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Discovery Cove Report

Dublin, Ireland
Level Contributor
1,256 posts
2 reviews
3 helpful votes
Discovery Cove Report
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We arrived at DC around 7.45 this morning.

There's four of us. My parents, me and my boyfriend. Two swimmers and two non-swims.

We got out photos taken for our I.D lanyards and given a time for our swim (8.40)

We headed down into the park and to the restaurant for breakfast.

Breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks were all you can eat all day. After breakfast we went to get our vests.. We were given a choice between wetsuits and vests and we all chose vests as a member of staff told us if we wore wetsuits and wanted to go to the toilet we'd have to give ourselves half an hour to do so.

Then we were taken to our personal cabana (extra charge) sucluded from the remainder of the park.

We then headed to Starfish Lagoon, where we had to sign a weaver and watch a video before going to swim with dolphins.

We were taken into 4 groups into the pool. There were 9 in our group.. A family of 4, a family of 3, me and my boyfriend. The water was SO cold, but the experience was well worth it.

The dolphin with our group was DCs oldest, Cindy. She's in her 40s. Her friend Jenny was in the group next to us. We were interacting with Cindy, when Jenny left her group, and convinced Cindy to swim off with her. We then switched for a young dolphin named Maria (pronounced in a very odd way)

The experience was amazing, but the swim itself was disapointing. It only lasted about 5 or 7 seconds.

The trainer in our group explained that dolphins flukes (tails) and fins, all have unique patterns, which is the same as us having fingerprints..

At the end, they switched Maria with another dolphin named Lester. He was huge and so pretty :). The trainer sent Lester off to "get a toy to play with" and I was chosen out of the group to retrieve to toy off him when he came back. He came back with a buoy with writing on it. It said 'Happy 21st Birthday Aisling. Love Mam & Dad' :)

I got to keep the bouy and when I got out of the water I was also given a goody bag. It had a tshirt, a frame, a water camera and a voucher for a free video and photo in it.

The bag itself in the shop cost $23, the tshirt $19, the frame $25, the photo $20, the DVD $75 and i dunno what the camera was worth.

We headed back to cabana for awhile and then went to the Aviary where the birds were eating out of our hands and then to the tropical river.. It was so relaxing!!

The stingray lagoon was also cold.. I didn't go far into it, because there was a drop in the ground, and stuff like that makes me nervous, but there was a shallow one right next to that so I did that instead.. Also cold!!

We had a 'Cabana Host'.. She came into our cabana every so often to check on us every so often and bring us whatever we wanted.

We also had a problem squrrial.. He kept sneaking down from a tree into a cabana and at one point stole our cookies.

My mam got me a gorgeous necklace in the shop there. They had them in the shape of each of the dolphins unique fluke shapes, with there names on it. The idea is you get the dolphin who you swam with, which was a bit of a problem consider our dolphin ran away with the other one and we ended up with a few different ones. Lol... I got Lester, because he was my favourite :).. Gingy wasn't too happy that i'm wearing another guys name around my neck lol

Each of the necklaces came with a leaflet with information on that particular dolphin. Unfourtunately, they were out of leaflets for Lester, but I got one for Cindy, and they offered to send me one for Lester when they get them back in.

I wouldn't recommend the DVD, as it is worth more like $10 than $75, but other than that, everything was perfect, and if I'm ever lucky enough to come back to Orlando, Discovery Cove with be top of my 'to do list'

Motherwell, United...
Level Contributor
344 posts
11 reviews
27 helpful votes
1. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Hi,

We are booked to go 11th July and are really looking forward to it.

Few questions:-

Would you not recommend the DVD?

How much extra was the cabana?

Do you need pool shoes?

Zip.

Newcastle, United...
Level Contributor
443 posts
9 reviews
6 helpful votes
2. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Hi Aisling

Great report. We have booked a day at DC in September as a gift for our daughter who will be 27 on the day of the visit. Any idea how they set up the "toy" presentation - it sounds a cool thing to organise.

Denver, Colorado
Level Contributor
476 posts
3. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Love pool shoes. They have them at walmart.and target I would get some because the cement gets hot. They protect your feet. Plus I am sure while in Florida you will find many reasons to go to the pool.

Glasgow, United...
Level Contributor
2,494 posts
86 reviews
96 helpful votes
4. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Glad you enjoyed it, the 21st birthday surprise was a lovely touch.

I loved the chocolate cake...

I didn't do the swim but managed to get great photos of DD & DH doing theirs. We bought the video the year before and yip I agree so much of it is like an advertising feature and not much of us... but a brilliant day.

We didn't get the cabana either ..how lucky you are.

We bought pool shoes from sport soccer for £5.99 before we left.... yes you do need them,

Enjoy the rest of your holiday Aisling.

Edited: 13 years ago
Denver, Colorado
Level Contributor
476 posts
5. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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That will teach Gingy not to hug stranges.

That was so sweet of your parents to surprise you like that. I am sure you will remember that day forever.

I am so glad you had such a wonderful time.

Did you feed the sting ray? They feel slimmy and I am not sure I would want them swimming around my legs.

Was the DVD of you and the dolphins or just dolphins in general?

Whe you get home you will have to look up all your posts, print them out so you can remember this vaction. I hope you are taking lots of pictures.

Thank you for the update.

Be nice to Gingy.

Southampton, United...
Level Contributor
3,714 posts
69 reviews
98 helpful votes
6. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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It sounds like you had a fab day, cant wait til we go back, but im not doing the swim as my self and hubby have done it before.

I agree about the DVD its very bad quality and def not worth the money, it has a dodgy background music track and also not very good quality footage.

Muelheim an der...
Level Contributor
4,099 posts
8 reviews
7. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Glad you had a wonderful day...

Also glad, that you realized, although the actual SWIM with the dolphin was only a few seconds, that it can´t be done in a different way... There is no chance to let people enjoy the swim with them as long as they like...

The DVD:

Well, hm....

I agree!

It is not the best quality! It is dodgy and the music is a little annoying... (a few years ago they did it with the original voices and it was a little better)

BUT...

If you go there and you enjoy the best day of your life (as many), will you be happy at home NOT to have it??

I watched BOTH of my DVD only 3 times each... (but I HAVE them :-))

I guess this is a tough one...

The buoy thing is pretty neat and you can either make that for Birthdays, Annyversaries or proposals...

It is a programm and you can ask at Discovery Cove Homepage about it...

There are at least 3 different programms!

nottingham, england
Level Contributor
936 posts
33 reviews
43 helpful votes
8. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Ahh..lovely report!!!...Glad to hear Lester is still going strong!!..We swam with him about 4 years ago... Last year we had Rosie...

I just Love DC and your report has brought back lovely memories...we werent planning on going to DC this year...but now im thinking we might!!!

Newcastle upon...
Level Contributor
2,452 posts
20 reviews
8 helpful votes
9. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Hi glad you enjoyed it - sounds like you had a fab time. The buoy from your parents was lovely too - something your Mum managed to keep quiet from you!! Sounds like a wonderful day

Lou73

Newcastle, United...
Level Contributor
443 posts
9 reviews
6 helpful votes
10. Re: Discovery Cove Report
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Thanks again for your wonderful report - I was not aware of the bouy option and went straight to the DC website after reading how much you enjoyed it. I have now booked one of the packages for my family and I in September.......YIPEEEEE!!!!!

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