airhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,991
Sunday July 4th
We are so,so stoked for this day!!! The day I found out
about Discovery Cove,I knew we were gonna go! I booked it exactly 1 year out,didn't wanna take any chances that we'd back out.
We're on I-4 by 6:45am. I knew from the boards that a line started building by 7:30am for entry and early swim times so I didn't want to take any chances. The place isn't suppose to open until 8am but when we get there we see no line and people already inside. We're surprised that we get an 11:45 swim time
cuz we're there so early,but whatever! Its early enough that we
shouldn't get caught in a lightning storm. We find out later that the reason our time is later than we expected, was to accommodate the swims cancelled the day before due to afternoon storms.
This place is paradise. I highly recommend this to everyone .
Pricey? Yeah,kinda. So maybe stay in a value resort and do Discovery Cove with the money you saved. You'll be so glad you did!
Everything is about the guests here. They really want you to have a wonderful day and you'd have to work hard to not have one!!!
Once you get your Dolphin swim time,you're
shown to your cabana house where you get your own locker,swim vest and snorkel gear. As soon as you change in to your bathingsuit,you're
ready to explore!
We make our way to the Sting Ray pool and are in awe of these creatures swimming so close to us! Kinda freeky at first,we're told by the attendant that its ok to touch them. We try ,but they're wicked fast and its pretty much impossible!
We go to the snorkel area next. We LOVED this!!!!!! Well,not at first.... It takes a while to get use to breathing while your face is in water and Karen was convinced she wasn't going to be able to do it. But she kept trying. After many attempts and lots of encouragement from me("c'mon,don't be a chicken!"),she was on her way!!!! She didn't know that I was totally freeked about being in water WAY over my head and was having my own
problems. When I was 17 years old,I almost drowned in a lake while trying to swim across. I gave up and sunk to bottom like a 2 ton rock. I walked along the bottom of the lake until I could put my face out of the water and breathe. It was pretty tramatic. I never forgot that day. When I started to snorkel and all of a sudden there's about 20 feet of water under me,it all came back and I was trashin'around like my life depended on it!! I was determined to face this fear once and for all.
At this point,I look over,and there's Karen havin' a blast snorkeling------in the deep part!!!! She saw me thrashin' around
and came over to see what was up. She gave me just the encouragement I needed ( she clucked like a chicken!!!) And I got thru it,I made myself go to the middle of the lagoon! Once I realized I wasn't gonna sink I was ok.
There are SO many different kinds of fish swimming around
this lagoon! we were amazed that they never touched us,not once!
Our swim time wasn't for another hour,so we decided to float down the "river" which goes all around the cove. This was really relaxing! There are waterfalls along the way to go under and a cave to go thru. We did this a couple of times that day.
Its finally time to get to the Dolphin pool for the swim! We're
so psyched!!
There are 8 in a group. Our Dolphin is Rosie and there are 2 trainers per group. I can not believe the power that these animals have. It totally blew me away. At the same time,they are extremely gentle creatures and were definitely different with the 2 young children in our group than they were with the adults. Spending this 30 minutes with the Dolphin was the highlight of our vacation. Truely amazing!!!!!!!! We have already decided we WILL do this again on our next trip!
After the Dolphin swim we decide to grab lunch. This is included in the cost of the day and we could eat anytime between 11:30 and 4pm. We were really surprised at what was offered! We shouldn't have been though. Why wouldn't it be fantastic? Everything else was!!! You could pick a stir fry,fajitas with chicken or beef or both, burgers,salmon, all kinds of side dishes, salads and deserts! And,while we ate there was a live band playing Jimmy Buffet music!! How cool is that!!!!
After lunch we head for the lazy river and we float down to the Aviary. Now,if you freekout with the thought of a big bird landing on you,don't go in here. The attendant gave me a little cup of mealy worms and told me to lift it in the air. Within 10 seconds I had 2 huge parrots on my hand!!!!! These birds were wicked heavy too! I love it! Of course a big bird pooped on Karen. Man,we laughed so hard!!! I told her it was good luck! Later we realized it wasn't such good luck----the bathingsuit had a permanent stain on it.
We looked at my watch and couldn't believe it was already 4pm! we decided we better go get our pictures and Dolphin video
before there was a long line.
We stayed until 5pm and then made our way back to the hotel,
the Dolphin! We just realize its the 4th of July!!!! We gotta go to Epcot and see Fireworks!!!! Are we tired? Oh yeah. But I tell Karen she can sleep when vacation is over! Get ready to go!!
We get to Epcot and after walking around abit we 're starvin'
but everything is closed!! Exept a pretzel cart. That was gonna be dinner. We'd really be hungry in the morning! Good thing I made those PS's for Fresh.....
We find a spot to actually sit! Right on the wall in Japan!
We had a great view! Too bad neither of us was impressed with
Illuminations,but we loved the fireworks!!
We left Epcot wicked tired from an awesome day! The best July 4th ever!!!!!!!
Tomorrow,will be a peeool day and Magic Kingdom at night!!!!
We are so,so stoked for this day!!! The day I found out
about Discovery Cove,I knew we were gonna go! I booked it exactly 1 year out,didn't wanna take any chances that we'd back out.
We're on I-4 by 6:45am. I knew from the boards that a line started building by 7:30am for entry and early swim times so I didn't want to take any chances. The place isn't suppose to open until 8am but when we get there we see no line and people already inside. We're surprised that we get an 11:45 swim time
cuz we're there so early,but whatever! Its early enough that we
shouldn't get caught in a lightning storm. We find out later that the reason our time is later than we expected, was to accommodate the swims cancelled the day before due to afternoon storms.
This place is paradise. I highly recommend this to everyone .
Pricey? Yeah,kinda. So maybe stay in a value resort and do Discovery Cove with the money you saved. You'll be so glad you did!
Everything is about the guests here. They really want you to have a wonderful day and you'd have to work hard to not have one!!!
Once you get your Dolphin swim time,you're
shown to your cabana house where you get your own locker,swim vest and snorkel gear. As soon as you change in to your bathingsuit,you're
ready to explore!
We make our way to the Sting Ray pool and are in awe of these creatures swimming so close to us! Kinda freeky at first,we're told by the attendant that its ok to touch them. We try ,but they're wicked fast and its pretty much impossible!
We go to the snorkel area next. We LOVED this!!!!!! Well,not at first.... It takes a while to get use to breathing while your face is in water and Karen was convinced she wasn't going to be able to do it. But she kept trying. After many attempts and lots of encouragement from me("c'mon,don't be a chicken!"),she was on her way!!!! She didn't know that I was totally freeked about being in water WAY over my head and was having my own
problems. When I was 17 years old,I almost drowned in a lake while trying to swim across. I gave up and sunk to bottom like a 2 ton rock. I walked along the bottom of the lake until I could put my face out of the water and breathe. It was pretty tramatic. I never forgot that day. When I started to snorkel and all of a sudden there's about 20 feet of water under me,it all came back and I was trashin'around like my life depended on it!! I was determined to face this fear once and for all.
At this point,I look over,and there's Karen havin' a blast snorkeling------in the deep part!!!! She saw me thrashin' around
and came over to see what was up. She gave me just the encouragement I needed ( she clucked like a chicken!!!) And I got thru it,I made myself go to the middle of the lagoon! Once I realized I wasn't gonna sink I was ok.
There are SO many different kinds of fish swimming around
this lagoon! we were amazed that they never touched us,not once!
Our swim time wasn't for another hour,so we decided to float down the "river" which goes all around the cove. This was really relaxing! There are waterfalls along the way to go under and a cave to go thru. We did this a couple of times that day.
Its finally time to get to the Dolphin pool for the swim! We're
so psyched!!
There are 8 in a group. Our Dolphin is Rosie and there are 2 trainers per group. I can not believe the power that these animals have. It totally blew me away. At the same time,they are extremely gentle creatures and were definitely different with the 2 young children in our group than they were with the adults. Spending this 30 minutes with the Dolphin was the highlight of our vacation. Truely amazing!!!!!!!! We have already decided we WILL do this again on our next trip!
After the Dolphin swim we decide to grab lunch. This is included in the cost of the day and we could eat anytime between 11:30 and 4pm. We were really surprised at what was offered! We shouldn't have been though. Why wouldn't it be fantastic? Everything else was!!! You could pick a stir fry,fajitas with chicken or beef or both, burgers,salmon, all kinds of side dishes, salads and deserts! And,while we ate there was a live band playing Jimmy Buffet music!! How cool is that!!!!
After lunch we head for the lazy river and we float down to the Aviary. Now,if you freekout with the thought of a big bird landing on you,don't go in here. The attendant gave me a little cup of mealy worms and told me to lift it in the air. Within 10 seconds I had 2 huge parrots on my hand!!!!! These birds were wicked heavy too! I love it! Of course a big bird pooped on Karen. Man,we laughed so hard!!! I told her it was good luck! Later we realized it wasn't such good luck----the bathingsuit had a permanent stain on it.
We looked at my watch and couldn't believe it was already 4pm! we decided we better go get our pictures and Dolphin video
before there was a long line.
We stayed until 5pm and then made our way back to the hotel,
the Dolphin! We just realize its the 4th of July!!!! We gotta go to Epcot and see Fireworks!!!! Are we tired? Oh yeah. But I tell Karen she can sleep when vacation is over! Get ready to go!!
We get to Epcot and after walking around abit we 're starvin'
but everything is closed!! Exept a pretzel cart. That was gonna be dinner. We'd really be hungry in the morning! Good thing I made those PS's for Fresh.....
We find a spot to actually sit! Right on the wall in Japan!
We had a great view! Too bad neither of us was impressed with
Illuminations,but we loved the fireworks!!
We left Epcot wicked tired from an awesome day! The best July 4th ever!!!!!!!
Tomorrow,will be a peeool day and Magic Kingdom at night!!!!
