Sea World - Orlando - Discovery Cove

DISCOVERY COVE: Welcome... The day is all yours at this one-of-a-kind tropical hideaway. Explore to your heart's content. Relax on our pristine beaches. And even more enticing, do it all at your own pace. Discovery Cove is where you can immerse yourself in adventure everywhere you turn and forget about your cares for the day. All you need to focus on is discovery -- interacting with dolphins, birds, fish and rays in an all-inclusive setting. Attendance is limited to 1,000 guests per day at this reservations-only adventure, setting it apart from the other Orlando attractions. Experience both power and playfulness during your personal swim with a bottlenose dolphin. It's the centerpiece of your visit, but that's just the beginning. Feel a unique mix of both calm and adventure as you snorkel among thousands of rays and exotic fish, and explore the splendor of coral reefs and grottos. Then, enter a series of free-flight aviaries where you can touch, feed and interact with hundreds of colorful tropical birds. You deserve to be at Discovery Cove. Come explore. Make a day of it. For additional information please call 1-877-557-7404 to speak to a reservations specialist.

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I came away from a trip to Discovery Cove, back in 2002, with very mixed feelings.

On the one wing, the aviary was truly magnificent! Outstanding free-flight design, easily the best I've seen on the east coast. The only other one that I think comes close is at the San Diego Zoo.

On the other wing -- I found the dolphin "experience" to be far more of a contrived photo op, and an opportunity for Sea World to push a whole line of grossly-overpriced souvenirs, than the valuable experience it should have been.

One of my biggest gripes is that Discovery Cove provides no "free swim" time with the animals at all. Every interaction with the critters is tightly controlled, and the total time in-water was barely 20 minutes. Contrast this with the programs at Via Delphi facilities in southeastern Mexico, programs that give you a bare minimum of 15 minutes free time for you and the dolphin(s) involved to get to know each other in whatever manner is mutually agreeable (within reason, of course -- the staff are always keeping an eye on things).

Better yet, the Mexican programs don't have half the sales pitch for souvenirs that Sea World does.

Now, in all fairness... It has been five years or so since I visited DC. It is possible -- barely -- that things might have changed for the better in terms of quality of the experience. However, based on my past experiences with Sea World parks in general, I consider this unlikely at best.

With the above in mind, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Discovery Cove's version of a dolphin "experience" to anyone, not even those who have never seen one of the critters up close before. I would say go for the aviary, the river float, and the tropical fish lagoons, and seek out a different spot for a dolphin swim-with.

Happy travels.