Another Discovery Cove question

[PrincessBelle39]

Just wondering how things work at Discovery Cove. It says that the park opens at 9am but sign in starts at 8am. Do we need to get there at 8am? Is this when breakfast starts or is that after the park opens at 9am. How are times allocated for the dolphin swim? Is this what we do at sign in?

 

[chiamarie]

Just wondering how things work at Discovery Cove. It says that the park opens at 9am but sign in starts at 8am. Do we need to get there at 8am? Is this when breakfast starts or is that after the park opens at 9am. How are times allocated for the dolphin swim? Is this what we do at sign in?

Depending on the time of year (if its busier, they'll open earlier) they'll "open" at 8:30 or 9. They will start signing people in an hour earlier, I believe. When you sign in, you get your dolphin swim time, and your lanyard with your picture on it, and pay for everything and what not. Your lanyard will also have a park map on it. So basically, the earlier you get there, the earlier you will have your dolphin swim, from my understanding. Once you're checked in, you head into the park, get your free photo taken, and get a quick "tour" of the park, and shown to where your lockers will be for the day. And then you are free to play. So I assume they'd start serving breakfast around 8:30.

 

[sdwrdt]

You do get your dolphin swim time as first-come, first-served.

The rest of the family are late-sleepers, so not sure what is open at the beginning. We didn't even make it for breakfast, but my family really loved the lunch, so assume it would be worth going for it - besides, it's included in the price!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

Thanks guys. That gives me an idea.

 

[Cest_la_vie]

The park opens at 8 a.m. during the fall and winter. You can get there at 7:30 and be checked in and set up with your dolphin swim time, ID and park map. But you'll be waiting in the reception building until 8 a.m. when the park is set up for you. At that point you will go down have your ID checked and your family picture taken, if you're traveling with multiple households they'll make a copy per household, so if I went with my sister and her husband we would get two copies. If we went with our parents we'd get three.

Then you'll go down to a semi-centralized area where a team member will give you a brief over view of the park, it's small but confusing so pay attention. They'll then send you to breakfast or to another team member who will then tell you where to go to get your locker. Breakfast is usually the better idea, since if it's 8 a.m. your dolphin swim won't be until at least 9 a.m. and if you wait for breakfast you'll be starving.

After that you'll go to your locker, wetsuit and changing area, there are three of them, and each has a set of lockers, a wetsuit/vest distribution area and a changing room with bathrooms and showers. This is probably the best place to ask about where your dolphin swim will be.

Don't get to your dolphin cabana more than ten minutes early, especially if you have the first swim, chances are the host won't even be ready yet. Five minutes is more than enough.