Discovery Cove — Attraction in Dr. Phillips

We had a fabulous time! We purchased the dolphin swim + two parks, the ultimate animal experience, and the premier photo package.

We checked in at 7am and met our guide (Jocelyn) for the day at 7:15. As we entered DC we were impressed with how clean and nice everything is after being open since 2000!

Our Ultimate Animal Experience Agenda - Breakfast: buffet style.

Wetsuits: the guy at the wetsuit hut was great! Got us in the right size the first time! Lockers provided for your stuff.

Grand Reef: we didn’t snorkel we just had a short one on one with a DC person in a closed off area of the reef. She talked to us about a few of the animals in there with her. We didn’t ever get the “exclusive, private, guided snorkel session in the Grand Reef prior to park opening” that is listed on the website. I wasn’t upset about this because it was chilly that morning and I wasn’t sure I was ready to be in the water.

Otters: they take you to the area and rope it off so others can’t come in. They let the otters into their enclosure for the day and you get to watch and ask questions.

Monkeys: swim or walk. We were able to see two monkeys.

Aviary: you get a little cup of food and walk around and feed the birds.

Special meet & greet: I was hoping to have one on one with an armadillo, but we got an anteater, but she was cool. Neat to see one up close and to pet her. We also got a meet and greet with a little owl. They talk to you about both animals and answer questions.

Behind the scenes: we got to see (and smell) where the dolphin food is prepared and to learn a about their care and feeding. We saw a board with all the dolphins listed with their age and weight. This was cool as there are some old and some big dolphins there.

Dolphin swim: this was way cooler than I expected! Two other guests joined us for this (so a total of 8 of us for this interaction). Rose was our dolphin. Your dolphin comes over to your groups area of the dolphin lagoon and Jocelyn talked a bit about dolphins. Rose did some tricks for the group, and you get to touch her and then each person gets to hold on to her and she takes you for a short ride. So much fun and she is so gentle.

Enhanced second dolphin swim: after everyone clears out from the regular dolphin interaction, they ask the ultimate animal experience folks to come back in. This time we got to interact with two dolphins. You get to take another ride but this time the dolphin is on its back. Both dolphin experiences were so much fun. No, you don’t get a lot of time out there with them, but you also must keep in mind the dolphins attention span and their willingness to do this interaction. They switch out the dolphins all day and the trainers know them so well they can tell when the dolphin isn’t in the mood, and they don’t ask them to do an interaction with guests. This concluded our ultimate animal experience.

Notes – you can stop and use the restroom or grab a drink at almost any time during this 5-hour experience. Ask questions! Jocelyn was great and did such an awesome job for our animal experience!

After we were released to be on our own, we had lunch. We both enjoyed the food. Get floats for the wind away river. It goes from shallow to 8. Grand Reef is awesome! You are swimming with tropical fish and some HUGE 300lb rays.

Our suggestions for people going to DC: buy tickets when they are on sale (they have a lot of sales thru the year), take water shoes, take waterproof phone cases (we bought two for $10 on amazon and the same ones were $30 each at DC), get wetsuits if the temps are chilly, and buy the photo package. You don’t want to spend your entire day trying to take pictures and you aren’t allowed to take your own pictures at the dolphin swim. We got so many awesome pics to commemorate our experience. We were happy we spent the extra $.

The DC guest relations folks that answer emails are awesome! They respond within 24 hours.

Make sure you ask DC trainers and everyone questions! Did you know that dolphins have belly buttons?...

If you’re going to spend over $1,500 for a day at Discovery Cove for 2, the least you’d expect is to actually be able to snorkel. With the new rule requiring life jackets in the Grand Reef, it feels more like bobbing on the surface like a buoy than snorkeling. I tried to make the best of it, swam out, and dipped just 2 feet under the surface with the life vest on just to see the fish… only to get whistles from every direction telling me “no diving under.” How is that snorkeling?

I’ve been here before and Discovery Cove used to be my favorite park in Orlando, but this change leaves a really bitter taste. I understand safety, but forcing every adult to wear a vest all day and not even allowing us to go underwater is where I draw the line. At least give the option of waivers like the shark interaction, or keep it mandatory for kids and let adults choose. Instead, guests get punished while employees give half-truths about why. Three people being found unresponsive in pools last year points more to lifeguard oversight than guest rules.

The dolphin swim was the best part and definitely worth doing once in your life, but everything else felt watered down compared to what it used to be. The shark interaction was hit or miss, our first guide (a bigger built guy) was awesome and let us really experience it, while the other young girl rushed through and barely involved us at all. She seemed more interested in playing with the shark herself and really ruined it, never acknowledging my wife or I and talking to this shark like it was her baby. For the extra cost it wasn’t worth it. Food was fine but nothing better than a hotel buffet, lunch was the highlight. Drinks were only worth it with the premium package, and cabanas aren’t worth it unless you’re with a big group. Honestly the shaded chairs by Blue Bamboo or under the trees are the best spots in the park.

This was my second time coming back since I visited as a kid, and I’ll be honest the magic is gone. The fish in the reef aren’t as vibrant, the rays looked stressed, and kids are still grabbing at them while parents wander off drinking. Between stricter rules, higher prices, and overall decline in quality, it just doesn’t feel like the same special place anymore.

I’m giving you guys two stars only because I know how great this park once was, and I really hope you can make it better again by making the right changes. I truly love what you do and your programs, but don’t forget this is only possible because of the guests who support you, don’t lose sight of what’s important.

On top of that, every employee I asked about these changes and what it’s like working there gave the same canned response, which felt really strange. But a few genuinely cool employees opened up, and what they shared was eye opening. They said the place is filled with corporate lies, that staff aren’t allowed to acknowledge or deny incidents at the park, and that they can’t be honest with guests about how they feel. From what I saw, the animals aren’t the only ones struggling… even most employees look unhappy. The only staff who seemed genuinely happy were the animal trainers, since they’re clearly passionate about the animals. Everyone else looked miserable, and several employees confirmed exactly what I suspected.

I also couldn’t help but notice how many people had almost no swimming ability. In the shark interaction, one woman had a full on panic attack, not even near the sharks, just because she was too scared to kick off the stairs into the deep water. If you don’t have real ocean swimming experience, not just pool practice, you shouldn’t sign up for something like this. It’s unfair to the rest of the group when people freeze up or panic, because it slows down the activity and forces the trainers to water everything down. That’s how you end up with unnecessary rule changes that affect everyone, like requiring all adults to wear vests all day or banning people from going...

This place is really cool! I'm glad I bought tickets to take our 7 year old grandson. We went in January 2024, and of course, a cold front came through, and it was cloudy and in the low 50s all day. We were chilly, especially in the dolphin water area, that's kept at 77°. They had heaters set up around the food places and the heat on in the restroom/shower buildings. The place wasn't as crowded because of the cold so that was a plus lol. The Grand Reef was more enjoyable with all the sea life that is in there and that water is 85°. There's lots of different fish and types of stingrays swimming around while people snorkel with them. There's a glassed area at one side of the Grand Reef where you can see the sharks. Swimming with dolphins isn't really swimming. There are different groups, 4 groups of 9 or 10 in each group the day we were there, led into different sections of the water, where people are lined up shoulder to shoulder. And you have to stay still with your feet on the bottom until it's your turn to do something. The trainers, we had 3, are explaining different things about the dolphin with your group. They have the dolphin do different tricks and show you how to do certain hand movements and placements to touch the dolphin as you get your pictures taken with it. Then one of the trainers takes 1 or 2 people at a time a little ways away and shows how to hold the dolphins top and side fin while the dolphin pulls the person about 20' to the other trainer. Our grandson, daughter, and son-in-law swam with dolphins in the Bahamas in March 2023, and they said they could actually move around/swim the whole time in the water. That's a lot of money to pay extra to 'swim' with dolphins to then find out there's no swimming. There were 2 photographers with our group taking pictures of people interacting with the dolphin, getting a 'kiss', giving her a hug, being pulled, etc.. There's lots of food and drinks to choose from for breakfast, lunch and snacks. The price of the ticket covers the parking, admission, food, drinks, usage of snorkel, mask, wetsuit, towels and lockers, walking through and feeding birds in the aviary, swimming and enjoying the different water areas. Very reasonable admission price! We really enjoyed the aviary! There's so many different birds. You can get a cup of food, refilled several times if you want, for free and the birds will land on your hand, arm or head to be fed from the bowl. Some of the birds don't eat the fruit and vegetables that's in the bowls cause they eat meat or insects. The girls working the 3 fenced enclosed areas were very nice and knowledgeable about all the birds. We spent lots of time in the 3 aviaries. Due to the cold weather we didn't get in the winding river. That's on the to do list for next visit. I'm not sure but I think that's the way to see the marmosets cause we didn't find them by walking around. Here's the main reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5. They are adding a 5% surcharge onto purchases, like souvenirs and picture packages of extra animal interactions. The employee isn't telling it. I found out by looking at my receipts. At the top with the list of charges it says 5% surcharge on it's own line. It's 5% of the total spent which really adds up on picture packages and if you have lots of kids to buy souvenirs for. Then towards the bottom of the receipt it says, "5% surcharge covers increased operating costs". WHAT?? This place, along with a few other named parks, is owned by Sea World. With as many parks as they own, as long as they've been in business and as many people that visit these places year round and they're charging every purchase a 5% surcharge!!!!! We didn't see this explained on the website or on any of the tic toc videos my husband watched about this place before we went. I feel like people ought to have a heads up about the extra surcharge and the non-swimming in the water with...