Trip Report Discovery Cove, SeaWorld and other stuff.

So we went to Orlando in September and while there we purchased SeaWorld annual passes. It was one of our mostly relaxation type trips. My wife had some vacation time left she needed to use or lose so we went back in October.
SeaWorld annual pass holders get a significant discount to Discovery Cove and since it is something we have talked about doing for a long time we decided to go ahead and spend a day there.
It was fantastic...better than we imagined. I hope this mostly non-Disney trip report is OK here and trust the mods will remove it if not.
So we went the week of Oct. 15-22 and the weather was fantastic. We stayed at a place called Marriott Grande Vista off of International Drive near SeaWorld. It is a beautiful property and we enjoyed it a lot. We went to SeaWorld several times, went to Discovery Cove and went over to WDW and went resort hopping too.
I will start out with Discovery Cove, the highlight of the trip. Here is the lobby:

 

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Another quiet pool view, one of several hot tubs onsite and the view beyond the hot tub:

 

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This is one of the main pools where we did the aqua aerobics group classes almost every morning:

 

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The place had several lakes or ponds and lovely landscaping:

 

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Another one of the bigger pools:

 

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Here is one of several grilling areas:

 

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A quiet, shady spot by the lake:

 

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One of the other quiet pools:

 

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Reminded me of the old Sammy Hagar song, but somehow, "I can't drive six" just does not have the same ring to it.

 

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Next up I will post some SeaWorld pics, probably tomorrow.

 

[Figgy1]

One of the other quiet pools:

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Lovely choice of places to stay! That's why we don't mind staying off site, room and amenities and a much better price

 

[MinnieM123]

Wow. Your hotel and the surrounding grounds were very nice. Your accommodations were spacious, to say the very least! And I was intrigued by the separate "grilling" area! (They'd never do that at a Disney property.) Since you're the master grill meister, this must have been a very special surprise!

 

[epcotisbest]

Lovely choice of places to stay! That's why we don't mind staying off site, room and amenities and a much better price

Yeah, you would fall out if I told you what we paid for this two-bedroom condo for an entire week. Let's just say it was less than we have paid for one night at some places.

 

[epcotisbest]

Wow. Your hotel and the surrounding grounds were very nice. Your accommodations were spacious, to say the very least! And I was intrigued by the separate "grilling" area! (They'd never do that at a Disney property.) Since you're the master grill meister, this must have been a very special surprise!

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. It is nice to read your consistently positive comments. And yes, the Marriott resorts usually have nice grilling areas. I guess they know cheapos like me enjoying cooking at the unit more than going out.

 

[epcotisbest]

Did not get around to posting the SeaWorld pics today, maybe tomorrow.

 

[docdebbi]

really enjoying your report. thanks!

 

[flynnibus]

Discovery cove is a must for anyone who has only been visiting Disney for their last few trips. It will remind you what a relaxing vacation is supposed to be like. Not crowded, great service, great product, and the urge to splurge on food

Don't do discovery cove by itself... Get your money's worth and do SW and aquatica too!

 

[epcotisbest]

really enjoying your report. thanks!

Thanks for reading. More to come.

 

[epcotisbest]

Discovery cove is a must for anyone who has only been visiting Disney for their last few trips. It will remind you what a relaxing vacation is supposed to be like. Not crowded, great service, great product, and the urge to splurge on food

Don't do discovery cove by itself... Get your money's worth and do SW and aquatica too!

Yes, if our Orlando trips of the last few years have had a theme, it would be relaxing vacation. So much better than the mad rushing we used to do to try and do as much as possible.

 

[epcotisbest]

So I finally got back to posting some SeaWorld pics.
We have annual passes and this trip we wound up going over to SeaWorld five out of the seven days we were in the Orlando area. With an annual pass, we like to just go over early in the morning and hang out a few hours then leave, or show up mid-afternoon and stay until closing. A few hours per day is fine for us when we are concentrating on spending time poolside.
On the weekends, SeaWorld has their halloween stuff and we are not much on halloween, but decided to walk through that area anyway and it turned out to be quite cute and we did have a nice time. They give out candy bags to everyone and I reluctantly took one along with my wife and decided to play along. We got lots of goodies.
I'll post some pics of the whimsical costumes and decorations.