Nervous Dad's first trip report Day 3 Discovery Cove & DTD
Let me start off by apologizing for taking longer to get this out than originally planned. I had a trip report put together, but it was short and so many details were left out. Instead I am opting to post my detailed journal and hope you will excuse my weak writing style and the fact that some of the details contained within are very pedestrian to most of the readers on INTERCOT. Anyway, thanks for reading….here we go.
Cast
Me – the nervous Dad and narrator
Kelly – the Mother of my beautiful children
Matthew – age 11
Mara –age 7
Pretrip report link
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/s...d.php?t=184956
9/23/11
Today is the day we visit Discovery Cove. We are all excited, but the kids are very anxious. They keep asking questions – “How long is the dolphin swim?” – “What do we do after the dolphin swim?” – “What else can we do at Discovery Cove?” I keep informing them that I have not been to Discovery Cove before and I don’t know the answers to their questions, but there anxiety is unquenchable. We are up, said good bye to Joe and out the door by 7:30 and arrive at the park just after 8AM. Discovery Cove is different from the other theme parks in the Orlando area in that a finite number of guests are admitted each day. I believe I overheard one of the trainers say that only 1200 people are admitted daily and today only about 900 are in the park (great for us!). Another nice thing about Discovery Cove is that once you have paid your admission, everything is included (parking, snacks, breakfast, lunch, drinks, snorkel, mask, and sunscreen).
When we arrived and were checked in, a very broad overview of what to expect today and where to go next was completed. Breakfast was being served at the cantina and once we finished breakfast we walked across the beach to get a vest and change into our suits. Our swim with the dolphin was scheduled for 9:35 in the seahorse cabana. We didn’t quite understand that we had to be in the cabana and we meandered around the lagoon where the seahorse team would swim. Kel and I started getting nervous about the time (neither of us was wearing a watch, and we couldn’t find a clock when we needed it) and the meeting place (all the cast members seemed to disappear right then as well). Finally, a cast member walked past and got us all straightened out. The seahorse cabana was a neat little thatched roof meeting place with two large widescreen TVs. This is the place where you have to fill out the legal paperwork and watch a video about dolphin ecosystems and conservation. You are also given a speech about what you can and can’t wear into the lagoon (jewelry-bad, hair ties OK) and what you can and can’t bring with you on your dolphin swim (basically, cameras are a no no because the dolphins could swallow them is the reasoning given, but I think it is more to do with the large photo packages that are for sale upon completion of the dolphin swim) and lastly, how you should touch the dolphins (behind the blowhole and not near the face). After our lecture and movie, we were lead out to the lagoon in small groups and then divided again into smaller groups of 9. There was a last minute check for jewelry (and cameras) and then our group was lead into the lagoon.
The lagoon water temperature is between 70 and 75 degrees and it certainly was not like swimming in the bath like water at AKL. It took us a few minutes to acclimate to the water temp and to get our group positioned. Once we were all settled, we were introduced to Capricorn. Capricorn is the dominant male at Discovery Cove (although he is not in charge since dolphins are Matriarchal) and weights almost 700 pounds. He is by far the biggest dolphin at Discovery Cove, but he was friendly and gentle. There were two trainers that helped to introduce us to Capricorn and they would help position him and get him ready for us to be near. Capricorn was positioned so that we could pet him and feel his skin. He then rolled on his back and the trainers showed us his belly button and discussed the different color pattern on his skin. She talked about his fins and how his tail and dorsal fin are just like human fingerprints (no two dolphins have the same pattern) and showed us where his ears were located. She also discussed how he cools himself down by moving warmer blood into the tip of his tail and his dorsal fin. Next we all got to line up and give him a kiss on the snout. Lastly, we swam out to about 9ft of water and Capricorn allowed us to hold onto him and he gave us a ride back in. This experience is something everyone should try once in their life. The beauty and grace of the dolphin cannot be matched and I don’t think you can understand that until you can interact with one up close. Capricorn was very intelligent and when I was up close, it almost seemed like he was studying me more than I was studying him. I am very glad that we were able to experience this time with Capricorn and I am even more grateful that I was able to share this experience with my family. The experience with Capricorn ended too quickly, but before my knees made it above water, we were being paraded to the photo hut to view our photo packages.
The rest of Discovery Cove was really cool. We walked through the aviary and held out little cups of fruits and nuts. The birds landed on our hands and arms and ate from the cups. One of the birds pooped on Kelly’s arm and another dropped one in Mara’s hair. Let’s just say that we left the aviary pretty quickly after Mara got cleaned up.
There is also a lazy river that winds around the park and goes through the aviary. We got in the river and floated around until we came to the start/finish again. The river was warm and is surrounded by tropical plants, flowers, trees and bamboo. The depth of the river also changes going from about a foot and a half to over eight feet. The only issue with the depth fluctuation is that you don’t really know when it’s happening so we all obtained skinned knees and stubbed toes. From the lazy river we went over to the salt water reef and snorkeled with rays, sharks and tropical reef fish. The rays were very large and gave Mara the creeps so Kelly and Mara went back over to the lazy river. Matthew and I stayed and checked out the reef for a little longer. I was snorkeling near a rock and watching fish underneath me when a large ray swooped a few inches in front of my mask. That is definitely an eye opening experience and pretty much ended my snorkeling in the reef. Matthew and I went and found Kelly and Mara and made our way to the cabana for lunch. After lunch we got in the lazy river and didn’t get out until we were ready to leave with the exception of ordering our pictures we wanted from our day. Our day at Discovery Cove was a fantastic experience and one I know I will remember for the rest of my life.
The clouds and storms rolled in as we were getting dressed and continued through the evening. We were back to AKL and debated where to go for dinner. The concierge recommended Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. Rather than driving, we thought we would take the bus and see how that experience would go. The bus arrived about 15 minutes after we got to the stop and took about 20 minutes to get from AKL to Downtown. Upon arriving, we made our way to the Earl of Sandwich and the food was really good. After dinner we went to a giant toy store called “Once upon a Toy”. Matthew found Wheezy the Penguin from Toy Story and Matthew actually squealed when he saw him. Mara found a Lotso Bear (Lotso actually smells like strawberries as the movie details) and some other treasures as well. We meandered through a few more shops and then got on the bus back to AKL. Although the trip to Downtown wasn’t planned, it was a nice night and the rain held off but the lightning flashed in the background for the entire evening.
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Originally Posted by faline
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