Thoughts/reviews of Discovery Cove

[DarthVader]

So back in the day, my wife (before she was my wife) went to Discovery cove with her (then) teenage son. She and he loved it, fast forward to what feels like a 100 hundred years and now we have two teenage girls. With out Sept/Oct trip, she again mentioned Discovery Cove.

Any thoughts on this? Being close to 200 dollars a person, this is going to run close to a 1,000 (800+incedentals/tips/etc).

Options on trying to find deals?

 

[Lilofan]

So back in the day, my wife (before she was my wife) went to Discovery cove with her (then) teenage son. She and he loved it, fast forward to what feels like a 100 hundred years and now we have two teenage girls. With out Sept/Oct trip, she again mentioned Discovery Cove.

Any thoughts on this? Being close to 200 dollars a person, this is going to run close to a 1,000 (800+incedentals/tips/etc).

Options on trying to find deals?

Befriend a staff member at Discovery Cove, let him/her get you in using their staff discount, take care of the one who helped you and your family get in.

 

[DarthVader]

Befriend a staff member at Discovery Cove, let him/her get you in using their staff discount, take care of the one who helped you and your family get in.

I'm not sure if that's really feasible - I mean like so many other things, I need to pre-purchase tickets before I arrive and I'm not sure I'm willing to use people in that way, i.e., "make friends" just to get a discount ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for your opinion though, I just don't think I can make it work

 

[epcotisbest]

So back in the day, my wife (before she was my wife) went to Discovery cove with her (then) teenage son. She and he loved it, fast forward to what feels like a 100 hundred years and now we have two teenage girls. With out Sept/Oct trip, she again mentioned Discovery Cove.

Any thoughts on this? Being close to 200 dollars a person, this is going to run close to a 1,000 (800+incedentals/tips/etc).

Options on trying to find deals?

Discovery Cove is one of the best days we have ever had in Orlando. It is fantastic.
If you do the resort day package without the dolphin swim, prices in Sept., 2020 are $149. This includes everything but the dolphin swim. In reality, the dolphin swim, to us is not worth the extra cost, only lasts about 30 minutes, and the swim part is you getting towed a few yards while holding on for only a few seconds. Again, not worth it to us, when for less money you can enjoy everything else and get in a full, fun day.
As for incidentals, meals, snacks and drinks are included all day, the food is decent, the snacks plentiful and you can skip souvenirs. Suddenly your cost is less than $600 instead of closer to $1000. Worth every penny. Get there early, enjoy breakfast, lunch and an early dinner and eat plenty of snacks and you won't have any food costs for that entire day.
Hope you like it as much as we do.

 

[Jon81uk]

We did it without the Dolphin Swim (had no interest in that at all) and it was a great day.
Its definly worth it if you plan to visit SeaWorld as well to spread the cost.

These prices are from when we booked three years ago but might explain my thought process.
SeaWorld three park ticket (SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa and Aquatica) was £99
Discovery Cove including the other three parks as well was £139.
Given we were planning to go to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens on our trip anyway, it seemed like a no-brainer to add Discovery Cove for £40 considering it included all food and drink during the day at Discovery Cove.

We had a great time feeding the birds and swimming with rays and fish.
Only minor down was the 3pm rainstorm closing everything.
The food was good but not amazing, but the availability of snacks and drinks was fantastic.

 

[epcotisbest]

We did it without the Dolphin Swim (had no interest in that at all) and it was a great day.
Its definly worth it if you plan to visit SeaWorld as well to spread the cost.

These prices are from when we booked three years ago but might explain my thought process.
SeaWorld three park ticket (SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa and Aquatica) was £99
Discovery Cove including the other three parks as well was £139.
Given we were planning to go to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens on our trip anyway, it seemed like a no-brainer to add Discovery Cove for £40 considering it included all food and drink during the day at Discovery Cove.

We had a great time feeding the birds and swimming with rays and fish.
Only minor down was the 3pm rainstorm closing everything.
The food was good but not amazing, but the availability of snacks and drinks was fantastic.

Yeah, we have talked to friends who have done DC multiple times and always do the dolphin swim and can't believe we go without doing it. There is so much more to it than just the dolphin swim. We are planning to go back again, and honestly don't think we would do the swim even if it was no extra charge as it takes away time from all the other stuff.

 

[england1]

Hi we will be there in July and will do a not swim day, as said above if you work out the cost of
Discover Cove inc all food and drink
14 Day Seaworld pass
Bush Gardens day inc transport
it works out a three fairly cheap days out
Martin

 

[MyAdventureBook]

So back in the day, my wife (before she was my wife) went to Discovery cove with her (then) teenage son. She and he loved it, fast forward to what feels like a 100 hundred years and now we have two teenage girls. With out Sept/Oct trip, she again mentioned Discovery Cove.

Any thoughts on this? Being close to 200 dollars a person, this is going to run close to a 1,000 (800+incedentals/tips/etc).

Options on trying to find deals?

Did you decide to do it? I know I am a little late to the party, but we did Discovery Cove last September (my husband, my 7 year old daughter, my 13 year old daughter, and I) and it was amazing. A huge hit with everyone, including my very-hard-to-please husband. It was clean, beautifully landscaped, and relaxing. The food and drinks were good. It is not a bad deal at all when you couple it with SeaWorld admission.

My husband did not pay for the dolphin swim, but the girls and I did. It is an option to have only a few in the group do it (but check into ages for the kids- might have to be an adult with them). For us, it was just a unique life experience.

We highly recommend it.

 

[DarthVader]

Did you decide to do it? I

We're moving to cancel our summer vacation. We booked the resort, bought the airline tickets, but not the tickets to Discovery cove. At this point, I have serious doubts about traveling thanks to coronavirus. I'm not even sure Discovery Cove will be open in July, but either way we'll have to take a pass on this in 2020.

 

[MyAdventureBook]

We're moving to cancel our summer vacation. We booked the resort, bought the airline tickets, but not the tickets to Discovery cove. At this point, I have serious doubts about traveling thanks to coronavirus. I'm not even sure Discovery Cove will be open in July, but either way we'll have to take a pass on this in 2020.

Oh, I am sorry. What a bummer.

Well, I hope you will consider it next year- if the parks make it through this. It is a great experience.