Discovery Cove Adventure

You know I never even blogged about our honeymoon when we got back!  I guess we were too busy packing, moving, changing my name and our address, etc :)  A few days ago I was talking with a friend at school and got on the topic of stingrays....o my gosh.  Stingrays.  Coolest animal ever - by far.  Besides going to Universal Studios and Busch Gardens, Matthew and I also went to Discovery Cove during our honeymoon last year in July and it was our favorite day of the entire trip by far!  So I wanted to share a little bit about Discovery Cove and why it is so awesome!

This place isn't your average Orlando Park.  Basically, it is a very large area consiting of multiple water pools and rivers.  There aren't any slides or rides -  they have animals instead :)  The park only lets in 1000 people per day, so you have to make reservations online ahead of time.  But this means no crowding around other people, fighting over beach chairs, waiting in long lines, or feeling like a sardine! 

I think the absolute best part about this park was the it that it is ALL INCLUSIVE.  Yes, the tickets are pricey - ours were $170 plus tax each.  However you get unlimited access to Seaworld and Aquatica for 2 weeks AND for $20 more (well it was at the time we went at least) you get 2 week access to Busch Gardens too!!  We rented a car and drove down to Tampa to spend a day their as well.  The all inclusive ticket includes the dolphin swim (if you chose that option), access to all reefs and oasis in the park, the aviary, the wind away river, all snacks, meals, and beverages, lockers, sunscreen, snorkel gear, wet suits, and all day parking!

The main thing that Discovery Cove is known for is their Dolphin swims.  You can choose to have or not have the 30 minute dolphin swim - it's usually $80 or so more.  Basically you get to spend time with a group and a trainer petting the dolphin and having them do tricks.  Since our honeymoon budget wasn't endless, we opted out on this but we still had an amazing time.

It rained almost every day in Orlando during our honeymoon but THANKFULLY the one day that we had to go to a park on a certain day due to reservations, it was nice and sunny! 

Here is a "schedule" of what we did at Discovery Cove:

-Arrived at DC and got our photo ID passes - besides being a cool souvenier, these also have your age on them so that you can get drinks from the snack bars.

- Got breakfast at the breakfast buffet.  Their food is AWESOME and you can take as much as you want.

- Got lockers and snorkel gear and wetsuits.

-Swam with stingrays and tropical fish at the Grand Reef (I could spend days there)  It was so peaceful to snorkle with all the fish swimming around you and stringrays floating by.  The coral reefs at the bottom were awesome too.

- Ate the lunch buffet

-Swam in the fresh water oasis.

-Explored the winding river - this felt exactly like I was in the rainforest floating down a river!  They have tons of plants, waterfalls, rocks to sit on....just awesome!  Plus there are some caves to swim through as well.

-Fed the exotic birds in the aviary.

-Grabbed free drinks and warm doughy pretzels :)  It was actually kind of funny because they have all of the food and snacks just sitting around this big cabana serving area and you can just take whatever you want and walk by.  It felt like I was stealing food haha but its free so no worries.

- Swam some more in the Grand Reef!

-Relaxed on the "beach" to soak up some sun

-Checked out the gift shop and bought a glow in the dark stingray haha

Hello!

The people there were all very nice and willing to share info about the animals.  In the Grand Reef they even have a see through walled off area that has sharks in it so it feels like you are swimming with the sharks (little ones!)  But the stingrays were by far the best part.  They even had the giant ones that are like 7-8 feet across! 

Although there were some younger children there, I wouldn't really recommend this park for kids under the age of 7 or 8.  It's very easy to get lost for one thing - all the landmarks look kind of the same.  In order to get the most out of the experience you have to know how to snorkle.  The water gets deep in the reef - we're talking 12-15 feet or so and you have to be really careful around the animals.  The giant stingrays like to bury themselves in the sand so you basically have to either shuffle on the sand floar or have your head underwater to be looking.  Although they live in a park and their barbs are clipped, these are wild animals and will defend themselves if necessary.  So its important to stay calm and move slowly and only pet the stingrays with the palm of your hand.

One word of advice - get there early!  You can start check in before the park opens and that will give you more precious time in the water.  The park closes at 5:30 every day I think so it's not like Disney where you can sleep in and go around 11. You're paying like $200 for this after all...

I REALLY hope we get to go back someday!  It was one of the coolest things I have every seen or experienced and I can't wait to see my stingray friends again :)



One of the giant ones!