Honest opinions needed

[Tinkerbelluk]

Hi all I was wondering if any of you lovely dibbers could help. As we’re not doing the major parks this year we’re going to do some of the stuff we’ve missed in the last 6 years so I’m looking for honest opinions (good or bad) on:

Kennedy Space Centre

Discovery Cove and the Dolphin Swim – Especially if you know of any dolphin swims that would be better to do? i.e. not in discovery cove

Thanks in advance :D

[Nicksgirl]

Hi all I was wondering if any of you lovely dibbers could help. As we’re not doing the major parks this year we’re going to do some of the stuff we’ve missed in the last 6 years so I’m looking for honest opinions (good or bad) on:

Kennedy Space Centre

Discovery Cove and the Dolphin Swim – Especially if you know of any dolphin swims that would be better to do?

Thanks in advance :D

Only IMO, I would do Kennedy Space Centre, its not brilliant but I think you have got to go once.
Discovery Cove, we are doing this year for the first time so cant comment yet.

Hope you have a lovely holiday.
:wave:

[mitch84]

I'm going on my first trip in September and as we're only going for a week can't fit in KSC as we're a bit further away from there than the other parks. However my best mate, boss, Mum and brother have all been and LOVED it. Best mate said was best thing there and she is quite a girly girl and I was surprised.
We have booked DC. Good as you can do Seaworld or BG which probably you can get away with as they aren't Disney etc

[mousse]

Definately DC, without doubt the best day we had, it went so quickly though. We would do it again without hesitation.

Kennedy, do it. We've done it, was interesting enough. I always wanted to go there and since it was so near to Orlando we did it. Wouldn't do it again as we've seen it now. Can't say the kids were all that interested though, they enjoyed the space shuttle but didn't really find the old rockets all that interesting. DH and I found them interesting as we remember seeing some of them on the tv when we were small. We started off on the bus tour. Seeing the launch pads was good but then the kids had had enough and we came back after an hour. Thought it was worth doing but as I said before probably wouldn't do it again.

[princess annie]

We personally didn't like Kennedy Space Centre!! My OH was desperate to go, so we planned it into our holiday - it was definitely the worst day we had in Florida. We found it really poorly organised - there is an IMAX show on that we couldn't even get in to see after queuing several times for ages!!! He was really disappointed!!! Both wished we'd gone somewhere else on that day!!!

[signtalker]

Ive done discovery 3 times, and to be honest I dont think you get to pick which dolphin you get, its all down to what time youre swim is assigned to your group.A fantastic day, a good choice.
KSC I hated it, and im a girly girl, the boys thought it was ok but certainly wouldnt do it agan.
How about boggy creaks airboat ride?

Jules

[orlandosgr8]

We liked KSC when we went, but would not rush back. Discovery Cove is on my list of things i'd love to do, but we will wait until DS is old enough to swim with the dolphin as well.

[freespirit]

I cant comment on KSC as iv never been but have visited DC twice and we are going again in a few weeks....so much for once in a lifetime lol. DC, although very expensive on paper for 1 day out is in my opinion well worth the money especially if you love dolphins plus you do get a pass to SW and/or BG. Its like going to a 5 star resort for the day and very relaxing! Its not crowded either which is a welcome change from all those darn park queues! As soon as you get your mitts on the dolphin it all becomes worthwhile and you forget how much it cost as its an invaluable experience. The only downside is they do try flog you pictures and video of your dolphin interaction which is a pain as you cant resist buying something! You do get 1 dolphin pic free though.

[littlesam21]

DC is FANTASTIC!!!! :happy: Our fav day! We loved it so much we are just about to book Trainer for a Day at DC for Boxing Day!:thumbs-up
All we hope is that the weather isn't too cold that day.
I think it's an expensive experience however what you might spend at another park: tickets, food, drink etc would probably amount to the same if not more considering you get a three course meal, drinks, snacks. Plus towels, suncream (dolphin friendly of course!) snorkelling gear all provided and you can keep the snorkels too!:d:
I didn't go to KSC but my Dad did & he was slightly disappointed as he had already paid to go in and it wasn't til then he was informed due to sep11 they had to close off parts of the tour! Although he said it was still an interesting day:)
Hope this is helpful to you :mickeywal

[jdybnsn]

We really enjoyed KSC,..... but I think you would definitely need to have some interest in space exploration beforehand to get the most out of it -just as there might be little point in seeing a horse show if you weren't interested in horses for example !

We did the 'lunch with an astronaut' which I would recommend, especially if you have kids, as they tend to let them ask the questions - which can be entertaining in itself !

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

Never been to DC (we are waiting till the kids can swim) - but I would say I've rarely seen a bad report.

[cope29]

hi, we've never done KSC but i'm not to bothered about going, i think we are thinking of going this year though as people say it is good to go once! we've been to DC and we're doing it again this year!! it is sooooo good! its a day to remember and i'd go back every year!
Another good thing that we did instead of discovery cove last time was a manatee swim!! that was brilliant and was a different experience to DC as you got to swim with them in the wild but it was fantastic and i would that again!
:mickeybou: :tiggerbou: :goofybou: :stitchbou:

[poppyland3]

Not been to DC so can't comment, but I enjoyed the Space Centre! We've been a couple of times and not been disappointed, it's enjoyable and informative, and take a few moments to go to the memorial "garden". We found that very moving.

[j3nnx]

Where do you do the manatee swim cope29 ?

[gazadonna9]

Having been to florida 8 times we too wanted something different, we went on the 2 day dolphin encounter at key largo, stopping off at miami for 4 hours, having a airboat ride and watching the reptile and alligator show at everglades. That evening we had a bbq, then the following day we swam with the dolphins - an amazing experience.

[suzybabe1]

Both are great, went to KSC last year and going back this. Don't miss the astronauts hall of fame on the way back, ticket does cover this. Great fun trying experiments inside such as weightlessness etc. On the way back we spotted a dolphin close to the shore on the intracoastal waterway - fab.

[Karena]

Hi

Have done DC 3 times - love it! Really great day out:)

KSC - it is one of our favourites days out!! There is loads to see - in fact if you take in all the tours - too much for one day (hence why we have taken advantage of the return ticket!). Obviously you don't get the thrills of roller coasters and the like but we did get the massive thrill of seeing the shuttle being rolled out onto the launch pad - awesome is all I can say! :)

I can understand that it may not be everyone's cup of tea and especially children might not be impressed after the thrills of the other parks - our kids all were fine - certainly weren't bored

Only downer I would say was that the restaraunts are fairly poor - expensive and the customer service a million miles away from what you usually experience :confused2

[ross1892]

Kennedy Space centre is well worth it and The same with discovery cove but the only thing off putting with discovery cove is the hard sell of photos and videos after the swim. It spoiled it a bit for us. But they are still worth doing.

Ross

[lindylou2_2002]

Ifyou do go to Kennedy I would love to know if the have my DDs picture displayed there. Kodak got us to sign a release in may so that they could display it on their kiosk as she was content to sit on the spacemans lap and have her picture taken.
Its her picture in my aviator.

[tiggermeister]

As my mother inlaw quite rightly states..." It doesnt do for everyone to like the same things"

from what i have heard dc is expensive for what you get...not been so cant support, but also hear that there are offers on this.

KSC...yes , to really appreciate this, it helps to have some intrest in space exploration or even in the shuttle

I would never say you got to do this and that...purely down to individual taste and money and of course time!

[eeyore88]

We Loved our Manattee swim, our best day ever

[cope29]

j3nnx, we did our manatee swim in silver springs we went with; fun 2 dive scuba - www.fun2dive.com, it is really good, well worth the money and we got to go and swim in the silver springs!

[br196]

KSC is interesting, but beware if you have children ... ours were pretty bored, especially on the bus tour. Once you have started on it you have to carry on to the end and it can seem a bit dull for anyone who's not too fussed about space exploration. I have been twice; the second time confirmed that it was OK, but I probably wouldn't want to go again.

[Sue]

We have done DC twice but to be honest it wasn't a patch on swimming with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Centre at Marathon in the Florida Keys. It's a long way (6 hour drive) from Orlando though!
It was a longer and more educating experience - in the very cold sea and not quite as "sanitised" as DC. Also, most of their dolphins are rescued and you are supporting their work. Very worthwhile and a great day.

[sophie124]

KSC was great my Dds were 6 & 9 at the time and i thought they might be bored but they loved it.Apart from the normal space stuff they had pods?that children could climb in,a play area and a room of experiments where they could press lots of buttons and launch a rocket!One of the highlights was the coach driver who told us all about the wildlife and pointed it out and lots of alligators on the drive around the space centre.

[liamaxina]

Have done KSC 3 times as have visited with different family members on various occasions. Always enjoyed it but more interesting for the boys than the girls in my experience. Only done DC once but thoroughly enjoyed it. It is pricey and we were going to do the Swim with Manatees thing this time but to be honest it was the swimming in the wild thing that put me off. I'm sure its perfectly safe or they wouldn't do it but I just have visions of alligators lurking in the water ready to pounce at any second! :omg: So I decided that we would do DC again instead. It is a fantastic day, so relaxing and there is plenty to eat. I agree with the hard sell factor for the photos etc though. My son does not want to swim with the dolphins this time so he will be taking the photos and videos thus saving us a fortune:tounge:

[Gill635]

Go to KSC and book the full tour (i think it is calle dMaximum Access) this has you out for a few hours and is fantastic. It takes you out to the actual launch pad of one of the old launch disasters to pay your respects, you go out to the Military base where you are shown around and given a talk by the old test pilots (Dad recognised ours from the Discovery Channel) and it is only a few dollars more.
As for Dolphin Swims - spend a day or 2 in the Keys and go to Dolphins Plus in Key Largo. Much cheaper and alot more for your money than DC. The website is WWW.DOLPHINSPLUS.COM (apologies if i shouldn't have done that), or you can google them.

Love,
Gill xx

[Amyrlin]

If you can spare the time to go down to Key Lago then a great place for dolphin swims, both structred and more natural swims is Dolphins Plus.


OPps, just seen Gill recommended this, I am seconding it, it is great, better interacion and more relaxed, they have a great sealion there as well!

[LionKingLuver]

Discovery Cove - Dolphin Swim gets my :thumbs-up
I would only go once though...
Kennedy Space Centre is were we are going this year...
So can't comment:erm:

[tessdog]

Hi

We have done Discovery cove and loved it, it was the most relaxing and one of the most special days we had together as a family.

I have done KSC and to be hosnest did not find it to be my cup of tea.
I have my picture taken with a spaceman bought some space food and left.

I would love to see a launch but KSC was a bit too much for me.

xxx

[Tinkerbelluk]

Thanks all for all of your coments. Still not sure about KSC so will have to check with hubbie to see what he wants to do.

In terms of discovery cove I think we're going to give it a miss this year and do a manatee swim at crystal river.

Thanks again everyone - you've all been fantastic as always :D

[kipper]

If you pay an extra $30 at Discovery cove you can get 14 days of entry to both seaworld and busch gardens which when you work out the $249/279 + $30 is for three parks its not bad at all.

[amandalu]

We all loved KSC - my boys were 11 & 13 when we did it. We all found it interesting, which surprised me, because I didn't think it was my kind of thing!
DC is amazing - our best Orlando day ever! Even without the dolphin swim it would have been great. It was our first experience of snorkelling & it was wonderful to do it in such a safe & fish-filled environment! The photos & video were really expensive, but I'm glad we bought them. have fun whatever you decide to do.
ps - Would definiitely give Boggy Creek airboats a go - fantastic!

[Fizzy Fish]

We did KSC and whilst it was really good, informative and interesting, we probably won't go again when we return.

[Suzie&Stuart]

We have been to KSC twice in 2000 and 2005. Found it very interesting, but would say that you need to have been around for the Apollo era to really get the jist of the stuff on display.
Seeing the Saturn V rocket for the first time is awesome.
When we went in 2000 part of the tour took us to the place where they were building all the components for the International Space Station, that was good to see, but dont think it goes there now.
Seeing a Shuttle waiting on the launchpad is also an awesome sight.

Havent done DC yet so cant comment

Stuart

[summertime85]

Hi all I was wondering if any of you lovely dibbers could help. As we’re not doing the major parks this year we’re going to do some of the stuff we’ve missed in the last 6 years so I’m looking for honest opinions (good or bad) on:

Kennedy Space Centre

Discovery Cove and the Dolphin Swim – Especially if you know of any dolphin swims that would be better to do? i.e. not in discovery cove

Thanks in advance :D

You cannot miss Kennedy Space Centre - it's great! Even ours boys (age 8 & 5) loved it.

[katy'clan]

We done both KSC & DC in July...whilst we all enjoyed KSC we have said that now we have seen it we wouldn't do it again!

DC was supposed to be a 'once in a life time experience' but we would and will definately go again... we didn't get a free dolphin pic though, only a complimentry one of us as a group which was taken when we first arrived!!

Katy xx

[Si_11865]

Both well worth doing

[Mike_Swannick]

Kennedy Space Centre - Visited 3 times now. As a bloke, I found the history & tech side of it very interesting especially the Saturn rocket display. For pre-teen kids there is only a few parts that will hold their interest. I recommend queueing & viewing the IMAX films sooner rather than later, and leave the rest of the day to do the Saturn & launch pad tour. Remember it's a nature reserve too and look out for the bald eagle nest in the tree..... Probably won't visit again unless something significant changes. The IMAX film 'The Dream Is Alive' is available on DVD in the UK if you can find it.

Discovery Cove - A fantastic day out. If you do the dolphin swim get there early and book an early swim time - we found that the wait for our appointment (10:30am) left us abit on edge until we got going and would have probably slightly spoilt the day if we had to wait longer. The actual swim experience is OK but very tightly controlled. With the exception of being pulled along for a few metres each, all we did was pat 'Lester' and listen to natural history speech about dolphins whilst standing in th ewater with one. Although I did buy all the media they offered us (we split the $300 cost among our group of 7) I was very disappointed by the poor quality of the video recording of our group. It was crudely tagged onto the end of a pre-made 20+ minute DC promo with awful wind noise. My mum did better with a cheap camcorder on a tripod from the bank!! The rest of the day is very good though. You truly need no more than sunglasses & credit card but I would recommend surf shoes or similar. Our personal highlight was seeing our DD (then just 5 - or 6 if the DC staff asked) throwing herself into the snorkelling 100%.

[Alvin]

I agree with previous comments that you have to have a little bit of interest in space or at least amazing feats of engineering. In my opinion its worth it just to see the awesome Saturn Five Rocket display.

Discovery Cove: As just about everyone agrees, its a great day out, even without the Dolphin swim it would be a really good experience. At first the price seems expensive but when you realise that it includes Seaworld passes, food and drink and a complimentary photo, its a pretty good deal.

[brody-maddison]

I went to KSC last October and hadn't been since since 1995 prior to that. I really enjoyed it and wish we'd had longer there.

We paid for the full tour when we went in but ended up missing the last bus, mainly due to getting there late as we stopped off at the Florida Police Museum which we found on the way there. With both DH and myself working for the police we found this quite interesting.

I would love to go back and get the full experience as I felt we missed quite a bit. It was definitely worth seeing but not somewhere I'd go back to every year.

I've never been to DC as swimming with Dolphins doesn't appeal to me at all but if it is your thing then I'm sure you'll love it. My in-laws went last month and my MIL loves dolphins, she thought it was the most amazing experience ever.