select the package you want after the swim is over? Since you took pics in the reef area, I guess you can go to your locker and get your camera before entering? I am thinking about purchasing a water-proof camera just for this trip so TIA for your info, tips and advice. Great TR...keep it coming!