The SATURDAY SIX spends a day at DISCOVERY COVE (and explains why YOU need to go!)

This week’s SATURDAY SIX checks off a major item on our theme park bucket list with a long awaited trip to Discovery Cove.

Once parked at Discovery Cove (parking is included with your ticket) you’ll head into the reception area to check in for your day. The waterways at Discovery Cove are open  9AM-5PM but you can check-in for the day starting at about 7:15AM. We arrived at about 7:25AM and it was relatively busy, but the staff was one of the most efficient I have ever seen at any theme park resort in getting families checked-in. Took no time at all to go through the queue.

I would personally recommend arriving to Discovery Cove early as possible, because all the upgrade packages (including Swim with Dolphins) are assigned times on a first come/first served basis. The later you arrive in the morning, the later in the day all your upgrades will take place.

It is important to note that you don’t  have to purchase *any* upgrades to have an unbelievable experience at Discovery Cove. However, we had purchased several different ones (including the Flamingo Mingle and Animal Trek) so I was targeting getting to the park between 7:15-7:30 to check-in.

Once checked in you are allowed into the park and are immediately ensconced in nature. Here’s an aerial look at the entirety of Discovery Cove that shows how every aspect of the park is woven within plant life. It is hands down the most beautiful park I’ve ever been in, and that’s a high bar when Central Florida alone has places like Animal Kingdom and Volcano Bay.

Discovery Cove – like the rest of Florida – was hit hard by the cold snap that the state experienced during the end of January and early February.

Almost everywhere you looked you could see the plants that were severely affected by the below freezing temperatures we had. Thankfully nature is resilient, and it’s just a matter of time before Discovery Cove plant life is back to 100%.

That said, for the most part walking through Discovery Cove is like walking through a lush tropical paradise that is filled with wonderful surprises.

 

Imagine my surprise when just walking around I had to step aside so that a parade of Flamingos could walk by me.

Just an incredible moment and one that I’ll never forget.

So what’s included at Discovery Cove? Glad you asked, because we’ll start with the…

# 6 – All Inclusive Food and Drink

All your food is included during your day at Discovery Cove. This includes breakfast, lunch, and unlimited snacks. The breakfast and lunch buffets are served at Laguna Grill.

There are very few times when the theme parks of today over deliver, but I was pleasantly surprised with the variety of offerings at the buffet, but also their quality. Breakfast had eggs, bacon, sausage, and breakfast potatoes.

We also had French toast sticks along with chicken and waffles. What was striking is that I had just had chicken and waffles at a Universal Orlando park the day before, but the version at Discovery Cove was MUCH better.

 

The buffet has a large selection of items for their Continental Breakfast options.

Including “mom’s choice” parfaits and fresh fruit.

Breakfast is served from Park Open until 10:30AM. Laguna Grill then closes for a half hour for the transition into lunch, which is served from 11:00AM-3:30PM (the park closes at 5PM.) Lunch options were also way better than expected, including several great tasting wraps and salads.

 

 

The only station that drew a line of any real length was the one featuring – shocking – hamburgers and chicken tendies. They also had hot dogs available at this station as well.

The chocolate cake dessert option was FANTASTIC.

 

There is a good amount of seating all around Laguna Grill. This isn’t like when you are on a cruise or a theme park and it’s almost impossible to get a table for more than 4 people, as it seems like many families of 8 people or more were enjoying their meals together at the large tables, while smaller tables for parties of 2-4 were also in abundance.

Regular milk and chocolate milk were available inside the buffet, but outside there was coffee, juice, and soda.

Elsewhere in the park there was a pizza station that served slices for lunch. There were four types available: Cheese, Pepperoni, Margherita, and BBQ Chicken.  You could ask for as many slices as you wanted.

The pictures may not seem that impressive, but these slices were very tasty.

There are two bar areas at Discovery Bay. Hibiscus Hideaway (located right next to the pizza station mentioned above) and the Blue Bamboo (located next to the main entrance into the Wind Away River.) Both bars had these fun hanging seats that guests enjoyed all day long.

Each bar also had a variety of grab and go snacks available, including chips, warm chocolate chips cookies, and pretzels.

There were also other snack stands for grab and go snacks and drinks as well.

This was something I hadn’t seen in a theme park before… serve your own Icees. Gave me fond flashbacks of the Serve You Own Dole Whip they used to have at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

The bar locations themselves also offered a fully stocked bar, including draft beer. Alcoholic drinks could be purchased ala cart or you could purchase an all day Drink Package for $50. I had the drink package so of course I was going to try a Blue Bamboo at the Blue Bamboo bar.

Here’s a look at Serenity Bay cocktail.

There were a couple items that were not included with the drink package, including this Shark Sipper bottle…

…and the Discovery Cove branded “coconut water” coconut. Like I wasn’t going to buy that! Watching the bartender core out the coconut to get to the water was worth the purchase as well.

# 5 – Explorer’s Aviary

Several members of my family are completely obsessed with birds, so one of the areas of Discovery Cove we were looking forward to the most was Explorer’s Aviary. This is an area available to anyone inside Discovery Cove.

Once inside there are illustrated bird identification cards along with Discovery Cove Ambassadors there to give you food cups to feed the birds.

There are a large variety of birds throughout the aviary.

Here is Your Humble Author attempting to feed a bird who was just hanging out on a walkway.

After the bird took a couple bites from the cup, he flew over to my wrist to get better access. Might need to take this bird on our next Special Investigation on Theme Park Food Photography because this fine feathered friend was On Point. Also note the people on floats in the background. They are enjoying the Wind Away River that runs through the aviary. I always love going through caves in various lazy rivers, but this was just unbelievable!

If a bird eating directly from you doesn’t brighten your day, nothing will. That’s a scientific fact.

If you like birds, the Explorer’s Aviary is for you because there are so many different types out and about enjoying their day.

You can exit the Explorer’s Aviary by going through the door exits, or you can just walk down into the Wind Away River and float your way out. There are two large waterfalls at the entrance and exit to the aviary that you pass under.

# 4 – Wind Away River and Grand Reef

Lazy rivers are generally one of my favorite things about water parks and the Wind Away River at Discovery Cove is hands down the greatest lazy river I’ve ever been in. Full Stop. It is huge!!! For most of the journey you are in water that must be 7-8ft deep (or more) because I couldn’t stand up in it, and you are passing by a whole bunch of gorgeous rock work, tropical landscapes, waterfalls and caves. Access to the Wind Away River is included with every ticket to Discovery Cove.

Another area that is included with every ticket is The Grand Reef. This is where you can swim and snorkel among sea life in a wonderful coral reef setting.

Here’s an aerial photo courtesy of blogger-in-the-sky @bioreconstruct showing The Grand Reef with guests exploring it. Seeing pictures like this make me want to immediately rebook another day at Discovery Cove.

 

I once did a sailing with Royal Caribbean and had an excursion to Stingray City at the Grand Caymans. It was an unforgettable experience and being in The Grand Reef among other rays brought me right back to the moment. In fact, Discovery Cove itself is probably the closest thing to a “cruise experience” you can get on land, and that’s the highest praise possible I can give something.

The stingrays swim right up to you, surround you, and will even swim directly under you. It is awesome.

 

Swimming and snorkeling in The Grand Reef is like nothing we have ever done in a theme park environment before. There’s nothing to compare it to and it couldn’t have been more enjoyable.

The areas are themed wonderfully.

The coral and fish below the water are just as gorgeous.

Part of The Grand Reef swimming area is directly next to where the shark interactions take place, and those on The Grand Reef side can get a great look at the sharks. In the picture below, the water on the right side of the bridge is part of the shark interaction area while the water on the left is for those enjoying The Grand Reef.

Here’s a couple videos taken underwater showing you the various sea life that you will be able to snorkel through. It’s pretty amazing.

There are two things to note if you plan to swim/snorkel in The Great Reef. The first is that the water is much colder than other areas like the Wind Away River. Discovery Cove offers three types of wetsuits that you can use while in the water: a vest, a 3/4 wetsuit, and a full wetsuit. The wetsuits will keep you much warmer in the water.

Also, Discovery Cove provides masks and snorkels for all guests. The masks you need to return, but the snorkels you get to keep because they are discarded after each use. Makes for a fun souvenir of the experience!

# 3 – Flamingo Mingle/Animal Trek

Discovery Cove offers a good variety of upgrades to guests who want to have a more intimate experience with the animals and sea life in the park. I mentioned earlier that we have several people in our family obsessed with birds, so a natural one for us was the Flamingo Mingle, which allows you the chance to interact with flamingos. Everyone in the park has the opportunity to observe flamingos in their habitat at Discovery Cove, but those who are part of the Flamingo Mingle are brought to a separate area inside the habitat.

Once inside the habitat, you are as close as you can get with the flamingos.

Discovery Cove Ambassadors give you a bowl of flamingo food to feed the flamingos. The food in the bowl is very reminiscent of dog food kibble mixed with water. The flamingos loved it.

For smaller guests, the Flamingos will “hug” them, and it’s the most adorable thing you’ll ever see.

We also bought tickets for the Animal Trek upgrade experience. For this they brought us over to an area closer to the front of the park and our first stop was with a trainer who had two birds with her.

We spent a good amount of time getting interesting facts about each bird and how they got to Discovery Cove.

We were then directed to another spot nearby where a different trainer introduced us to a Three-Banded Armadillo.

This guy was really neat and was adorable when he stretched out to lay down.

It was absolutely wild when the armadillo closed himself up into almost a perfect ball. Visually it was a “wow” moment and another reminder of the beauty in nature all around us in this world.

We then walked over to another stop where a trainer introduced us to a Military Macaw. This bird was still in the process of learning some new tricks, such as raising its talons up to wave hello.

We got a chance to see the macaw eat a grape and this was next level because the macaw could peel the grape and discard the skin. Apparently their tongues have bone in them which allows them to do this.

We were allowed to take pictures next to the birds that started the Animal Trek, but we were allowed to use our arms as a perch for the Military Macaw.

Our last animal on the Animal Trek was a sloth and this guy was great.

I’m not doing justice to the amount of information that the trainers were giving at each stop, and they answered every question that anyone had.

I can definitely recommend the Animal Trek if you or any of your family members are fans of animals. Just an overall great experience.

The good news is that there are many animal experiences that are completely free and included with your Discovery Cove ticket. They take place at several locations across the park and have times listed on boards nearby.

The bird at this experience was hilarious because the trainer kept giving him treats from her pocket but they weren’t the treats he wanted so one at a time he would pick them up and discard them into the bushes in front of him.

While I was out and about exploring the park I came across this encounter that took place right outside the flamingo habitat.

Discovery Cove had some of the neatest birds, and I should note that one of the “surprise encounters” at one of the stations was the Three-Banded Armadillo from our Animal Trek experience.

There are three otters at Discovery Cove that you watch and observe from behind a glass window. Discovery Cove feeds the otters several times per day, and this gets them out into the water where they swim right up next to the guests. They are adorable creatures and anyone who doesn’t like otters should probably be put on a watch list.

# 2 – Shark Interaction

As soon as I knew we were going to Discovery Cove, I booked the Shark Interaction upgrade because we have two weirdoes perfectly sane people in our family who have always wanted to be around sharks. I am not one of those people, most likely because I saw the movie Jaws at way too young an age. In fact I was probably well into my early adulthood before I was fully confident there weren’t any sharks in the fresh water pools I’d be swimming in. Anyway, the shark interaction area at Discovery Cove takes place at an area next to The Grand Reef and has an elevated area for anyone not participating to watch.

Before the actual shark interaction there is a moment where you get to snorkel with sharks. Before you went into the water, the trainers were thoroughly communicating with everyone getting into the water about what to expect and what they expected of them. They limit the number of people in each session so that you have plenty of space and it isn’t crowded or overwhelming to the sharks.

There are only two places at Discovery Cove where everyone must wear a life vest regardless of swimming ability and must stay horizontal: The Grand Reef and the Shark Interaction. This is because they do not want anyone vertically positioned due to the risk of accidentally kicking and harming the sharks.

Guests are told ahead of time they are not supposed to touch the sharks, which can be challenging because they come SO CLOSE.

There were several species of shark in the water, including  Black Tip and White Tip, which look like they are named. The classic fin has each coloring on the tips. There were zebra sharks as well as Bonnethead sharks that look like mini hammerheads.  There were also nurse sharks that were the largest they have at Discovery Cove, with one being 8 feet long. All of the sharks are females except the nurse sharks also have males.

There were multiple trainers who joined the guests during the snorkeling portion and gave lots of facts and information about the types of sharks while they were in there.

After the snorkeling session is over, the guests walk back up the stairs to take off the required life vest, gloves, and water shoes (all provided by Discovery Cove.) They then walk back down into the water to have the one-on-one interaction.

Guests are allowed to touch any part of the shark, from head to the tail.

You’ll notice in the photo below that the trainer is wearing a purple glove. The sharks are drawn to this glove which allows them to get close to the guests.

The shark that guests were allowed to touch was a zebra shark, which is interesting because it has spots and not stripes across its body.

I’d say by this reaction that the Shark Interaction experience was well worth the purchase!

You can actually do a Snorkel with Sharks experience without doing the Shark Interaction, but for me personally that’s like staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and not getting a Savannah View. This is a possible once in a lifetime opportunity and one you’ll remember for years and years to come.

# 1 – Swim with Dolphins

One thing that I have always wanted to do since I was a kid was interact with a dolphin. Growing up, I had seen pictures of my parents swimming with dolphins on various trips to the Caribbean and I was always a huge fan of the dolphin shows every time we went to SeaWorld over the years on our family vactions to Florida. Discovery Cove offers two ticket options: A Day Resort Package to enjoy the park and A Day Resort with Signature Dolphin Swim Package.

If you have the Signature Dolphin Swim added to your package, you first meet with the trainers in an area on land to watch a video and go over some instructions before you head into the water. There are three pools of water where the dolphin swims take place, and after the instructions are done you are guided down to one of the three areas.

 

Once at the pool, the guests are then put in separate groups in a semi-circle around the pool. Each group has their own set of trainers with them.

 

Now comes the fun stuff. The trainers introduce you to the dolphin you will be spending the interaction with. Our dolphin was named Kalani and was an older dolphin at 16 years old. Each member of the party got to take a one-on-one photo with Kalani.

The dolphin area is the single place at Discovery Cove that you can’t bring your camera, but there is a photographer assigned to each group. Have to say it was actually refreshing to be able to just live in an experience and enjoy everything about it rather than constantly taking pictures myself.

Kalani definitely knew how to pose! This was fantastic, and while I fully expected to be able to touch a dolphin as it was swimming by me, I didn’t realize it would be this intimate of an experience.

Each member of the group also got a chance to be taken for a swim with Kalani by holding on to her dorsal fin and a side fin.

This was wild!

There were four groups of guests in our pool, each interacting with a different dolphin. You can see one of the other dolphins photobombing this picture.

Everyone in the group thought this was one of the best experiences they had ever had at a park, if not the best.

In between the various personal interactions, Kalani had some fun in the water doing various tricks and jumps.

Like all theme parks, there is a photo pick up area near the front of the park.

You can purchase photos ala carte or with a package. There was a Discovery Cove photographer at our Dolphin Swim, Flamingo Mingle, and Shark Interaction experiences. We had a total of about 400 photos taken by their photographers.

Overall Thoughts: I had set a high bar for Discovery Cove thanks to the years I had been anticipating on going and the park over delivered in every possible way. The dolphin swim exceeded all expectations and was everything that I could have hoped for and more. As I wrote earlier, I’m a lazy river type of guy and the Wind Away River being by far and away the best lazy river I’ve ever been in, was just fantastic and while I didn’t get any photos of it, there was a neat Fresh Water Oasis right next to the river that had actual Marmosets living on an island in the middle of it!

Over the last couple years the cruise industry has started to become the gold standard in terms of the quality and level of service that you can get on a vacation and Discovery Cove is essentially a cruise-like vacation on land. The entire park was spotless and constantly being cleaned (including the bathrooms, which is great when you have the kiddos with you,) the all-inclusive food and drink make dining even more enjoyable, and the various things you can do around the park are straight out of various excursions you will do while visiting Caribbean islands.

Discovery Cove gets my highest possible recommendation and I’m now kicking myself for not going earlier while also looking ahead to our next trip.

Honorable Mention – Cabanas and Other Seating

Regular readers of this fine blog series know that I am a huge fan of upgrading your experience at water parks and hotel pools by splurging for a cabana. This includes at places like Volcano Bay and for check-in or check-out days at onsite resorts like Hard Rock Hotel. They make life so much easier and enjoyable. They aren’t a “must” but can be such an easy addition to change your day and take it to the next level.

Discovery Cove has over 40 cabanas across the property, and ours was located directly next to the Wind Away River.

Each cabana comes with a variety of seating, including lounge chairs. Ours also had a hammock, which you can imagine went over huge.

Each cabana has a cabinet which can be locked with a key you can then wear around your neck while you are in the water.

The locked storage area was huge and easily held all of our wallets/phones/purses.

The fridge is stocked with bottles of water and Coke products. The cabana attendant will restock the fridge with whatever you would like.

There were also beach toys available.

There were towels in the cabana, along with reef friendly sunscreen and a snack box.

Discovery Cove provides this sunscreen across the entire park.

The cabana also includes a fan above, which wasn’t needed during our March trip, but from personal experience know these can be a life saver when it comes to traveling to Florida during the Summer months.

Here’s a look at another set of cabanas which were set along a beach.

There are also Day Beds available that can give you a more comfortable seating compared to your average beach lounger along with some shade.

Very important to note that there is a TON of free seating across Discovery Cove. Day Beds and cabanas are there for you to take your experience to the next level, but certainly not required.

 

Double Secret Honorable Mention – The Merchandise

There are several merchandise locations at Discovery Cove. One large store near the front of the park and a smaller store closer to the dolphin pools in the middle of the park.

I was not fully prepared for all the great Discovery Cove merchandise that you can get.

Has to be near 100 different types of Discovery Cove branded shirts of all types.

A whole bunch of great Discovery Cove hat options were at both shops. I went for the light blue cap at the top left of this photo.

This was exactly how gift shops used to be when I was growing up, where as many parks now go with more generic options.

There were even two types of Discovery Cove candles available.

 

We bought both types, and gave one to Bacini’s babysitters for taking care of him while we went to the park.

There was also a promotion which offered a reduced priced towel or blanket if you spent more than $25.

The blanket matches our décor pretty well I’d say.

So there you have it: The SAT SIX Visits DISCOVERY COVE! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Theme Park Turkeys of the Year Archives

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates 10 Years of @bioreconstruct

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Ian Barritt

TPEI Tribute to Bret Taggart (AKA @Schmoofy)

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Thickey for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHide and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.