wicket2005
<font color=deeppink><marquee behavior=alternate>H
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2005
Wicket2005 Day 5 20/7/05
Discovery Cove, Premium Outlets and Pirate Cove Golf
DH, Me, DS16 and DS14
Twenty years today I had the good fortune of marrying my DH
, it doesnt seem like five minutes ago though my mirror would beg to differ, I certainly do not look 23 years old.
To celebrate
my DH decided to take us all to Discovery Cove for a day to remember. So after the usual 6 am wake up call, 7 am breakfast, we headed off to Discovery.
Discovery is just across the road to the Sea World entrance, the road has many tropical plants by it so you start to get that secluded atmosphere. We parked the car in a small car park, making a refreshing change to the huge ones we were used to and headed to the entrance.
As I am apt to do I did a quick check of valuables as we were walking in and gave myself a heart attack when I thought I had lost one of my credit cards.
Visions of the day being ruined ran through my head as I envisioned trying to get the card cancelled. Nightmare. Then a memory came back reminding me I had at the last minute given the card to my parents for safe keeping. Phew! With my heart still beating rapidly we entered the park.
First step was to get everyones photo taken for an ID tag and our credit card details were attached to it to make it easier buying refreshments/gifts, etc. This is an excellent idea, though we didnt extend it to the kids ID much to DS16s dismay
, he thought that would have been good.
Next we had our photo taken before being given a quick tour of the park. Beautiful white sand lay near the pools giving everything a very tropical feel. We were given some snorkels, masks, vests and suncream, once changed we were ready.
First stop was the coral reef pool to do a bit of snorkelling which none of us had done before. It took a little while to get used to it but we were soon away with it. I was particularly proud
of DS14 because he struggled with it at first but didnt give up. The water is pretty cold 
in here but there are plenty of fish to see plus some sharks through glass.
The most amazing coincidence happened next. As we were in the resort pool a lad walked by DS14 and said hello. It was one of his mates from school who is in the same class and only lives 5 minutes away from us. Its a small world comes to mind. DS14 didnt know his friend was going to Orlando at all but to have our paths cross like that was amazing.
It wasnt long till we had to find our cabana for a talk before we met our dolphin at 9.30 am. DS14 was a bit nervous and I must admit I did feel a bit apprehensive too. 
Typically we walked the wrong way and ended up being the last ones in the cabana for the talk. The talk was a short one and we were soon off to meet our dolphin.
One of the trainers warned us to have our shorts tied securely and not to have anything in our pockets because we would be in danger of losing our shorts
during the dolphin tow if there was too much of a drag. Consequently I had to leave the kids waterproof cameras on one of the loungers whilst we met the dolphin, I fully expected them to be nicked by the time we got back (amazingly they were not ).
As we entered the pool one of the trainers joked with DS16 because he had a different rash shirt to the rest of us on. He became known as the Rebel
after that. We entered the rather chilly water up to our waists and were supervised by two trainers.
Our dolphin was called Cindy. Cindy is 35 years old and her partner is Lester, another one of the Discovery dolphins. Both of them did shows together in the 70s. We got to stroke her first and the next big thing was to give her a kiss. Funnily enough once in the water all nerves were gone, so I volunteered first. The kiss
was something I had been a bit apprehensive about but it was fantastic. The kids had no problems too. It was lovely watching them have the experience of being so close to a dolphin. Cindy interacted with us waving, splashing and doing tricks, we stroked her and gave her fish. The trainers all the time explaining about dolphins.
You were given some family time with the dolphin and photos/video were taken by the photographer and video man. After some more stroking it was time for the dolphin tow.
Groups of two are taken out to the deeper part of the pool, each taking a turn to be towed back. DS14 and DH went together and I went with DS16. Again it was a fantastic experience, you can just feel the strength of these creatures as it tows you full pelt back to shore. I enjoyed it so much but again enjoyed seeing the smiles on the kids and DH. You have to hold on to the top fin and one of the side fins. I read somewhere that if you try to climb on its back, it is a signal for it to dive, so I kept this in mind when I had my tow. It was certainly something we will never ever forget.
Thankfully, there is an opportunity to buy videos/photos after your dolphin swim. We bought a dvd, photos on a cd, keyrings and magnets, fantastic mementos of a fantastic day. You even get to view them before you buy them to make sure the cd and dvd work. What a nightmare it would be if you got home and they didnt work so I was impressed with this little extra bit of attention to customer service.
I was glad we had the dolphin experience early because we were free to relax the rest of the day without having to keep an eye on the time plus if there was a thunderstorm it wouldnt matter because we had already had the experience.
We relaxed further by having a swim around the lazy creek. The water was lovely and warm. It was fun swimming underwater with the rest of the family.
After all this excitement we were ready for lunch. We ate our lunch outside. DH had rice/chicken, strawberries and chocolate cake. DS16 had rice/chicken, salad and melon. DS14 had a burger and chocolate cake. I had roast chicken, carrot cake and strawberries. The meal was lovely.
Suitably refreshed we had a paddle with the stingrays. They just glided around the pool very gracefully. This pool is chilly too.
Another swim in the lazy creek followed, this time we stopped off at the aviary. There were loads of birds even the chicken bird which the kids had liked at Busch Gardens. None were on people though which was what I was expecting.
Basically after this we were either in the coral reef or lazy creek. We all liked the spotted stingrays in the reef, seeing 3 of them swimming below us was fantastic. DS16 managed to swim right under the water with his snorkel. We had all got away with the snorkel but me and the DSs did try to snorkel without putting the mask on. Not to be recommended,
we just forgot to pull the mask down.
The second time we went to the aviary we noticed birds by the pool we were swimming in plus a little deer. It was feeding time when we walked around. Birds were landing on people all over the place
. DH and I got parrots on our shoulders and DS16 one on his hand. Another teenage got one on his shoulder, the bird pooped on him so he wasnt impressed. The chicken bird landed on someones head, it was fed a dead baby mouse. It does make a difference when you can feed them.
We hit the stingray pool at just the right time next, a feeding session was taking place. We were given some fish and the stingrays were zooming in from all over the place to get fed. Much to the familys amusement one jumped out of the water and sucked my bum . It thought the tag on my shorts pocket was a fish.
There were lots of other fish in the pool too, one little blue and yellow one followed us around. We all had blue and yellow pool shoes on and I think it thought they were fish. Everytime we walked it kept appearing next to our feet.
All too soon it was nearly time to go, DH had a coffee whilst I had an icecream. The kids had a swim around the lazy creek we joined them for one last go. All in all a fantastic day. The kids kept their snorkels as a memento. As we left I took some video/photos. What a mess I looked, the mask had made a right mess of my hair
. No one told me at the time, I just have the photo to prove it. They did tell me I looked like I had an egg head when I didnt pull my cap down properly so I will let them off. On the way out we collected our free photo which was taken when we entered the park. It was a really good one of the four of us.
We decided on some retail therapy when we left Discovery so decided to try the Premium Outlets. In 2000, these were not in existence but we now discovered they were the building works we saw whilst staying in the Comfort Inn, LBV. They face onto the I4.
DS16 was after some more Oakley sunglasses and DH a new watch. DS16 visited both Sunglass Huts for a couple of hours
, trying on every single pair, eventually deciding he wasnt sure so would leave it 
. None of the clothes seemed any cheaper than what we could get on the net or in outlet stores at home so unbelieveably we didnt buy any clothes. I bought some mementos and gifts from the Disney store.
The toilets were terrible
here which came as a bit of a shock after being used to the ultra clean ones in the parks. Toilet paper everywhere on the floor and unusable toilets. I was not very impressed with them. 
After being at the Outlets for so long, it was getting late so we just nipped into another Subway shop for tea. We sat in the car park eating and being entertained by a terrific thunderstorm which was off in the distance. It looked like the Gods were bellowing at each other as massive clouds lit up. We didnt see any rain though.
We quickly headed back to Idrive and had a game of golf at the Pirates
Cove. The atmosphere was very heavy and hot which we found a bit tiring so it was a bit of a struggle getting round the course. DS14 got his first hole in one of the holidays.
Still the rain kept off till we were safely tucked up in bed asleep. What better way to experience rain.
Discovery Cove, Premium Outlets and Pirate Cove Golf
DH, Me, DS16 and DS14
Twenty years today I had the good fortune of marrying my DH
, it doesnt seem like five minutes ago though my mirror would beg to differ, I certainly do not look 23 years old.To celebrate
my DH decided to take us all to Discovery Cove for a day to remember. So after the usual 6 am wake up call, 7 am breakfast, we headed off to Discovery.Discovery is just across the road to the Sea World entrance, the road has many tropical plants by it so you start to get that secluded atmosphere. We parked the car in a small car park, making a refreshing change to the huge ones we were used to and headed to the entrance.
As I am apt to do I did a quick check of valuables as we were walking in and gave myself a heart attack when I thought I had lost one of my credit cards.
Visions of the day being ruined ran through my head as I envisioned trying to get the card cancelled. Nightmare. Then a memory came back reminding me I had at the last minute given the card to my parents for safe keeping. Phew! With my heart still beating rapidly we entered the park.First step was to get everyones photo taken for an ID tag and our credit card details were attached to it to make it easier buying refreshments/gifts, etc. This is an excellent idea, though we didnt extend it to the kids ID much to DS16s dismay
, he thought that would have been good.Next we had our photo taken before being given a quick tour of the park. Beautiful white sand lay near the pools giving everything a very tropical feel. We were given some snorkels, masks, vests and suncream, once changed we were ready.
First stop was the coral reef pool to do a bit of snorkelling which none of us had done before. It took a little while to get used to it but we were soon away with it. I was particularly proud
of DS14 because he struggled with it at first but didnt give up. The water is pretty cold in here but there are plenty of fish to see plus some sharks through glass.The most amazing coincidence happened next. As we were in the resort pool a lad walked by DS14 and said hello. It was one of his mates from school who is in the same class and only lives 5 minutes away from us. Its a small world comes to mind. DS14 didnt know his friend was going to Orlando at all but to have our paths cross like that was amazing.
It wasnt long till we had to find our cabana for a talk before we met our dolphin at 9.30 am.
DS14 was a bit nervous and I must admit I did feel a bit apprehensive too. Typically we walked the wrong way and ended up being the last ones in the cabana for the talk. The talk was a short one and we were soon off to meet our dolphin.One of the trainers warned us to have our shorts tied securely and not to have anything in our pockets because we would be in danger of losing our shorts
during the dolphin tow if there was too much of a drag. Consequently I had to leave the kids waterproof cameras on one of the loungers whilst we met the dolphin, I fully expected them to be nicked by the time we got back (amazingly they were not ).As we entered the pool one of the trainers joked with DS16 because he had a different rash shirt to the rest of us on. He became known as the Rebel
after that. We entered the rather chilly water up to our waists and were supervised by two trainers.Our dolphin was called Cindy. Cindy is 35 years old and her partner is Lester, another one of the Discovery dolphins. Both of them did shows together in the 70s. We got to stroke her first and the next big thing was to give her a kiss. Funnily enough once in the water all nerves were gone, so I volunteered first. The kiss
was something I had been a bit apprehensive about but it was fantastic. The kids had no problems too. It was lovely watching them have the experience of being so close to a dolphin. Cindy interacted with us waving, splashing and doing tricks, we stroked her and gave her fish. The trainers all the time explaining about dolphins.You were given some family time with the dolphin and photos/video were taken by the photographer and video man. After some more stroking it was time for the dolphin tow.
Groups of two are taken out to the deeper part of the pool, each taking a turn to be towed back. DS14 and DH went together and I went with DS16. Again it was a fantastic experience, you can just feel the strength of these creatures as it tows you full pelt back to shore. I enjoyed it so much but again enjoyed seeing the smiles on the kids and DH. You have to hold on to the top fin and one of the side fins. I read somewhere that if you try to climb on its back, it is a signal for it to dive, so I kept this in mind when I had my tow. It was certainly something we will never ever forget.
Thankfully, there is an opportunity to buy videos/photos after your dolphin swim. We bought a dvd, photos on a cd, keyrings and magnets, fantastic mementos of a fantastic day. You even get to view them before you buy them to make sure the cd and dvd work. What a nightmare it would be if you got home and they didnt work so I was impressed with this little extra bit of attention to customer service.
I was glad we had the dolphin experience early because we were free to relax the rest of the day without having to keep an eye on the time plus if there was a thunderstorm it wouldnt matter because we had already had the experience.
We relaxed further by having a swim around the lazy creek. The water was lovely and warm. It was fun swimming underwater with the rest of the family.
After all this excitement we were ready for lunch. We ate our lunch outside. DH had rice/chicken, strawberries and chocolate cake. DS16 had rice/chicken, salad and melon. DS14 had a burger and chocolate cake. I had roast chicken, carrot cake and strawberries. The meal was lovely.
Suitably refreshed we had a paddle with the stingrays. They just glided around the pool very gracefully. This pool is chilly too.
Another swim in the lazy creek followed, this time we stopped off at the aviary. There were loads of birds even the chicken bird which the kids had liked at Busch Gardens. None were on people though which was what I was expecting.
Basically after this we were either in the coral reef or lazy creek. We all liked the spotted stingrays in the reef, seeing 3 of them swimming below us was fantastic. DS16 managed to swim right under the water with his snorkel. We had all got away with the snorkel but me and the DSs did try to snorkel without putting the mask on. Not to be recommended,
we just forgot to pull the mask down.The second time we went to the aviary we noticed birds by the pool we were swimming in plus a little deer. It was feeding time when we walked around. Birds were landing on people all over the place
. DH and I got parrots on our shoulders and DS16 one on his hand. Another teenage got one on his shoulder, the bird pooped on him so he wasnt impressed. The chicken bird landed on someones head, it was fed a dead baby mouse. It does make a difference when you can feed them.We hit the stingray pool at just the right time next, a feeding session was taking place. We were given some fish and the stingrays were zooming in from all over the place to get fed. Much to the familys amusement one jumped out of the water and sucked my bum
. It thought the tag on my shorts pocket was a fish.There were lots of other fish in the pool too, one little blue and yellow one followed us around. We all had blue and yellow pool shoes on and I think it thought they were fish. Everytime we walked it kept appearing next to our feet.
All too soon it was nearly time to go, DH had a coffee whilst I had an icecream. The kids had a swim around the lazy creek we joined them for one last go. All in all a fantastic day. The kids kept their snorkels as a memento. As we left I took some video/photos. What a mess I looked, the mask had made a right mess of my hair
. No one told me at the time, I just have the photo to prove it. They did tell me I looked like I had an egg head when I didnt pull my cap down properly so I will let them off. On the way out we collected our free photo which was taken when we entered the park. It was a really good one of the four of us.We decided on some retail therapy when we left Discovery so decided to try the Premium Outlets. In 2000, these were not in existence but we now discovered they were the building works we saw whilst staying in the Comfort Inn, LBV. They face onto the I4.
DS16 was after some more Oakley sunglasses and DH a new watch. DS16 visited both Sunglass Huts for a couple of hours
, trying on every single pair, eventually deciding he wasnt sure so would leave it . None of the clothes seemed any cheaper than what we could get on the net or in outlet stores at home so unbelieveably we didnt buy any clothes. I bought some mementos and gifts from the Disney store.The toilets were terrible
here which came as a bit of a shock after being used to the ultra clean ones in the parks. Toilet paper everywhere on the floor and unusable toilets. I was not very impressed with them. After being at the Outlets for so long, it was getting late so we just nipped into another Subway shop for tea. We sat in the car park eating and being entertained by a terrific thunderstorm which was off in the distance. It looked like the Gods were bellowing at each other as massive clouds lit up. We didnt see any rain though.
We quickly headed back to Idrive and had a game of golf at the Pirates
Cove. The atmosphere was very heavy and hot which we found a bit tiring so it was a bit of a struggle getting round the course. DS14 got his first hole in one of the holidays.Still the rain kept off till we were safely tucked up in bed asleep. What better way to experience rain.
