Dolphin Discovery Puerto Vallarta — Attraction in Nayarit

Unfortunately, our dolphin trainer was very unprofessional, very disrespectful, had zero patience for little kids and elderly people. One big mistake dolphin discovery made was to just sell tickets without caring about safety of their customers. In our group we had 4 kids that couldn't reach the platform (my oldest daughter is 8 years old and 58". The sales department super assured me she was going to be able to stand on her own) my kids had to sit down outside of the water and take turns to interact with the dolphins; I had to keep switching them in and out of the water with no help and rushed by the trainer. Next to me a 50 year old lady caring for her 75 year old mother also didn't get any help at all and I had to help her keep her mom afloat and safe. When the dolphin accidentally pulled my 4 year old and me with her, the trainer yelled at me saying that I should have pulled her back harder, that it was my fault for not following directions, I was already scared and traumatized and he just made it worse. I paid up front for the biggest picture package, totally worthless the money. The pictures were so rushed that all of them are blurry and during the last "family pic" the trainer doesn't even give the photographer a chance to get a good one. When I mentioned this they told me they couldn't do anything about it since I already downloaded them. ( you have to download them in order to see the original quality without being grayed out and watermarked all over) I mentioned my experience along with the other families to the customer's relations person (Claudia) and she had the " I want to help you" attitude, but her options were to just get back in the water and re-do it or just see the sea lion and get pictures. My kids were so tired ( they are 8,6 and 4 years old) and when asked if they wanted to do it again they all yelled "no, thank you". We opted to see the sea Lion and it was nice, but lasted only 10 min! They got a hug and kiss pic and bye bye! Completely bummed that we chose dolphin discovery as my daughters' first dolphin experience. I have done the swim with dolphinaris and delphinus and I completely recommend you to spend your precious money with them instead of Dolphin Discovery. The reason I'm giving them 2 stars is because Kevin (our photographer) is amazing, he did what he could with the allotted time they gave him. Jessica the sea lions trainer was really friendly as well.

With your purchase you get a "meal ticket " they were out of all the included options forcing you to spend more money in food. Even though is supposed to be included in the package.

I would post the horrible up sale family pictures, but I don't want to expose my kids...

Overall, an enjoyable experience. The experience with the dolphins is unforgettable! The facility is quite large, but when we were there in mid-February, the water park was mostly empty. It's a bit older, but with lots of water slides and activities. We did the Dolphin Encounter, which included a kiss from the dolphin, a high five, and a flipper rub. We were in a group of about 10, and I was expecting just a few minutes of time with the dolphin. In fact, the trainer had the dolphin swim by us probably about 15 times so we could pet it, in addition to the specific actions in the package. The trainer we had was excellent, explained everything, and ensured everyone got their time with the dolphin. While we were there, another group on the other side of the pool was there, and they had dolphins doing flips and tricks occasionally for both groups to enjoy. There are lockers you can use for free with deposit, change rooms, gift shop, and restaurant. The packages include use of the full water park before or after your dolphin experience. They also provided a ticket for lunch afterwards, which was a hamburger or hot dog with fries and a pop. The only catch is that you can't take any photos of your own with the dolphins. The reason is that they take photos to sell you afterwards, the price for which is quite steep. For single persons, the price for a CD of all the photos was listed at $50 US, and went up by number of people in the group to $210 US for groups of 5 (which we were). We were able to negotiate down to about $155 US for that package, but may have been able to get them to come down even more had I been a better negotiator. In the end, we paid almost as much for the pictures as we did for the whole package. The pictures on the CD are only 3 megapixel, a far cry from what even mid-range cell phones are capable of. I've attached a few of the pictures...

Dolphin experience- I contact the company directly and got a better deal. I would suggest that. In addition, I had already seen a lot of people complaining about the cost of the photos; so when i checked in and the lady offered $90 for a package I was sold! In addition we were the only ones in the group that took family photos, which made us stick out, but also felt smarter because we didn’t have just individual photos. It’s about being smart when you book excursions like these 😉. Everyone was super friendly through the park. My daughter got scared at one point and just sat on the sidelines, but because the photographer knew we got the package beforehand she took extra photos with my daughter in it. The trainer was super friendly and accommodating to her fears and the group of people we were with, were also encouraging to her: it was a great experience over all.

Other stuff at the park- You should note that if you get the dolphin package, you should remember to do the other activities you get free with it; like zip lining because I didn’t pay attention to the last ride, and we missed out on it. My kids; ages 10-12 had fun going down the slides with the tubes. It was over all a wonderful experience and worth it.

Storage locker - You have to put a $50 peso deposit in cash, but they will take any denomination $50 and above and mark it in east their book. It is fully refundable once you return the key; so essentially the locker...