Trip Report for Discovery Cove
Trip report March 16, 2001
I flew out to Orlando last week to experience the new theme park, DISCOVERY COVE. Discovery Cove is owned by Seaworld and opened last July. This park is unique in many ways, but the most unique thing about it is the opportunity to swim with a dolphin. I have had a dream all my life to swim with a dolphin but the opportunity did not present itself until this theme park opened in Orlando. My 30 min. swim with Dixie the dolphin was the fastest 30 minutes of my life J
Discovery Cove only allows 1000 people in per day so the park is never crowded. There are no rides here. Instead, it has the feel of a private tropical island. Currently the price for admission if you are NOT swimming with a dolphin is $89 per person and $199 if you are swimming with a dolphin. This may seem at first glance high BUT it includes free admission at Seaworld over a 7-day period. It also includes: all the beach towels you want to use at the park, swim vests, float jackets, snorkel gear, wet suits, use of the park’s own brand of sunscreen and a full gourmet lunch with non-alcoholic drink. You CANNOT use your own sunscreen. The Discovery cove sunscreen is formulated not to injure the sea life in the park. You must make reservations for this park, as it tends to be full everyday. I made my reservations for my March dolphin swim back in January. The sooner you can make reservations the less likely you are to be told the day you want is sold out. To swim with a dolphin you must be at least 6 yrs. of age.
I went with my girlfriend, Liz, last week to Discovery Cove. We got there at 9 am when they currently open so as to not miss one exciting minute. When you go in the main building at the entrance you are greeted and asked your name. You are then directed to a cubicle where you get an ID card on a cord that you wear around your neck all day -- this identifies you as a guest. They take your picture, so that appears on the card as well as your assigned time to swim with a dolphin if you are doing that. You also show this card at Seaworld as I did a few days later for admission. I set up my credit card on this ID card so that while I was in the park I did not have to keep my credit card on me. When I wanted to purchase anything in the park I just gave them my ID card to swipe. Everyone is assigned a locker in the park so you can keep credit cards there safe and sound instead of on you. What a great idea!
When you enter the park proper a member of the staff takes your picture (that is free and a memento of your visit to Discovery Cove). Liz and I were given a 12:20 p.m. swim time with a dolphin. The first thing we did after entering the park was go to the swim gear supply hut for our snorkel gear, float vests, and wet suits. Once we were set up with gear we wandered over to the "resort pool" to find lounge chairs. After we chose chairs we went over and picked out a locker where we put all our non-essential stuff. Liz kept the key on a cord around her neck. A Discovery Cove employee assigned to the locker area gave us our swim vests. All guests are required to wear a swim vest in the water. Even if you do swim, these provide a little buoyancy in case of a problem.
Our lounges were next to the resort lagoon so we ventured in there first. This is a huge resort lagoon outlined and filled with boulders, dips of the lagoon floor, grottos and waterfall so that it looks just like a huge lake instead of a swimming lagoon. One really nice thing here is that it is heated so on cool days it would feel great. Liz and I played around in here for a while then decided to go over to the coral reef lagoon where we could swim with all the tropical fish and stingrays (barbs are removed) that we were told about when we went into the park. All I can say about snorkeling in the coral reef lagoon is WOW! It was soooooo cool snorkeling with those huge stingrays. Of course they did not get anywhere close enough to touch. In the coral reef lagoon they have some very deep areas that the stingrays can escape to so we could not get close enough to touch. There are lots of colorful freshwater tropical fish. Liz and I used up an entire underwater throwaway camera in that lagoon. After awhile we got out and dozed in our lounge chairs while we checked our watches every few minutes, eagerly anticipating our dolphin swim.
Around 11 a.m. I wandered over to the gift shop area. Big mistake, as I wanted everything in the gift shop! J I settled for a tropical dress for myself, a tropical shirt for my husband, and some other trinkets! I got the locker key from Liz and put my purchases there for safekeeping. I do want to say, at no time did I feel like it was unsafe to leave stuff on our lounge chairs while we wandered away to take pictures etc. Discovery Cove is a very family oriented swim park. I did not see anyone the day we were there in inappropriate swimwear.
Finally it was 12:10 p.m. By this time we had our wet suits on and made our way over to the "Starfish" Cabana to meet with the other guests assigned this swim time and meet the trainers. First, the trainer showed us a brief 5 minute video on dolphins, then she explained a little about them and answered various questions. For those who can’t swim it is perfectly OK to wear your float vest out in the dolphin lagoon.
Liz and I were assigned to group "A" and were led down to one of the dolphin coves. Each group is assigned a professional photographer who takes lots of pictures of them with the dolphin. These people are not stupid and know everyone wants good pictures of their swim. You are not allowed to take your camera in the water. But, friends at the park with you can of course stay on the beach and take pictures. Each group is assigned two trainers in the water. Our trainers were both named Dan and both really cute (not a requirement but a nice plus nonetheless).J First, you go out to where a concrete ledge is and hunker down ‘till the water is up to your neck, with one foot on the ledge. This is so the dolphin can come up to you at eye level, so to speak. There were 6 people in our group. The dolphin that was assigned to our group was Dixie, who is 5 years old and is 9 feet long with a slender body build. I can’t remember her weight, but no female wants her weight known anyway. Dixie came up to the group and situated herself so we could all pet and stroke her. She felt like wet rubber! Dixie loved all the attention. The trainers give the dolphins signals as to what they want them to do, and are rewarded with fish. The trainers had Dixie do several things with the group as a whole then took us out individually into the deeper water. As Liz and I were together one of the Dan’s went out into the water and called us to swim out to him, which we did. Once there he had me put my right hand on his shoulder so he could support me and I would not have to keep treading water. Although I did not need a float vest the wet suit does provide buoyancy. Liz was told to put her right hand on my shoulder, so basically the trainer supported both of us. When Dixie came over, Dan had her do several tricks with us. But the highlight of the swim for me was when Dan told me to put me hands on the fins on either side of Dixie and she would swim towing me to shore. That swim from the deep water back to the shallow water with Dixie towing me was so very exciting and special to me that I will never, ever forget it and always remember what I was doing at 12:20 pm on March 16, 2001. I don’t think Dixie or I could have grinned any bigger smiles than we did. As you can see from looking at the picture we were both having the time of our lives. Dixie is obviously a big ham for the camera!
After everyone in our group had their time in the deep water with Dixie, we all got to do one last thing with her in the shallow water and that was to kiss her good bye. As it happened, on my shot at the kiss the camera ran out of film so I got to kiss Dixie twice.J
Dolphins are so very intelligent and sweet. Dixie just chattered at me and looked me in the eye like she thought I could understand her and answer back in her language. After being with a dolphin up close and personal I sure do appreciate how lucky we humans are to have them and how very, very important it is to protect and preserve them in the wild.
After our swim we were led back to the cabana where we could look at the pictures already downloaded to a computer. Man, what an easy sell as I loved all my pictures with Dixie. As you can see from looking at them, how great they turned out! Each 5x7 is $15. You can buy packages too as well as your picture in a snow globe or key chain. But I just wanted the 5x7 pictures.
After picking out our pictures (we were told they would be ready in about 30 minutes) Liz and I decided to go to have lunch (included in the admission price). I had a huge fajita salad in a tortilla bowl and Liz decided on stir-fry. We of course both got desserts (me chocolate cake YUM and Liz carrot cake).
After lunch we decided to float on the winding river that circumnavigated the water park. At one point you go under a waterfall, then you are in an aviary with lots of tropical birds and some small animals. When we got out of the river to go see all the birds the park attendant had small bowls of food that you could feed the birds. We really enjoyed that. You continue floating the river and go though another waterfall. The waterfalls are what keep the birds and animals in the aviary. There is netting above to keep them inside too.
After our leisurely river float we picked up our pictures and oohed and aahed over them for several minutes. Liz wanted to go float on the coral reef lagoon again and I wanted to go take some more pictures so we parted ways for a while. After taking pictures I got myself a tropical drink and relaxed in my lounge chair. At Discovery Cove there are lifeguards everywhere so you certainly feel very safe in the water and if something were to go wrong help is very close.
Even the bathrooms were wonderful. Each one has a little room in front with a curtain you pull across to change out of your swim suit before you get in the shower, if you want. They even have shampoo and hair conditioner in the shower as well as lots of towels and washcloths. In the outer room are blow dryers and plastic bags for wet clothes.
I give this park a fantastic rating. They could not have designed a more fun or relaxing park and everyone was very knowledgeable and helpful. I can’t think of a single thing they could do to improve it. Well, maybe one thing -- let us swim with the dolphins longer! J
If you have any questions about Discovery Cove or need help in booking a package there, do not hesitate to let me know.
