Photo Key at Discovery Cove

[Michael Webb]

Many of the photokey threads here refer to Sea World and I want to speak directly to Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove packages are separated between the Dolphin encounter photos and any other photos you have taken by them during the day. That's a shame that they should correct.,

While at Discovery Cove, I took the Dolphin swim (their photographer) along with the SeaVenture (me as photographer with their camera) and the Animal Trek (their photographer). I bought their package at the park (not before-hand on line) at $265. The "deal" was the dolphin package at $229 plus all other photos at $80, then discounted because you were buying both. Whatever.

The photographers at the dolphin encounter do a great job at taking your photo multiple times. But in the end, basically, they take 4 photos: one of you with your hand on the dolphin, one of you kissing the dolphin, one of you being pulled by the dolphin in a swim and one of you and your whole family with the dolphin. Each shot mentioned above has about 3-4 shots in slightly different poses. Ok.

At $229 that is hardly worth i,t but their cameras are the only ones allowed in the water so what are you going to do?

With the "extras" they are a little more reasonable.
While going on the SeaVenture, they provide digital cameras for you to take your own pictures. Great! We had both their cameras and our own underwater cameras.
On the Animal Trek (which included an aviary "private room" with many birds and macaws, and another area with a screech owl, an anteater and a sloth) and the otter encounter, we had a personal photographer who took pictures both of us with the animals and took pictures of the animals on their own.
The cost for the "extras" (Seaventure and Animal Trek) was $80.

Somehow, due to package discounts, this boiled down to $265 (and I had a $50 in park coupon to spend on merchandise) in which they were VERY accommodating in making things as cheap as possible for me! (I am a cheapie that looks to get discounts wherever I can!).

So...I ended up with numerous photos from dolphin encounter, SeaVenture and Animal Trek for about $215 (plus tax) Considering they corner the market on the dolphin photos, I don't consider this a bad deal.
When i go back (and the day was so awesome I WILL go back), I will NOT buy the package for just the dolphin photos. But I will probably do enough different things that will make the add on package worth it,

I caveat I will add is that I am am a scrapbooker and I buy and print all the photos I can get from a trip. If I were not a scrapbooker, i don't know if I wold find these packages worth it.

 

[mjhtvchick]

Many of the photokey threads here refer to Sea World and I want to speak directly to Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove packages are separated between the Dolphin encounter photos and any other photos you have taken by them during the day. That's a shame that they should correct.,

While at Discovery Cove, I took the Dolphin swim (their photographer) along with the SeaVenture (me as photographer with their camera) and the Animal Trek (their photographer). I bought their package at the park (not before-hand on line) at $265. The "deal" was the dolphin package at $229 plus all other photos at $80, then discounted because you were buying both. Whatever.

The photographers at the dolphin encounter do a great job at taking your photo multiple times. But in the end, basically, they take 4 photos: one of you with your hand on the dolphin, one of you kissing the dolphin, one of you being pulled by the dolphin in a swim and one of you and your whole family with the dolphin. Each shot mentioned above has about 3-4 shots in slightly different poses. Ok.

At $229 that is hardly worth i,t but their cameras are the only ones allowed in the water so what are you going to do?

With the "extras" they are a little more reasonable.
While going on the SeaVenture, they provide digital cameras for you to take your own pictures. Great! We had both their cameras and our own underwater cameras.
On the Animal Trek (which included an aviary "private room" with many birds and macaws, and another area with a screech owl, an anteater and a sloth) and the otter encounter, we had a personal photographer who took pictures both of us with the animals and took pictures of the animals on their own.
The cost for the "extras" (Seaventure and Animal Trek) was $80.

Somehow, due to package discounts, this boiled down to $265 (and I had a $50 in park coupon to spend on merchandise) in which they were VERY accommodating in making things as cheap as possible for me! (I am a cheapie that looks to get discounts wherever I can!).

So...I ended up with numerous photos from dolphin encounter, SeaVenture and Animal Trek for about $215 (plus tax) Considering they corner the market on the dolphin photos, I don't consider this a bad deal.
When i go back (and the day was so awesome I WILL go back), I will NOT buy the package for just the dolphin photos. But I will probably do enough different things that will make the add on package worth it,

I caveat I will add is that I am am a scrapbooker and I buy and print all the photos I can get from a trip. If I were not a scrapbooker, i don't know if I wold find these packages worth it.

Hi Michael - thanks for this great review of the photo package. Could I ask you to post the info on the Discovery Cove "sticky" (https://www.disboards.com/threads/discovery-cove-general-information.3587710/page-5) - folks sometimes ask about the photo packages there and this would be great information for them!

 

[Michael Webb]

Done!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

The photographers at the dolphin encounter do a great job at taking your photo multiple times. But in the end, basically, they take 4 photos: one of you with your hand on the dolphin, one of you kissing the dolphin, one of you being pulled by the dolphin in a swim and one of you and your whole family with the dolphin. Each shot mentioned above has about 3-4 shots in slightly different poses. Ok.

At $229 that is hardly worth i,t but their cameras are the only ones allowed in the water so what are you going to do?

To be fair, you're quoting the largest package price for the dolphin swim photos. Guests DO have other, less expensive options. This one still gives you all your photos digitally plus a selection of your favorite prints, and is $60 less than the larger package.

THE ADVENTURE PACKAGE (a $380 total value) $169+ tax
6-6x8 prints (may be different or same images)
1 - All-image Photo Key
1 – All image photo CD
**add your dolphin interaction DVD for an additional $50+ tax

And there are smaller packages yet, if guests aren't necessarily needing or wanting the all-image Photo Key.

Just thought it was worth mentioning so other folks realize that there are more options than just the $229 purchase point.

 

[Michael Webb]

And I do want to be fair...

You know, Gina, that's the package I ended up getting! Notice in my post, i wasn't sure how a $229 package plus and $80 package ended up at $265. So I went back to my receipt and, sure enough, I bought the $169 dolphin package plus the $80 extra package of SeaVenture and Animal Trek. Then, with tax..... I thought I'd paid more because of the posted price on line that I viewed before I went.

And I did get $50 off of that with a booking offer they has last April. So my total was about $210.

I guess, to clarify, my main (and only) complaint is that, for the money, you really aren't getting a lot of DIFFERENT dolphin photos because they snap 3 or 4 of you in each situation and those 3 or 4 are not really very different from each other. But if you have a decent size family (this trip was just me and my daughter) you will end up getting a decent number of photos for your $169.

Thanks for setting the record straight!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

And I do want to be fair...

You know, Gina, that's the package I ended up getting! Notice in my post, i wasn't sure how a $229 package plus and $80 package ended up at $265. So I went back to my receipt and, sure enough, I bought the $169 dolphin package plus the $80 extra package of SeaVenture and Animal Trek. Then, with tax..... I thought I'd paid more because of the posted price on line that I viewed before I went.

And I did get $50 off of that with a booking offer they has last April. So my total was about $210.

I guess, to clarify, my main (and only) complaint is that, for the money, you really aren't getting a lot of DIFFERENT dolphin photos because they snap 3 or 4 of you in each situation and those 3 or 4 are not really very different from each other. But if you have a decent size family (this trip was just me and my daughter) you will end up getting a decent number of photos for your $169.

Thanks for setting the record straight!

I feel your pain on the "value" for a family of 2. My husband and I travel almost exclusively as a couple now.....our son is grown, working, and living in a whole other country from us.....so we have the same struggles getting the value out of a product that is the same price whether you're a group of 2 or 10.

I have been on these boards so long, I just *knew* if the clarification wasn't made that there were other photo packages and price points available, someone would get panicky thinking they'd have to shell out an extra $230+ for dolphin pictures. Your detailed review was a great one and will definitely be helpful to many other folks planning their special day at DC .