4 people went on the on trip, Robert (37 years old), Laurie (Wife 31), Ashley (10 Daughter) and Betty (mom).

Click on each picture to make it bigger.  Then click back on your browser to return to the report.  All pictures were taken with a Sony Mavica FD-81 digital Camera.  The underwater ones we're taken with a Fuji disposable camera from Wal-Mart.  

We live in Plantation Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale.   We woke up at 3am, and were on the road at 04:30am.  The drive time is 3.5 hours, at 215 miles taking US 27 to I-4.  Arrived at the Renaissance Resort at 8am.  Our room was ready early and they let us check in, nice.   This resort has a special rate during the holidays and is located directory across the street from SeaWorld.  For a little extra money, we got a club level room, which is on the 10th floor.  You have to put a key in the elevator to get to this floor.  The benefits of these rooms is having free breakfast in the morning, and free spinach rolls and other snacks at night in a special club room.  Our room faced the inside atrium, and all these rooms have a balcony to look below.    Being across the street from SeaWorld was great.   I would definitely recommend staying at this resort during the holidays because most people don't think to stay at a fancy place like this.  They normally charge high rates because it's a business resort that caters to meetings.  But during the holidays, the place is empty and you can get a good deal.     

Arrived at Discovery Cove at 9am.  The check in area looks like a hotel.  You show your reservation paper, your license, and credit card.  They check you in, take a picture of everyone in your party, then you go to another table to get your badges.  These badges are linked to your credit card, so anyone can get a drink from the snack bar by showing their card.  They hang around your neck from a string.   

A guide walks you to the mask/snorkel area telling you about the park the entire way.  As you walk thru the doors, you see the next picture.  That's the coral reef lagoon.  At the bottom of the picture you see a rock and a little beach area.  That's where you feed the rays in the afternoon with a trainer.  You have to swim to get to it, you can't just walk up and sit down.     In the middle is an island you see with the life guards.  To the far left is a ship wreck which has sharks and barracuda behind glass.  Near the top of the picture you see blue umbrellas over chairs.  This is a beach in front of the lazy river pool.  If you look closely, you can see the water falls on the other side of the umbrellas.  This is warm fresh water.   The small ray lagoon is to the left of the coral reef area, and the bird aviary is near this, out of picture.  The dolphin area is further down to the right.  At first you'll be overwhelmed trying to figure out where everything is, but it's quite easy.   The family picture you see is the free one they give you taken after you pass thru the doors.  

The first thing you do is get your snorkel gear.  They give you a yellow mesh bag which has 2 masks, 2 snorkels, and 2 towels in it.  You must ask for fins and a wet suit if you want them.  If you want to go underwater and touch the Southern Rays (blue), then you need the fins, otherwise you won't use them.  You don't go underwater that much, because the required wet suit keeps you on the surface.   From here you walk to the lockers.  A key is inside of each locker, you take it and put your things in it.   Next, you walk towards the beach and grab a wet suit jacket.  This is required for everyone in the water.  It's a wet suit that goes down to your waist with no sleeves.  You find them in boxes as you enter the beach.  Get to the park early because the small and medium sizes go quickly.  Now you're on the beach and you'll see 3 dolphin lagoons.  You can watch other people having their encounter.  They also have chairs in front of the lazy river area.  There are plenty of beach chairs with tables and this is where you end up leaving all your stuff.   You place your towels out, put your wet suit on, then walk back to the locker area where you will find the special sun lotion.  They have two huge jugs of the lotion that comes out in a dispenser.  A little goes a long way, its white and doesn't disappear when you rub it in, therefore, only use a little bit.

Our Dolphin swim time was 12:20pm, so we decided to head over and feed the sting rays first because I heard they get full fast.   We put all our gear on and headed into the ray pool.  It's only waist deep water so the fins are not needed here.   I tried going underwater but couldn't, my vest kept bringing me to the surface.  I wanted to take pictures with my underwater disposable camera, but could barely do it.   I always kept going back to the surface.    All you can do is float on top and look around at the rays swimming past.  These rays are the same brown ones at Sea World.  They swim in a school in a circle around the lagoon.  When you get in front of them, they turn and go around you.   This is when you can touch them on their wings.  They never stop, just keep swimming in a circle around the lagoon.   I asked about feeding them, the trainer said they do it in the coral reef area.  I thought to myself, Huh?  Apparently, you don't feed them in this pool anymore, it's on the far side of the coral reef lagoon with a trainer.   There wasn't much else to do here if we couldn't feed them, but it was a nice start to get in the water.

Next it was over to the Coral Reef area.   This is where you need your rubber pool shoes the most.  These are the kind with a mesh on top.  You can find them at a Wal-Mart or Target store. We put on all our gear and went into the water.  It was cold, but after getting in the water, you get used to it.  This is a lagoon with a ship wreck in the middle.  Here behind glass are barracuda, small sharks, and huge groupers.  All kinds of fish are in the lagoon, and they give you a plastic card so you can identify them if you want.  The depth of this lagoon is 20 feet in some places with waist deep ledges in others.  The Southern Rays (big blue) hang out on the bottom, sometimes swimming around and thrilling the people on the surface.   I dove down and touched them, it was hard to do this because my vest kept bringing me to the surface, but I made it and then Laurie took a picture of me underwater.  To get these shots, I had to dive down a few times. 

At the entrance of the coral reef lagoon, a trainer will hand out some fish food.  It's a clump like paste.  The fish come right up to you and swim around trying to get the food.

We went around the lazy river once, then prepared for our dolphin encounter by removing all our jewelry.  10 minutes before your time, you meet at a cabana which has chairs around a giant TV screen.   The only thing you need here is your mask.   A host talks with everyone taking row call and answers any questions you have.  Then the trainer shows up and talks about the dolphins for 10 minutes.  It's very entertaining, he tells how they train the dolphins using an example.  The trainer stands behind the kid mouthing the answer to the crowd so the kid can't see it, which in our case was jump.  Now, the trainer can't talk to the kid, but he's going to teach him how to jump.  How does he do this?   He stands in front of the boy and shakes his hand, the boy does it, then the trainer blows a whistle.   Now the trainer holds the end of a stick which has a white ball "target" on the end of it.  The boy shakes the trainer's hand while he's holding the target, the trainer blows the whistle.  Now the trainer moves his hand to the middle of the stick and puts the target in front of the boy.  He touches it and the whistle is blown.  Now the trainer moves the target higher, boy reaches up, touches it, whistle is blown.  Eventually the target is so high that the boy has to "jump" to reach it.  The trainer has taught the boy how to jump without talking to him.  This is how they train dolphins, with a target.     After that, you see a short video showing the beauty of dolphins.  The split you up into groups and you walk out to the dolphin lagoon.

Let's take a look at the first picture below taken of another group.  You can see the beach as it gradually falls to waist deep level.  If you look to the far left, you can see the photographer taking pictures.   The people you see in the yellow vests near the edge are petting a dolphin.  From here, the depth drops to about 30 feet, but your vest will hold you up.  You can see two groups of people floating in the middle.  You pet a dolphin out here, then get a ride back to the shore.   Your friends who are not participating must stay at the edge of the lagoon.  This is where friends can get some good shots, but to do it, you need a 35 mm camera with a telephoto lens.  I didn't know the rules and walked farther out taking more pictures, then a life guard politely told me to back up to ankle depth.   In the second picture, you see a guest petting a dolphin, and you can see others at the top taking pictures from the rocks.  The third picture is taken right at the edge, you can see a group in the middle.  In the 4th picture, you can see the start of the lagoon, the life guards watching, and a group in ankle deep water watching.  

We we're very lucky.  Our encounter was with Hutch, a 5 year old, and Coral, the 8 month old baby.   Our group had the 4 of us, and 4 others.  We waded into the water and began petting hutch while the trainer pointed out all the parts of the dolphin.  The trainer gives all the commands to the dolphin, telling it to turn over on it's back, to stay still while you pet it, and even to go under water and touch its nose to the trainers foot so you can look at it.  This is why you need to bring your mask with you.   Another trainer was in the middle with Coral letting others pet her.  They would switch off sending Coral to the shore and Hutch to the middle.   They do this with point commands.  The dolphins don't hear words from humans, they do hear the whistle, and they want the fish as rewards, so they're always doing what the trainers tell them.  The trainer gives a signal, then points the dolphin to where it wants to go.   Everyone lined up and the trainer told us to touch our right shoulder and then point across like a check mark.   We did this and Hutch swam off and did a flip in the middle of the pool.  The picture you see below is one of the 5 that we bought, that's Hutch.  

Next, everyone lines up and each person gets a kiss.  You move a few feet away from the crowd so the photographer can get a picture.  You cup your hands in front of you at your waist just above the water.  Hutch comes up and puts his nose into them, then you lift up and kiss him.  

After everyone got their kiss, hutch went out to the middle and the 4 of us went to the middle to pet him.  

Then one by one, everyone gets a ride to the shore.  If you're scared about being in the middle in deep water, then they will start the ride from the shore and do what is called a "slingshot" to the middle and back.   One girl in our group did this and was very happy.  My encounter was very special because while waiting in the middle for my ride, Coral came out and touched my hand wanting to play.  She circled around and did it again, so I got a little bonus.  The trainers don't want the dolphins to do this, they only want them doing the commands they give.   This is why DC is very safe, because the trainers are always giving commands.    The trainer sent Coral back to the shore, then I got my ride on Hutch.  

After the swim you can ask the trainer questions.  I tried to get more commands that I could use at the Key West area of Sea World, but they told me that the dolphins respond to different commands and since I'm not a trainer, they probably wouldn't do what I ask, even if I give the correct signal.   But I did find out what some of the signals are, not that it's going to work, but it's interesting.

To make the dolphin chatter its teeth, the trainer chatters her teeth.  Of coarse, everyone gives the check mark command at the beginning, the first sign tells the dolphin to do the jump and then the point means to go do it over there in the middle of the pool.  At the Shamu Show, the command the trainer gives to soak the crowd is placing a hand on each knee, then pointing the whale to a section of the tank.  I asked how they trained Shamu to do this.  First they taught Shamu to dive down using a target, that's the first part.  Then two trainers placed a target near Shamu's tail, one for each side,  and Shamu eventually learns to hit it.  With both commands done together, the whale dives under water, then flips the tail soaking the crowd.   At the Key West area, if you put your hand out like an officer telling someone to stop, the dolphins will come up and touch it, but have a fish ready to reward them with.

Our trainer sent Hutch and Coral to the back of the pool to be switched out, they did this with a simple point command.   Two other dolphins came out.  The trainers backed us up to the shore, and they threw some huge balls into middle for the new dolphins to play with.   Our encounter lasted about 20 minutes, everyone got to pet the dolphin, everyone got to kiss the dolphin, and everyone got a ride to the shore.  

The trainer walks you up to a hut area which has IMac computers.  You dry your hands off, then the hosts tells you the picture options.  You have to buy a package, or you can buy a video.    You can't see the video so we we're not interested in this, but the people shooting it said that they guarantee everyone is on it.   We went with 3 pictures and 1 in a snow globe.  Each picture is $16.  You find all the pictures in your group, and then save them to a folder.  From here, you pick the ones you want and buy them.   But you don't get them here, you leave this area and pick them up from another counter later in the day.  You can buy more pictures if you want from this counter.

Time for lunch, we went to the restaurant.    It's served cafeteria style, you get a tray and slide it picking up your food along the way.  They have many choice to choose from.   Chicken pasta, Salmon, chicken fingers, fajitas and a few others.  The food is hot, fresh, and tastes great.   You also get a salad, desert, and soft drink with your meal.  At the end of the line, a girl swipes your id badge and that's how you pay, its included in your visit.  

From here I went and got our pictures paying for them with my id badge.    Make sure to bring the little piece of paper given to you by the photographer who took your picture as you entered the park, this is also where you get your free picture.   I bought an extra picture, you can see all the pictures and buy more if you want.  

Now it was time to relax, so a swim in the lazy river was perfect.  The water is warm.   They have noodles to hang on too.   You don't really need them because your vest will keep you up.   Bring your mask and snorkel.   Once you get started, you can't turn around.  The current will keep you moving, and the life guards make sure you don't swim the wrong way.    You start out going thru a tunnel, then the river leads under a water fall into the bird aviary.  

Steps lead out of the water and up a path where a trainer is waiting with bird food in little cups.  You get 2 cups per person.

Back into the water and we finished our lap around the lazy river.   Mom went back to the beach to relax.  We went back into the coral reef.  I asked a trainer when the next ray feeding would take place, they told us about half an hour.   We got there early and sat on the shore.  The rays knew something was about to happen because they swam closer and closer looking for food.  A trainer came over with a bucket of about 30 fish, and 16 rays started swimming up against us.  It was rather intimidating at first, but the trainer told us that the rays teeth are far inside their mouth, and that the only way you can get hurt is if you actually put your hand inside, which you won't do.  If you did stick your fingers in their mouth, then their bite would feel like getting your hand slammed in a car door, but you're not going to do that.    To feed a ray, you place the fish between your fingers, make a fist, put it underwater, and the ray goes over your hand and sucks the fish out.   Other fish in the area we're darting between us trying to steel the bait out of our hand.  The trainer is used to it and enjoys petting the rays, they are very gentle.   

Once the food is gone, the rays will continue to swim around, but eventually they move father away from the beach.   It was about 4pm, Laurie went back to the beach.   We swam in the coral reef for another half an hour.  Then it was time to leave.  A warm shower, returned our swim gear, and walked back to the entrance where a trainer was waiting with a sloth to pet.

Is it worth it?   Yes.   

On to the hotel, not a far drive, it's the Renaissance Resort literally across the street from Sea World.   

That night we went to Sea World and watched the fireworks at the ski show stadium with music provided by the Orlando Philharmonic orchestra.. 

July 5th I went to BGT and rode the coasters while everyone else went to SWF.   Gwazi had a wait of 1 hour, while Kumba and Montu had 15 minute waits.  I got some exit rides on both coasters.

That night we all went to Arabian Nights dinner horse show, it was great, I recommend seeing this show.

Friday July 6th, We went to SWF in the morning, rode Kraken, JTA, and did the polar bear walk thru.  

Then we checked out of the hotel at noon and drove home.

End of report.

11/26/05 - Check out this amazing DC site with great pictures.   You can see the menu of food items to choose from.  

http://www.cassworld.ca/photosdc.htm

Thanks for reading.

If you have any more questions you may e-mail me here.

nogodforme@bellsouth.net

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