[mossyflossy]

To answer your questions:

1.You only need one ticket with parking for parking one car.

2. I'd always recommend that you book direct. It's much easier to agree a date change in advance by dealing direct, and in our experience Discovery Cove will prioritise the direct bookings when the weather affects your visit when you are already there. On the day when we were there it closed at around 2pm because of thunderstorms in the area, with no prospect of reopening. There were separate lines for direct bookings. We were prioritsied for a rescheduled dolphin swim on another day or we were offered a full refund for our day even when we had already been there for six hours enjoying the facilities etc: really excellent customer service IMO.