For those of you, and there are many, that rank Sea World as your favourite park there is a sister park right across the street that lot’s of people still don’t know about.
Discovery Cove is an amazing day of activity where guests can interact with a variety of marine animals, most notably bottlenose dolphins.
If the idea of swimming with dolphins appeals then it is harder to find a better place to do it than this.
Some people may be put off by the price but when you weigh up the fact that the cost of the day includes rental of all equipment (wetsuits, swim vests, snorkel, mask, sun cream) and all of your food and drink for the day (including bottled beers) you suddenly realise that Discovery Cove is actually one of the better value parks.
The dolphin swim itself lasts approximately 45 mins and consists of you being put into small groups with a trainer. You are then led into the pool and a dolphin will swim out to meet you. The trainer will call you up one by one to meet and interact with the dolphin whilst a photographer and videographer captures the whole exprerience on film.
After some tricks and some strokes you get to go out and experience about a 50 yd swim holding on to the Dolphin.
Some people have said “Is that it?”, but trust me it’s a magical experience. What do you exepect? A pool and a dolphin of your own?
The Dolphin swim is just a small part of your day. The lazy river is amongst the warmest I’ve ever been in there are various stages you can get out to experience other wonderful attractions such as the bird houses.
These open aviaries provide food so that you can tempt the birds to come down and land on you. An absolute must for the kids and a wonderful opportunity for some amazing pics.
There is a also a pool stocked with lots of smaller rays, when I say smaller they probably range up to a couple of feet across. You can stroke them as they brush past you and it’s quite amazing to see these creatures gliding past you, but not quite as amazing as the large reef.
The reef has Rays which I can only guess are about 6feet or more in size. It’s amazing to be snorkelling along surrounded by some incredible fish and then see a 6 foot ray glide past you. If you explore over by the shipwreck there’s also some other surprises. You can be swimming along and suddenly glimpse a shark less than a couple of feet away. The initial shock is eased when you realise there is a sheet of glass between yourself and the shark and barracuda tanks, but just swimming along at first you barely know the glass is there.
The food menu is impressive and they give great portions too. They are also very good at catering for allergies. Just ask to speak to the chef and he will cook something up for you.
Of course the usual premium prices for buying the videos and photo’s etc apply, as in all parks but this once we thought it was well worth buying to savour the memories of a truly incredible day.
Most people say that Disney, Universal and Seaworld are the must do parks for the Orlando area, I say Yes that’s true but there is another to add to the list Discovery Cove is the park that you will keep talking about as an amazing day.
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