cayman420

Has anyone been there? Is it a wonderful experience and worth the money? We are interested in a dolphin experience. We would also like it to be a humane dolphin experience.

Diana

I would ask you to please reconsider the dolphin swim. They are incredibly cruel. I did it once and was sorry ever since. No matter how clean or nice it looks, more than half of the dolphins die within 60 to 90 days of capture.
In order to make an informed decision, please visit:

http://dolphinproject.org/

http://www.hsus.org/ace/11727

(The second site is the Humane Society of the United States' position on SWTD programs.)

Dreamer2

We were there when our children were 10 and 12. It was a wonderful experience, and well worth the money! Our favorite part was actually the snorkeling, rather than the dolphin.
The dolphin experience is actually not a "swim with the dolphins," but an educational encounter. You are in groups of eight, and learn about their natural habitats, how these in capitivity were acquired and trained, and see them very upclose and personal while learning about their personalities. Although a particular dolphin is assigned to your group, s/he may depart at any time, perhaps to come back later, or perhaps to be replaced by another. We all got to experience their incredible strenth during the "finale" of the class; we each were pulled a short distance by holding onto the fin. It was amazing how muscular and forceful they are.
The rest of the day we swam with the fish and stingrays, wandered the aviary, sipped tropical drinks in the sand, and enjoyed a wonderful cafeteria style lunch.
So, a day ticket (around $90 in 2001)includes everything above, except the dolphin experience, plus a return day to SeaWorld. We would definitely do that again. The dolphin hour was $90 again, and we consider that a once in a lifetime experience, not something we would do again.
Hope this info helps.

Diana

Cayman,
Be sure to go to your Caribbean post on this topic and see Robert's additional comments on this issue.
Anyone who mistakenly thinks these exorbitantly-priced "encounters" with captive dolphins are "wonderful" and "educational" is woefully mis- and under-informed.
I appreciate your desire to be educated prior to participating in something you know is wrong.
You can obtain a LOT more information on this topic by going to the Caribbean board (where I know you have posted in the past - hope your finger is OK now) and typing in dolphin or dolphins in the search window.
I only wish I'd had the internet and the information available to me when I did my dive - it was 1993 and I did not have access to the Web at the time.
I've regretted that I ever took part in such a shameful activity since.

JoyinVirginia

Discovery Cove in Orlando is a fantastic place to go. My family has been twice over the years. You don't have to do the dolphin swim to go, you can just have a great day there relaxing in the water and interacting with the rays, the birds, and the fish in the "coral reef" area. It is a good value for the price, because you get a 7-day pass to Sea World also. All of the dolphins at Discovery Cove have been born at a Sea World facility, they have never lived in the wild, and they have been interacting with humans their entire lives. The health and well-being of all these animals is a paramount concern of the trainers. It was really interesting to learn how the dolphins are socialized and trained and how they really enjoy their interactions with humans. That said, they are BIG animals with BIG mouths and LOTS of teeth, and the experience was very scary for a small girl in the group we were with. If you have kids 8 or older, I would recommend it. For 6 or 7 year olds, they might be ok but it might be too scary up close. You can also call Discovery Cove reservation line and ask questions. Everyone who works there is really nice and helpful!

schmerl

Go to www.disboards.com and scroll to the Universal forums. They have a section on Sea World and Discovery Cove. YOu can hear from many people who've been there.