hey guys janet here with radiant wanderings today we are talking about
the top 5 things to do at Discovery Cove if you're new here be sure to hit that
subscribe button below and as always there is a link to the blog post in the video
description so if you need more details be sure to check that out
alright one of the things we absolutely loved about Discovery Cove is the food
and relaxation when you guys come into Discovery Cove the first thing you're
going to want to do is eat when you purchase a ticket to Discovery Cove it
is all-inclusive so that includes your food your beverages your alcohol
sunscreen snorkel gear lockers everything you would need so unless
you're wanting to buy souvenirs or upgrade your alcohol package you can
just leave that credit card at home they actually open for breakfast early so I
highly recommend getting there I believe it's around 7:30 when they open and then
you can go in eat breakfast before the park amenities open you're not rushed
it's very relaxing now breakfast and lunch are served at designated times
throughout the day but they have a snack shack that is open all day long
with fresh-baked cookies fresh baked soft pretzels slushies soft drinks
alcohol little ice cream cups so you're not going to go hungry so while all
those other people are waiting in line at Disney World or Universal Studios
for rides and then for food and then shelling out a bunch more money you're
gonna be relaxing with your feet up in a hammock and enjoying the sunshine okay
so after breakfast we went to the bird aviary which was so much fun very
different from the zoo because you're right up in there with the birds and
when you enter they give you a little cup of bird food so you can just walk
around with that and feed the birds you can entice the birds up onto your arm or
shoulder and walk around with them they have parrots
I believe they have several kinds of parrots I don't know my bird names but
there are ton of beautiful birds there have your camera ready you're going to
get some great shots another thing we loved at Discovery Cove
was the lazy river this lazy river is like none other that I've seen before it
takes about 20 to 30 minutes to go through it and it's designed to look as
natural as possible so you start out going through this cave looking thing
and it actually varies in depth which could be a little bit annoying because
you can bump your knee on it they put
signs beforehand so you know it also goes through part of the aviary
so as you're floating down the river you see all these beautiful birds and then
they have waterfalls beware you will get wet you do have to go under the
waterfall but it's just so fun it's a beautiful Oasis just snag a noodle and
float on down okay another thing we absolutely loved at
Discovery Cove is the great reef aside from going to Bora Bora and spending a
ton of money because bora bora is crazy expensive beautiful but crazy expensive
this is a great place to take your kids and introduce them to snorkeling because
rather than in the ocean with all of the elements and the big waves and whatever
comes up it's a more protected area so they are in the water and it does go
deeper and deeper and deeper but you're not dealing with the waves or the
unknowns of that sort but I will say the fish and the stingrays go right up next
to you so if your kids are concerned about that kind of start slow and then
work your way up a tip here my daughter wears glasses and she has a pretty
strong prescription and she got freaked out because she accidentally stepped on
a stingray because she couldn't wear her glasses with her goggles so if you
think they're old enough I would recommend getting at least one pair of
disposable contacts for the day so they can actually see what's coming at them
and really enjoy it another really fun thing about the great reef is that when
you swim around there is a shark viewing area and so it's blocked it's separated
by glass but it looks like they're coming right at you and that is a lot of
fun to go see though they have black tip reef sharks there and one other kind I'm
not sure what they were but be sure to make your way around to that area if
you're not sure where it is ask because it's really cool to see the sharks and then
the last thing I would say to be sure to do at Discovery Cove is do one of the
add-on packages they are so much fun and they offer so many kinds so seaventure
we didn't do but it looks so cool I saw a video on it you put this little helmet
on and you go on down with all of the fish it's a dive helmet I've never worn
one of those but I think that would be so much fun to try out another one that
they have animal trek swimming with sharks
ray feeding and then of course the one that we did was swimming with the
dolphins and I think that's a very popular one and with good reason it was
so much fun it was better than I even expected from that they'll take you in a
room and they'll kind of tell you what to expect tell you a bit about the
Dolphins they take such good care of them they know their personalities and
they told us that if the dolphin doesn't feel like doing it they don't have to do
it and that they work on dolphin time so sometimes they run a little bit late if
the dolphin doesn't feel like being out at that time they don't force them they
don't hurt them and you can tell that all the trainers really love them so
it's a lot of fun so once you get in the water they're going to have the dolphin
just pass by and let you feel the dolphin they'll tell you a little bit
about their skin their tail their markings then they'll have a dolphin do
some little tricks like wave to you pretend it's being caught by a fishing
pole
swim out and just do a little jump or a little flip and then you get to swim out
you can choose swim from the deep water or the shallow water and then you can
ride the dolphin in and of course you get to kiss the dolphin and they're
really great about giving time for you to get photos with the dolphin now this
will be tricky if you don't have a zoom lens they have professional
photographers there that are taking them but those photos are very expensive of
course but if you don't have a zoom lens on your camera or a really nice camera I
don't think you're gonna get anything that's very good with a phone camera
they don't let you take them in the water with you but certainly try but if
you do that you're going to need to go at separate times and that's actually
what we did I went with my daughter and then my sister went with her daughter
and we recorded each other with our cameras and we did have nice cameras on
either side with the lenses but even that you have to get in the right pod
because otherwise it's hard to find an angle that works for you with a little
bit of finagling you can do it though alright guys that's it that covers my
top five for Discovery Cove we had so much fun there I highly recommend it I
mean I am a fan of Disney World and Universal and all that as well but this
was such a relaxing day and I think all four of us ladies would go back in a
heartbeat you will enjoy it you'll be glad that you went
one last tip if you stay until the end of the day and ask the trainers may let
you help feed the dolphins and take you around to a special viewing window where
you can get a closer look