What time to arrive at Discovery Cove

[proud_canadian]

From what I understand, you cannot get in the water till 9, but the park opens at 7.

What time does breakfast open and is 7-9 too long to wait around?

We are also doing the dolphin encounter which I understand we get to book our time that day when we arrive. If we showed up at 7:30-8:00 am would the lines be shorter to get in? Would it be too late to get a good dolphin time? Or should we pretty much arrive prior to 7 and line up?

 

[Capt_BJ]

7:45 to 8 has worked for us. The gotta be first folks who get there at 6 are all thru the line and we usually have no more than a 10 minute wait to check in and plenty of time to locker up and get breakfast before the pools open . . . and our Dolphin time was well b4 lunch . . .

 

[DebLovesPooh]

7am is a great time. By the time you check in, you have time for breakfast and to get your suit. That usually gets us to 9am.

 

[J-Dog]

I would agree to be there about 7:45. The line to get in is shorter than if you get there earlier, and we've always still got a decent dolphin swim time.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

When I've gotten there around 7am, lines are long and the dolphin swim times are too early for my liking. I like to be ready to go in the aviary as soon as it opens at 9am - the birds are more interested in their food then and if you go through right away to one of the other rooms, you will have the room/birds entirely to yourselves for a few minutes (fabulous!).

I plan to try 7:30-7:45am this time around, and hopefully get a mid-late morning dolphin time. I've been successful asking for a later dolphin time in the past but have also read that sometimes people were unable to do that. Should still be time for breakfast then changing before 9am.

Also, remember to apply the DC sunscreen liberally & frequently throughout the day. It is not as good as normal sunscreen and you will burn burn burn if you think 1-2 applications will last the day. Learned the hard way, forgot, then learned it again...

 

[Capt_BJ]

as I recall we had to wait for breakfast to begin serving on each of our visits ...... 8 maybe?????

an important thing for first timers to remember about DC is the number of people per day is set WAY BELOW 'crowded' ...... and even with that, the number who can do dolphin swim is LESS .....

I've never had to search hard for a lounge chair, or worry about a chair hog or search <long> for a table to eat lunch .... the numbers are set so that don't happen!!!!! You won't wait 40 minutes to get in the 'reef' or the river and swim thru one time and B told to get back in line .... and that's why it is $$. The worst we've seen was maybe a line of 10 or 20 ahead of us for lunch and the line moved fast (don't have to pay at the end). It is not the typical Orlando theme park experience.