Discovery Cove offers a break from the hustle and bustle of the city and the other theme parks with a day at your very own tropical oasis. Enjoy swimming in the reef, relaxing on the beach and once-in-a-lifetime animal encounters at this park.
Reservations are required and daily attendance is limited to approximately 1,300 guests per day, so you won’t experience the extreme crowds you might find at the other parks during high season. However, this also means you should book as far in advance as possible to make sure your date is available.
The park’s animals include everything from Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, five kinds of sharks and southern stingrays to otters, thousands of brilliantly colored tropical fish and more than 250 exotic birds.
Get a kiss from a dolphin, swim with a zebra shark, feed stingrays their breakfast or have a colorful bird land on your arm and eat from a cup in your hand. The opportunities available at this park are truly unbelievable and will not be soon forgotten.
Give the kids the vacation of a lifetime while also getting some relaxing downtime. From the warm sandy beach areas to the waterfalls you’ll find floating down the Wind-away River, Discovery Cove truly feels like stepping into an island paradise.
Included with admission is the highlight opportunity to swim and interact with an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Kids faces will light up when they get a salty kiss from their new aquatic friend. Life vests are available for less strong swimmers and both shallow water and deep water options are available for the swim portion. For an extra fee, kids can also do the Trainer for a Day program and get a behind-the-scenes tour and additional dolphin time.
Both shallow water wading opportunities and deeper water areas for snorkeling are available here. Come face-to-face with tropical fish and rays. Don’t forget to peer through glass at the sharks swimming below.
Grab a noodle and float lazily down the warm river. Along the way there are opportunities to stop in at the aviary, see otters and marmots, or go wading in the Freshwater Oasis.
Interact with more than 250 exotic birds. Kids will delight in getting a cup of food and holding out their arm like a tree branch so birds can land and eat right out of their hand!
Newly added in 2017, this is an exceptionally unique opportunity. Guests can face their fears and snorkel with five different kinds of sharks and get an up-close experience touching and learning about the sharks and their habitat from the knowledgeable and friendly park’s aquarist team.
Ever wondered what it would feel like to have the vacuum-like mouth of a ray sucking fish out of your hand while you gently pet their backs? You can do just that with this recently added experience. Kids will love the friendly rays who enjoy coming right up to you and occasionally playfully splashing. This experience also comes with the added bonus of getting to enter the park early and have the Grand Reef all to yourself during the encounter.
Explore the bottom of The Grand Reef on an underwater walking tour that takes you face-to-face with thousands of fish and rays and includes special touch experiences with some of the underwater creatures. Guests wear carefully designed dive helmets that make breathing easy, so this is an especially ideal experience for visitors who want an up-close encounter with the fish, but find snorkeling or diving challenging.
While there is plenty of space throughout the park with lounge chairs and places to lay out, families may want to opt for a private cabana to make their home base for the day and make sure they have plenty of shade to retreat to. All cabanas come with a table and chairs, chaise lounges, towels, a locker and a refrigerator stocked with drinks.
SeaWorld Orlando (which owns and operates Discovery Cove) has partnered with a number of exceptional hotels in the area. All partner hotels also come with perks like shuttles to the SeaWorld parks. A particularly good one for families is the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld. They offer a variety of rooms that range from large standard rooms to family suites. They also have an onsite water park kids will love and daily family-friendly activities. Other good hotel options include Doubletree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld and Hilton Grand Vacations at SeaWorld.
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