Discovery Cove - DD aged 5 and a bit!

[Dory]

Apologies if this has been raised before!

Have booked our hols for next year:thumbs-up
Seems likely it may be the last time for a few years:cry:

I was wondering about a real treat and doing Discovery Cove for the first time, but the problem is DD will only be 5 yrs and 10 mths.

She is an able swimmer and quite sensible (old head on young shoulders), plus she is quite confident.

I was convinced that for the dolphin swim the age limit was over 5 yrs not 6yrs and don't think it would be fair on her to visit DC without her being able to to the Dolphin swim.

I have emailed DC to check the situation, but got a standard response stating that the age was 6 because "at this age children know how to act around animals".

Would appreciate any comments please.

Best Wishes

Helen:wavey:

[debs1505]

My only concern would be, god forbid, is if there is claim for insurance. If you have 'told an untruth' about a childs age, you more than likely wouldnt be covered.

[AndyJ]

I get the task of babysitting a 4 yr old this year, whilst her 6 yr old sister swims with the Dolphin.

God help me ;)

5 yrs and 10 mnths is soooo close that I expect you could speak to someone about it on the day. It's a gamble, but then I do a lot of that =)

[Gaz]

for me i would not risk it because effectivley you are commiting fraud (very strong i know but you are knowingley giving faulse information)
what would happen if (god forbid it did) went wrong
also what kind of message does it send to your children that its ok to lie to get your own way.

its the same as getting child tickets for a child (in our eyes) that is a few months older than the ticket age

what would you do if thay ask for ID (extreme i know but what if) try explaining that to your DD when she has been looking forward to something so much.

sorry if it sounds harsh but thats just my opinion

[Orlando-Sky]

I let my son do it under the age, they never asked for ID.

Now he wasnt a great swimmer, so they did special things for him, like the dolphin pulled him by the land area so he wasnt out of his depth, in fact he could stand up fine... He was only 2 months below the age....

The actual pull at the end is from very deep water, so just say she isnt a great swimmer and they do it all by the shore....

or perhaps I am just a bad parent :(

[carol waldren]

My friends daughter was the same age as your child and no ID was asked for when we went. She was absolutely fine. But obviously the choice is yours.

[mitch84]

I was always being told by my parents when I was little 'say you're six not five' etc etc. Not to get things cheaper as it was the other way round but because my Mum knew that I was more than capable of doing this activity or another.

I think go for it. Book it and i'm sure they won't ask for ID. Just don't take her passport with her best bet.
I have just done the swim and I think it would be fine for your daughter, just pop a life jacket on her for it and all will be great.

It was a wonderful experience, one of the best of my life and your dd will love it.

You know your own daughter better than anyone else....

[landkmum]

I'm sure someone asked the same thing on here a while back because her daughter was only a few weeks away from six and was advised to phone and actually speak to someone at DC, instead of receiving a standard e-mail response. If I remember correctly they were told that because the child was nearly six they would be alright to book the swim. I know when we were there a couple of weeks ago we were not asked to produce any ID for any of us.

[Gabby]

our DD was 6 and 2 months when they did the dolphin swim last year and she loved it. she was not a good swimmer at the time and this was accomodated for. we had to change the date of the swim last year and found the staff to be very helpful and accomodating so maybe you should just ask rather than risk upset ?

[BeatrixKiddo]

Hi Helen,

Just thought I'd let you know that we recently went to Discovery Cove and they asked us to show our passports when we 'checked in' for our day.

Just thought I'd mention it, as it would be horrible to get all geared up for a fabulous day and then they refuse you entrance or something.

Sorry :blush:

But we had the most amazing day ever, so it is totally worth it, even if you don't/can't do the dolphin swim (which we did, but still would have loved it).

Hope this helps.

Jo

[jackie4485]

Our son was under 6 when we last went to Discovery Cove so & I stayed with him on the beach whilst hubby & daughter swam and I swam with a later group.

However the staff were really great & they did allow him into the water with the dolphins to feed them some fish & have a cuddle and we got a great family picture with the dolphins. He just wasn't allowed to actually swim with them. He still really enjoyed the experience.

[theb52s]

We visited DC in 2001 when my daughter was 5 years and 8 months old. She is tall for her age and we said she was 6 so she didn't miss out on swimming with the dolphins. We weren't asked for any ID and it would have been a shame for her to miss out when the rest of the family were able to do it. It was a wonderful experience for all of us and my daughter had a fabulous time.:d:

[carys]

I phoned them as my DD will be 6 2 weeks after we are going and after a bit of tooing and froing they told me it would be fine .I would ring them and ask it would be awful to get there and find out they turn you away.Good luck.

[Dory]

Hi All!

Thanks for all the replies.

I have to say to say that I am very cautious (certainly concerning the kids) and so posted the question just to get an idea what others had experienced.

To be quite honest I had never even considered taking the family to DC as money always got in the way (Or lack of it), but as this might be the last Florida holiday for a long time I thought it would be a wonderful treat.

Anyway, I am going to ring DC and see what they say.

Will let you all know

Thanks again

Best Wishes

Helen:wavey:

[mammo]

Helen,

I am also in turmoil as what to do...I am lucky enough that I have done the swim as is my wife and oldest daughter(9 now) but we have 2 other children, one is 7 and the other will be 6 in Jan and as Im not too sure when we will do Florida again I really want to make this time as magical as possible.
Let me know what they say if you call them.

Thanks

Glenn :wavey: