ForumOrlando.com, Disney World vacation forum.

[Dusty]

book your once in a lifetime swim with a dolphin experience here.

will have piccies and a full report very soon!

[Dusty]

just in case this post makes no sense at all i am still tired from the trip!!!

WOW!

first thing about Discovery cove i noticed is that the park itsself is quite small in comparison to some of the other parks in Orlando. very easy to find your way around and loads of extremely helpful staff who will give you directions to wherever you like.



at the entrance our booking was confirmed and our passes were issued to us. one very nice feature is that to save you carrying cash around, your pass can be used as a credit card if you so wish and this turned out to be very handy for us throughout the day.

as soon as you get into the park, you get a nice photo taken of your party which is complimentary and you collect it anytime throughout the day. our dolphin swim time was given to us for 9:55am which was a superb time of day as it left us free to wander about for the rest of the day and see everything else at our leisure.

next part was collecting our wetsuit, mask and snorkel. a large range of sizes is available and if you only want a wetsuit vest you can have it. snorkels are yours to keep as the park does not re use them for hygiene reasons. also available are full body wetsuits and "shorties" which are basically a full wetsuit with short legs and short sleeves. I personally chose a shorty. lifevests are also available for anyone who is not so confident in the water.

lockers are complimentary as is the use of the showers, towels and shampoo, shower gel, conditioner are all provided for you. a nice touch is that the park also provides you with a sachet of sun lotion which is dolphin friendly!! again plenty of staff on hand to sort you out with lockers and answer all your questions.

the park is divided between the dolphin swim area and the coral reef and snorkel trail. the dolphin bays are all right beside each other and are divided into different "Cabanas". each cabana holds four groups of 8-10 people. our swim was in the Sand Dollar cabana, and before we entered the water our groups were all shown a brief video about dolphins and given an introduction to the dolphin trainers. remember to remove any jewellery before you get in as the dolphins are playful and like shiny things!!!



next thing was down to see the dolphins in the water and each group was given a brief intro to the dolphin we would be seeing and interacting with.

"our" dolphin was called Coral and was 5 years old and when we were in the water it was just an experience in itsself to be that close!!! the trainer with us, Kelly, brought Coral on a few swim pasts where we could all touch and feel the dolphin. This is actually part of the dolphins training experience and at no time did anyone ever feel uncomfortable or in any danger. after this a few cute tricks followed, such as waving at her and Coral waving back with her flippers, jumping up and down, Coral walking on water and eventually we all got the chance to give her a kiss!

the trainer will also give you some fish to feed your dolphin with and the highlight for me was holding the dorsal fin and flipper while Coral towed me from the middle of our lagoon back to shore. the power these animals have is unbelievable!! we were treated to an unbelievable aerial display from Coral including jumps, spins and somersaults, which were all at the collective command of our group via different hand signals. this culminated in all of the four differents groups coordinating a team display from all four dolphins at the end where they jump together from the water in front of each group. a sight to behold.............

what i am writing here does not even begin to convey a fraction of how it feels on the day. the trainers will tell you lots of things about dolphins you never knew or thought to ask, and you will get a feeling of how each animal does have a personality of its own. they are playful and beautiful, strong yet gentle. our swim time was advertised as being between 20 and 30 minutes but actually lasted about 45 minutes and after that you are free to wander between the different lagoons and watch the different dolphins do their thing, as well as experience the snorkel trail and the beautiful coral reef.



above is a picture of the snorkel trail. basically it is just a big lazy river that takes you round the outside of the coral reef part. not very deep most of the way round it is relaxing and takes you through a couple of tunnels and under a small waterfall!! below is just another part of the snorkel trail.



one of my favourite parts of the whole day was the coral reef. make sure to buy an underwater camera as you will be sorry if you don't!!! i didn't at the time and am sorry now believe me! lots of different breeds of tropical fish and some of the biggest rays i have ever seen live in this part of the park. make sure you visit the underwater shark tank!! scared the life out of me...... then i realised there was glass between them and us! deep in parts make sure kids have a life vest on. there a lots of lifeguards on duty to make sure people are behaving themselves and keep everyone safe and sound. well worth a visit.



after the coral reef it was off to the restaurant for our complimentary meal, which was to a very high standard indeed. various chicken dishes along with salmon, steak and some complicated salads were on offer in generous portions. a large range of side orders was also on offer as well as soft drinks.

with our food disposed of we decided to collect our complimentary entrance photo and our other photos and dvd as well. this was only about 2-3 hours after ordering them and all was sitting ready under our name to be collected. we also had a wander round the shops which stocked a lot of tasteful bits and pieces including towels, pens, t-shirts, ornaments, jewellery and lots of other clothing. again the staff were more than helpful and kept our bags behind the counter where we collected them safe and sound on our way out.

most of the rest of our afternoon was spent lying on the deckchairs on the nice beaches and watching the dolphins play about in the sunshine. i went for one more visit to the coral reef before we decided to shower and change. the changing rooms were spacious and plenty of fresh clean towels were available. shower gel, shampoo and conditioner were all provided.

all in all a highly recommended day out for people of all ages.

[Next Door to Mickey]

Great report Jim, thanks very much.

The photos are fantastic too. Glad to hear that you and the other half enjoyed your day.

Do you feel that this is something you would only do the once, or can you see yourselves returning for a second visit??

[Dusty]

i could see us going back but to be honest i think only the better half would do the dolphin swim again. i would rather stand on the rocks and get some nicer photos!!!

worth noting that i personally think it would be a good day out for anyone who just wants to do the coral reef and aviary, as the dolphin swim can work out expensive for a full family.

[KevinT]

Excellent photos Jim !

For all the time we have been going to Florida I'm ashamed to say I have never yet been into Discovery Cove. (or Kennedy Space Centre ) . Really must make some excuse and go. We have some friends who took their daughter recently and said that although it was expensive for the dolphin swim, it really was worth going.

It's a little like the situation with the "Cirque du Soleil" at Downtown Disney. When you see how much the tickets are ($80plus) it kinda puts you off a bit, but having been several times to La Nouba now it's just the most fantastic show and is definitely worth every cent !!

[Karen]

Kevin

That is exactly what we thought about Cirque du Soleil and have not yet been to see the show.

It is one of those things you wonder is it worth the money. We will have to give it a go though. Discovery cove looks lovely but I think it will be one of those things that if we do, it it will be later rather than sooner.

So many places to go and things to see in Florida, we are spoilt for choice!

[Dusty]

[KevinT]

Karen,

Three lots of our friends have now been to the Cirque - (mostly very dubious about paying the entrance fee). All three lots have come out absolutely amazed. It's such an unusual show you can't describe it to anyone. One family has a 15 year old who thought it would be "uncool"
and didn't want to go, but was persuaded (with a large baseball bat! ) that he should consider going . Apparently he and a friend who had travelled with them sat transfixed and later , as they came out
they said it was the best live show they had ever seen.
Personally as I'm a musician I miss a lot of the show now as I'm fascinated by the band, who are superb rock musicians (French / Canadian I think), and are split between two towers on either side of the stage - linked by video, but never miss a beat as they follow the action on stage. It's definitely not your standard circus show.
There is so much going on stagewise that you see new things every time you go. The stars of the show to me are a troupe of small Chinese
girls who perform with 'diablos' - on strings between two sticks.
They flick them up about 40 feet in the air - do amazing back flips and somersaults and catch them again with apparent ease. They often get
a standing ovation at the end of the show when all the performers come back on stage.

Definitely worth every penny!! (dollar!)

PS. Jim. Is there an easy way to upload photos yet ? Is it something to do with the Img or URL buttons?

[Dusty]

sign up to www.photobucket.com and upload your fotos to there mate. then they give you the url which you simply copy and paste into your post and hey presto!!!

[KevinT]

Thanks Jim,

Have registered with them and will try uploading some photos when I've read the 'destructions'

[Next Door to Mickey]

Kevin,

You are more than welcome to post photographs to the site, as Jim suggested you can use the photobucket site, or if you want oyu can email me the photos and i will host them on our site, at present we do not have upload facilities on this forum, but i will work onthis to make things easier for our members.

The only thing i would ask, is that if anyone wants to upload photographs, that you make ure they are re-sized to avoid the screen shift problem.

Other than this, i really look forward to seeing some photos, please lets see some of the castle. "You can never have too many photos of the castle."

[Karen]

I will have to try and talk Craig into going to Cirque next time we are out .

Hope it does not take the threat of a baseball bat to persuade him!!!

[Dusty]

for everyone's information, photobucket automatically resizes the pics to 512kb if they are over that.

Karen, just tell him that there is food available and he'll be there.

Craig here's one just for you mate.

[warbiespig]

Thanks for the information on Discovery Cove My sister really wants to do the Dolphin swim but i don't want to so my Husband is going in with her while me and my son will watch (hes too young anyway) but i willl be there to take lots of photos

[Dolphin]

When we went over in October we went to D.Cove. As you say it is expensive but it was worth it.

Thought we better do it this time as the kids being 14 and 16 now might not be wanting to holiday with us for much longer.

We had a great day, I would do it again.

Warbiespig, not sure if you know but you do not have to do the swim, you can just do what they call a meet and greet. Not sure if you little one would find it a bit much though.

Isn't your son's birthday when you are over their. Have you managed to find out more about a disney party for him? I bet he is really excited.

Dolphin