Once you arrive at Discovery Cove you must first get an ID which will have your photo on it. You will get to keep this ID so it also serves as great souvenir. Anyway, you will then walk along a path with wonderful, lavishly landscaped greenery and a stream with bright, colorful fish. After this you will be met by a photographer to take your complimentary 5x7 photo. Again, another freebie souvenir! As you continue your work you will be met by a tour guide who will briefly tell you a little about Discovery Cove.

Next, you grab a wet suit or vest (whichever you prefer), a snorkel and mask, then head to the bathrooms where you will find nice changing rooms. No worries, the changing rooms are curtained off and give you enough room to get changed. After this you can take your belongings to a locker, which are all outside in a completely visible area that is staffed, so no worries about things being stolen. Once your things are in your locker you are set to roam the park.

I suggest planning to spend an entire day at Discovery Cove. Not only to get your monies worth, but also because this is the best place to sit back and relax in all of Orlando. Unlike most parks in Orlando, Discovery Cove only allows 1,000 people into the park a day in order to keep the calm, relaxing atmosphere that makes it so unique.

So, what to do first? If you are scheduled for a dolphin swim later in the day then I suggest first checking to see if there is anyone doing dolphin swims at the moment. If so, take a few minutes, sit on the beach and watch them as they do their tricks, this is guaranteed to get you excited for your own swim.

Jump in the Tropical River Lagoon, lay back and enjoy the ride! This river winds through most of Discovery Cove, taking you through caves, under waterfalls and through the bird aviary. Since you will get to float through the park you can plot your next move.

Perhaps, the Stingray Lagoon next? Here you can put your snorkel gear to work as you share the water with tropical fish and large stingrays. No, they will not hurt you. In fact, you can touch them … they sort of feel slimy, but you can’t resist wanting to touch them over and over again. (view picture)

Continue with your adventure by going into the Coral Reef. You will experience your best snorkeling here as you get to snorkel again with thousands of bright and colorful tropical fish and stingrays, as well as swim up to a glass wall holding dangerous barracudas and sharks just inches away from you.

If you love birds then make sure you walk through the Free Flight Bird Aviary. There are more than 200 tropical birds in the aviary. If you want to feed the birds then I suggest making this your first stop of the day so that you can feed them while they are still hungry. (view picture)

In between all the excitement make sure you hit the snack bars. Unlimited food and beverages (including beer) are included in your package, so take full advantage of this! Lunch is also included in the package and is served between 11 am - 4 pm, you can grab lunch whenever you want. The restaurant serves many appetizing freshly-cooked plates such as fajitas, hamburgers, chicken fingers and more. I personally enjoyed the chicken fingers.

Last but not least, the Dolphin Encounter. After a short video and some information from a Discovery Cove instructor you get to join the dolphins in the water. You will be put into a group of eight people or less, then you get to meet the dolphin and learn its name, gender and anything else you want to know about it. You are free to ask questions at any time, so make sure you do! As the trainer is telling you all of this you get to interact with the dolphin such as rubbing its body; they sort of feel like vinyl. After this you will get the chance to kiss the dolphin and give it commands through hand signals. It is astounding how intelligent these dolphins are. Toward the end of your experience you get to choose whether you want to go out to deep water or stay in shallow water for your swim. I chose the deep water as I am a fairly strong swimmer, however it is pretty easy to stay afloat while waiting for the dolphin even if you aren’t a strong swimmer. But, do whatever you are comfortable with… either way they make sure that your ride lasts just as long. So, there you are out in the open water, the trainer will tell you how to grab onto the dolphin and then this 450-pound bottle-nosed dolphin will pull you back to shore. It is an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that I suggest everyone do at least once.

After the swim your group will say goodbye to the dolphin and you are taken back to a cabana where you can pick the pictures and/or video you’d like to purchase of your swim. As you may expect all of the options are quite pricey, however you have to view this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and just splurge a little. When will you be that close to a dolphin again? Probably not anytime in the near future.

Overall, Discovery Cove is one of my favorite experiences ever and is an absolute must for anyone visiting Orlando. I suggest making Discovery Cove one of your anchor attractions on your visit. The all-inclusive package, includes parking, lunch, use of wet suits, vests and masks, complimentary snorkel, showers, lockers, animal-safe sunscreen, and a 5x7 photo, as well as admission to Sea World or Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for seven consecutive days along with the once-in-a-lifetime chance to literally swim with a dolphin costs $229/person. The non-dolphin swim package costs $129/person.

For more information please visit www.DiscoveryCove.com

- Chad Kennedy, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief