Discovery Cove pictures
Sea World Orlando: I just took a trip recently to Discovery Cove in Orlando, since I work with them.
I just took a trip recently to Discovery Cove in Orlando, since I work with them. It's truly a beautiful place to visit, with lots to do for the whole family. A couple of my favorite aspects of the park are the Dolphin Swim and the Lazy River. The Bird Aviary was fun as well. They let you feed the birds using little cups filled with bird food.
Pics from my trip!
We're going to Orlando in June and our plan was to spend a day at Discovery Cove, however, I have an allergy to all seafood including eating it, touching it or being touched by someone who may have been in contact with it. After talking with the Discovery Cove reps, they thought it would be best if I didn't participate. We were REALLY looking forward to it, too. Glad you had a good time, I'm so jealous... :(
Yikes! Sounds like a pretty bad allergy. It probably is best to listen to the DC reps. But if you REALLY wanted to go, they do have all you can eat and drink. What if you took your family, and just relaxed in the private cabanas they have for rent? There's a fridge stocked with soda and beer in the private cabanas. The kids can enjoy the day, while you get to relax.
I suggested that to the family, (husband, son and niece) and they all decided that if I can't participate, they would rather not go. I don't mind, with all the walking around we'll be doing. I could video tape and get pictures but I was overruled...
It is a nasty allergy. I was born with it and it SUCKS! I guess the entire time my mom was pregnant, all she ate was seafood. The doctors claim that doesn't have anything to do with the allergy; if anything, I would really like it. Perhaps one day I'll grow out of it.
Glad you had a good time.
Awesome!
As just getting my Bio Degree, I need to check this place out! Your pictures make me want to go! I know its not that cheap though....
After viewing your pics, I've decided that I'm going to test my allergy within the next couple of weeks. Who took your pictures, people within your group? They are awesome and I'm now changing my mind about us going.
I went to Discovery Cove and for me it was kind of a let down, sure[ it was a great day but i felt i had been screwed by the prices you dont get an awfully long time with the dolphins and even when you do have interaction its with 5 other people although i appreciate they dont have enough Dolphins for everyone they coud either make the groups a little smaller or interaction time longer, everything else was good i most enjoyed the bird feeding.
The pictures of us interacting with the dolphin was taken by Discovery Cove. They have a camera crew in the water for each group to take pictures and videos. The other pictures, such as the ones in the cabana and aviary were taken by the people in our group. I hope your allergy test turns out well, and you and your family get to go visit!
From Bruce Lane
Posted November 5, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Nice group of pics! I can tell they've made significant changes to the aviary's population since I was there in 2002.
Questions: The pic that's got the brown-furred critter clinging to the front of the attendant in the pink shirt: What the frell IS it?!
Also, there's a shot of you with a neat-looking gold/gray bird parked on your shoulder. What's the bird? It looks like it may be in the same family with cardinals, but it doesn't look like any species I've seen locally. I'm guessing it's an eastern resident.
Hannah, in reference to your comments about the dolphin portions: Discovery Cove's euphemistically-named dolphin "swim" has been reviewed by me in another post. I'm not in the least surprised you had more fun with the aviary. That was also the high point of the trip for me, much more so than the dolphin activities.
If you can manage to make it down to Cancun at some point, you will find that the Via Delphi programs, at Xcaret and Xel Ha (I'd recommend doing both, as they each have a unique environment) will set you back, at most, around $125 per person. For that price, you get a minimum of 15 minutes free-interaction time with the animals -- and THEN they start doing the structured behaviors (foot-push, human hurdle, etc.) Their swimmer-to-dolphin ratio is also much better than DC's, at 2:1 (often 1:1 if it's a slow day, and you get lucky).
If Discovery Cove is serious about presenting a high-quality dolphin experience, they really need to take some lessons from the Via Delphi people.
Happy travels.
That brown animal curled up in a ball was a sleeping armadillo. They have all sorts of animals which they keep at Discovery Cove in safe habitats. As for the species of bird, I'm not quite sure what it was. All of the birds there looked exotic and foreign to me. I can surely try to find out for you though.
From Bruce Lane
Posted November 18, 2008 at 7:39 PM
Please do, if it's not a major hassle. I would be curious.
Also, an update to my previous post for Hannah. The dolphin swim-with at Xcaret has, unfortunately, changed in the eight years since I was there last, and the change was not for the better.
The best experience in that part of the world can now be found at Xel Ha. It's as if they took all the fun stuff out of Xcaret and moved it south.
Happy travels.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the name of that specific species. Discovery Cove has about 250 exotic birds. But here's a neat little fact sheet about Discover Cove: http://www.seaworld.com/sitepage.aspx?PageID=365
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