Discovery Cove arrival time

[SwanVT2]

We have tickets for Sunday. When should we arrive? Thank you.

 

[Capt_BJ]

"Discovery Cove is a full day adventure with operating hours of 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily. Check-in begins at 7:15 a.m. "

I've arrived around 7:30. By the time the 'gotta be first' line is usually gone in and I've only waited a few minutes to check in. EARLY arrival helps in the summer to ensure an early dolphin time with regard to potential afternoon thunderstorms. That won't be an issue this weekend .....

We've been able to check-in, get lockers & wetsuit/vest and breakfast and be hitting the pools not too much after 8.

 

[SwanVT2]

"Discovery Cove is a full day adventure with operating hours of 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily. Check-in begins at 7:15 a.m. "

I've arrived around 7:30. By the time the 'gotta be first' line is usually gone in and I've only waited a few minutes to check in. EARLY arrival helps in the summer to ensure an early dolphin time with regard to potential afternoon thunderstorms. That won't be an issue this weekend .....

We've been able to check-in, get lockers & wetsuit/vest and breakfast and be hitting the pools not too much after 8.

How frequent are the swim with dolphins? When you check in do you sign up for a specific time? Thanks!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

How frequent are the swim with dolphins? When you check in do you sign up for a specific time? Thanks!

Dolphin swims are assigned by DC staff when you check in (you don't get to choose a time). They have three dolphin beaches side-by-side, and each of those will have 3 groups having their dolphin interaction at the same time (one group to the right, one to the left, one in the center). They start first thing in the morning and will run pretty much all day. As a general rule, the earlier you check in, the earlier your dolphin swim time will be.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

As above, however you can ask for a later time if yours is too early. You cannot ask for an earlier time as they book the first available by default.

They put our time at around 9:30am, but we wanted to be able to go to the aviary right at opening at 9am so we asked for it to be moved back and they were able to switch it to around 10:30am or so. I really forget when but it was an hour or so later and was a perfect time.

 

[CountyMounty]

Just FYI we just returned from DC, was one of the first groups there, and when we were assigned a 9:30 Dolphin Swim and I asked for a later one because it was a bit chilly that morning I was told that was our assigned time and couldn't be changed. I have seen plenty of people report being able to pick their time but that was not the case for us. Although I didn't protest at all because I was torn between getting a later time letting it warm up vs. getting it done first thing so we would then be free to do whatever for the rest of the day without having to watch the clock. Also not sure if it is different at different times of year but no one was allowed in the water anywhere until 9am when we were there so we had almost an hour of downtime in waiting after breakfast, but had our pick of loungers anywhere we wanted.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Also not sure if it is different at different times of year but no one was allowed in the water anywhere until 9am

This is the case all the time, I believe they even post something like "waterways open at 9am" on their website.