Discovery Cove: A Review
Discovery Cove is an all-inclusive day resort located in Orlando, Florida. It is the perfect place to relax – whether for a quick getaway or perhaps to recharge during a fun, theme park-filled vacation. Discovery Cove transports you to an island destination. The number of visitors is capped quite low so it never feels overly crowded. It also offers several animal experiences, such as swimming with dolphins. I have been wanting to experience a visit at this magical place ever since I heard about it a few years ago. I finally had the opportunity to visit with my family in September. Here is my review of this wondrous place!
Arrival and Check In
Parking at Discovery Cove is included with your admission. Since we had a rental car during our vacation, we drove over to Discovery Cove. Operating hours are 8 AM to 5 PM. You can check in beginning at 7:15 AM. We were running a little behind schedule on this morning, so we ended up arriving at Discovery Cove around 8 AM.
Once we arrived and parked our car, we made our way to the check-in area. Our IDs (for those who were 21 years old and over) were also checked since alcohol is included when visiting Discovery Cove. We were also given lanyards that had a map of the resort and a schedule for the day. Since we only booked the Dolphin Swim, our schedule was easy to put together! These get more complicated when guests book more than one animal encounter.
Our schedule was printed on a card that was attached to the lanyard. Since there are several pods of dolphins located in 3 different areas, everyone is assigned a specific area in the Dolphin Lagoon as well as a Dolphin Pod. Your Dolphin Swim time is assigned based on when you arrive at Discovery Cove. My family was assigned Seahorse, Pod 7A. Our swim time was 1:15 PM which meant that we had plenty of time to relax before swimming with the dolphins!
Dining at Discovery Cove
After we checked in, we were able to enter the day resort. We made our way to Laguna Grill for our breakfast. There was plenty of food options to keep even the pickiest of eaters happy. Even I – who doesn’t really like breakfast food – was satisfied and kept full by ordering chicken and waffles without the waffles!
Lunch is also included with your visit. And it was just as good as breakfast! It is also served at Laguna Grill.
There are also various bars found around the resort that serve drinks as well as snacks throughout the day.
Picking Up Gear and Finding Our Day Bed
After breakfast, we picked up our wetsuits and snorkeling gear. This was a super easy process and didn’t take long at all. Before we knew it, we were on our way to find the day bed that we rented!
There are free lounge chairs found all around the resort, however, these are not covered. Since I burn rather easily, I decided to reserve a day bed. These are 2 padded lounge chairs with a table between them. They are also shaded which made for the perfect place to rest when I felt that I was getting a bit too much sun!
Day beds are in each of the 3 areas of the Dolphin Lagoon. Our day bed was in the Seahorse section which is also where we needed to report for our dolphin swim later that day. It was so enjoyable to be able to watch the dolphins while relaxing on the day bed!
Activities Before Our Dolphin Swim
Before enjoying all the activities that Discovery Cove offered, we locked all our valuables in a locker. The lockers are complimentary during your visit. Now we were ready to explore!
Discovery Cove has a bird aviary that was I just dying to explore. My cousin and I left my husband and kids to go spend time with the birdies. It was so much fun! We were given cups of food that we could hold out. The birds would land somewhere close and eat the food in the cups. This was a fun, but messy experience!
After spending some time in Explorer’s Aviary, we met back up with my husband and kids. They were enjoying Serenity Bay. We also all had fun exploring Wind-Away River. I’m going to call this a lazy river, but it was very fast in parts! There are also sections that were very deep. Wind-Away River goes through Explorer’s Aviary. There is a water fall when entering and exiting this section. It’s not one of those refreshing and relaxing waterfalls either. It was more like a powerful, gushing waterfall so make sure you are mentally prepared for that if you don’t like going underwater! There are plenty of areas to get out and join Wind-Away River if you want to avoid the waterfalls all together.
Dolphin Swim
Before we knew it, our time for the Dolphin Swim was here! We loved everything about Discovery Cove, but this was the highlight. After watching a safety video and being briefed by the trainers, we were all broken into groups and assigned specific trainers and dolphins. Our dolphin was Clipper and she was amazing!
Our trainer led us to the area of the lagoon where we would be entering the water. One thing that I was not expecting was how cold that water was. It took a little time to get used to it but it was so worth it!
There was always actually a group of trainers with us in the water. They were always there which was very reassuring. They directed us to stand in a line and had Clipper swim by us so we could feel her. We all had the opportunity to take pictures with her and she even gave us all a kiss! Before we knew it, it was time to swim with Clipper which was such a fun experience.
The Rest of the Day at Discovery Cove
After swimming with Clipper, we were tired! It had been such a long day. The kids wanted to enjoy the “lazy” river one last time so my husband took them to do that. I decided to relax in my day bed until they were done. Once they came back, we all showered and got dressed in the bathroom. I am normally not one to rave about bathrooms, but it was gorgeous and set up like a spa! I loved that there was a separate enclosed changing area in front of each shower. It made rinsing off and getting dressed to leave a breeze!
Our visit to Discovery Cove was in the middle of our Walt Disney World Resort vacation. It was great to have a day to rest our legs and recharge in the middle of our theme park visits. All of us loved our experience at Discovery Cove. It has been added to our “must-do” list for every Orlando vacation and we look forward to spending time here again in the future!
Would you like to swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove? Royal Treatment Travel can help you with that! Reach out to your Travel Advisor or fill out the quote request form below to get started.
