Don't encourage them! (Discovery Cove ( Florida))

Member Name: uryjm

Product:	Discovery Cove ( Florida)
Date:	10/11/02 (2688 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice resort, Quiet-ish, Friendly staff

Disadvantages: Price, Extras rip off, Closes early 5pm

This resort is part of Seaworld, and although it is near (basically across the road) from this park, it is separate and distinct from the main tourist battleground. It was designed specifically that way, to be "Exclusive". They only allow 1000 visitors a day in, and you?ll have to book quite far in advance to reserve your place.
So why might you want to go? The main attraction is swimming with the dolphins, which is why we decided to take the plunge. The brochures promised a once in a lifetime experience and, if they keep the costs where they are, they might well be right. It cost us one hundred and fifty pounds a head for our day, a full day lasting from nine in the morning until five thirty when the park closes. For that not inconsiderable sum, you have full access to the Cove's facilities, a rather nice lunch, snorkelling amongst man-made corals with tropical fish and a swim with said dolphin. For a family of four in August 2002, therefore, the cost was six hundred pounds for the day. Was it worth it?
No. It's an absolute rip off. Let's start with that "once in a lifetime experience". The brochure kind of hinted this would be half an hour with just you, the family, the trainer and the dolphin, so it was a bit of a letdown to discover we'd actually be in a group with three families all sharing our half hour. Resultantly, your one-on-one time and "swim" with the dolphin lasts approximately 3.6 seconds. For your swim, your grab the poor dolphin's fins and it drags you through the water for, oh, all of fifteen feet. Then it's the next person's turn. The rest of the time, therefore, you're watching other people's "once in a lifetime experience", or trying as a group to get the dolphin to do tricks for fish. You also each individually get to stroke the dolphin, kiss it (photo opportunity) and ask questions of the trainer. And that folks, is about it. It seems to be over before you can
say "Flipper" or "One hundred and fifty pounds, please".
While you're having your group swim, there's a photographer and a guy taking a video of the event. I kind of thought you'd receive some photos and a video of the event as part of the package, but I'd forgotten that these parks exist only to part you from your cash. The photo's, I have to say, were terrific and fifteen dollars each. As was the photo key-ring. The video was sixty dollars. A CD, with all the photos allowing you to print your own, was ninety dollars. My son wanted all of them, and I was gutted that I just couldn?t afford everything he asked for. As it was I had to fork out another hundred dollars for the video and two pictures, and still managed to feel like the most tight-fisted and mean-spirited father in Florida.
I'm afraid, therefore, that I just couldn?t recommend this park to anyone. Yes, the Cove is lovely, if a bit manufactured. It?s not "exclusive" though, and seemed pretty busy to me. Lunch was nice enough, but food is not something you go short of in America. Snorkelling with tropical fish? Exciting for about five minutes. Both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon are vastly better parks. Okay, you can?t swim with dolphins there, but in my opinion Discovery Cove hardly allows you to do that either.

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