Discovery Cove

[shoop]

Hi

We are just beginning to think about which parks we would like to go to next year and have a question about Discovery Cove. It does sound great but it isn't that cheap. Basically, given our pockets are not amazingly deep, is it worth the money?

I understand you can touch the dolphins at Seaworld - should we go for this and save our money for other parks or a posher hotel?

Any thoughts would be great

Thanks

[pboniface]

How many of you, and what age... DW and myself did it for a day... had a swim with dolphins.. did everything else... It does seem a little expensive for a day and we probably won't bother with it for a couple of years.. (or until we take kids old enough to appreciate it) It is very quiet... and can sometimes seem like you are paying just to lay on a beach/by a swimming pool..

Its an experience, but one that unless you consider it a "must do", and have cash to spare.. then you probably wont miss it...

[JonnyEnglish]

Thanks pboniface

There are 4 of us - 2 adults and 2 kids (they will be 8 and 5 by then). Got me thinking now - is there an age restriction?

Thanks

[SEVANS2208]

I think you have to be 6 to do the dolphin swim. I would suggest you leave it for now and perhaps plan it in to your next Florida trip when you can all enjoy it.

[shoop]

Hi
Thanks - yes - seems it will be too much money and if our youngest is too young that decides it!
Thanks

Shoop
PS - I'm Shoop again now! I share a PC with somebody who also uses this site (and advised me to start using it) - but it gets soooo confusing when logging in!!

[stuartcollett]

We recently returned :cry: and did go to Discovery Cove while we were out there...

I'd make two (possibly obvious) recommendations:

1. Don't go unless all members of a party are old enough to do the Dolphin swim (and are capable of swimming in reasonably deep (12 feet) water.

2. Expect to happily hand over about £100 in photo's and videos. We had no intention of doing this but couldn't resist!

It was a real highlight of our holiday. Natasha (our Dolphin) was so sweet and my other half was almost in tears the whole time...

cheap at twice the price.


Stu :jump: :jump: :jump:

[chriswynne]

exactly the same happened to us i wasn't planning on buying video or photo cd but when we saw it how can resist , yes is is expensive at £100.00
:jump: :jump: :jump:

[anna68]

I would wait until they are all old enough and also if it is your first trip everything will be so amazing you won't need this extra special experience. It is true you can feed/touch the dolphins at seaworld.

[tikka2205]

We have booked for April 2006 for 7 swims with orlando-ticket-deals.co.uk and have paid £141 each for a day swim at DC and 14days pass for seaworld and busch gardens very good value i think

[Shogun]

The multi park deal makes it a reasonable price but photos (cd works out better value) & video will cost about £100 .
It was a lovely day. Most relaxing. Having a dolphin tow you back to shore is an amaising experience.

[2BoysMum&Dad]

Originally posted by stuartcollett
.......Don't go unless all members of a party are old enough to do the Dolphin swim (and are capable of swimming in reasonably deep (12 feet) water.........

Although I agree about being six or over (age for swimming with dolphins), I do not agree it's necessary to be a strong swimmer. My two boys aren't but wore life vests on top of the wet suits which turned them into corks! You cannot sink wearing the yellow life vests and enjoy the deep water as much as everyone else. We still kept within arms reach of the boys, but there was no way they were able to get under the water wearing these things!

<center>http://www.thedibb.co.uk/photopost/data/532/3022discovery_cove_9.JPG</center>

[Catherine]

Oh thanks for that, our kids are swimmers not strong ones, so i was a little concerned when i read that. We are soooooooooooo looking forward to our very first trip in oooohhh just 11 weeks tomorrow. We have aited until our little girl is 7 and the little lad is 9, cannot wait, its cost us not much change from £1000 for 6 of us with my mum and dad with Sea World Admission. I dont care how much it costs, just cannot wait.

[tricky]

Personally having spent the money a few years back - I would not do it again...It was an experience that I will not forget but you don't get enough time with the dolphin as you're out in a group of people (unless you have a larger family)

You can touch the dolphins at seaworld but it is NOT the same as actually being in the water with them getting towed along...

You need to consider that at Seaworld there are hundreds of people all trying to get a touch and hanging over the wall - yes you can buy fish and try get them to you which happily works - Being a cheap skate (no pun intended!) I always stand near someone who has fish and lots of it and manage to get a touch (of the dolphin) and great photos - without people in it.

I was also not the best of swimmers but the trainer/host at Disc Cove are able to tread water whilst you hold there shoulder which gave you a little more confidence when in the deeper (experience) water

[JeffUsher]

Just got back from Discovery Cove as well and I have to say ........ I was a tad dissapointed with the dolphin swim.

It may be the fact that we built it up so much that the actual event could not match that expectation.

It may have been that as soon as we got into the water, the heavens opened ( and I mean opened ) and we could just about see ourselves, let alone the dolphin through the rain, which lasted exactly the length of the swim.

It may have been that the water in the dolphin lagoon was about minus 5 and my daughter ( and several other small children ) had to get out after about 10 minutes for fear of getting hypothermia.

All these things made the swim a bit of a non-event.

That said though, the rest of the day in the park was superb and very relaxing. My daughter especially loved the Aviary and spent a couple of hours enticing all the birds to feed from her hands....

Jeff

[nat25go]

hi, we've done discovery cove 3 times - the 3rd being a freebie (with no dolphin swim). we were there xmas day 04 and due to the terrible weather had to stay in the heated water pool in wetsuits til our swim time. after that showered, changed and on leaving the park we were asked to do a questionnaire - i thought "i just want to get back to hotel" - well doing this resulted in us getting back into dc on another day of our choice for free so that we could enjoy the park and do other things as we weren't able to do on this visit.
kids can swim with dolphins from the age of 6yrs and it is the same price as adults.
we have thoroughly enjoyed our visits to dc and wouldn't have missed it but have decided not to go back this year due to the expense and the fact that you only get to "swim with the dolphin" for about 10seconds when it pulls you back into shore. you go into the water in a group of 8 and interact, in turn, with the dolphin, then you are taken out to deep water (12ft) with one of the trainers and pulled back into shore by the dolphin. in total your time in the water doing this will be about 40mins.
it is a lot of money and i think a bit of a rip-off - but everyone keeps paying the money just for that once of a lifetime experience. you can also swim in a pool of stingrays and other fish (not deep) and there is another pool (12ft at deepest part) where you can swim, snorkel with all kinds of fish. life jackets, towels, snorkelling gear etc is all provided free of charge (well, paid for in the total price).
i hope this is of some help. the decision you make depends on your circumstances and if you want to part with this amount of money for half a day at a park. this year, with not going to dc, we are staying on-site at port orleans riverside for our 4th week.
nat25go
:D

[JudyC]

I have to agree with Jeff about the dolphin swim, if you are expecting a fair bit of swimming with the dolphins you will be disappointed. I think the problem is the advertising for DC focuses on this as the main event. Personally we enjoyed the snorkelling, the aviary and lunch of course just as much if not more than the dolphin swim. Because of this next time I would be perfectly happy not to do the dolphin swim, but with everything else including the Seaworld/Busch Gardens passes I feel it is o.k. value. Not great but not a rip off.

[loopydiamond]

we have just booked for the Dolphin in Depth at Epcot for October 3rd....it cost $150 (about £80) each, its a 3 hour interaction with the dolphins, there are 6 of you in the group and with that you get a T. shirt, a photo and a video of your experience... I thought that was very reasonable..and I cant wait!! :jump:

[nat25go]

loopydiamond - that's a great deal and very cheap in comparison to dc. do you know what the 3hr interaction with the dolphins actually means/includes?
nat25go:D