Ultimate Guide to Discovery Cove in Orlando Florida

What is Discovery Cove?

Discovery Cove is an aquatic-themed day resort in Orlando Florida. It’s like checking into an all-inclusive hotel without a room. Visitors can snorkel with tropical fish and stingrays, swim with dolphins and sharks, float down a lazy river, lounge on the beach, and get up close to exotic animals.

Tickets to Discovery Cove are expensive but truly all-inclusive. You won’t even need your wallet once you’re in the park. Factor in the cost of meals, drinks, and activities for the whole family, and you’ll quickly see that you’re getting the full value of the ticket cost.

Unlike other Orlando theme parks, Discovery Cove limits its number of daily visitors to just 1300 people, so it never feels too crowded. Every family is given a custom itinerary for their visit, so activities and experiences are spaced out to avoid lines and long wait times.

Tickets to Discovery Cove sell out fast, so advanced reservations are required.

What is included in a Discovery Cove ticket?

Every General Admission ticket to Discovery Cove includes:

• Access to the entire park
• Two meals (breakfast and lunch)
• Unlimited snacks (chips, warm pretzels, and cookies)
• Unlimited soft drinks, slushies, and water
• Unlimited beer and wine (for those 21 and older)
• Towels
• Wetsuit
• Snorkel gear
• Sunscreen
• Lockers
• Showers
• Parking

If you purchased the Signature Dolphin Swim Package, your ticket includes everything above plus the Dolphin Swim.

Tickets can also be upgraded to include a variety of awesome experiences:

• Premium Day Beds & Private Cabanas
• SeaVenture Underwater Walking Tour
• Trainer For A Day Package
• Shark Swim
• Stingray Feeding
• Animal Trek
• Photo Packages
• Premium Drink Package

We’ll break down the prices and park activities below. Click here to check out the park map.

How much does a Discovery Cove ticket cost?

The price of a Discovery Cove ticket is complicated, to say the least. There are endless packages to choose from and many different discounts you can get from holiday sales and bundling your tickets with other parks.

There are two main ticket options to choose from at Discovery Cove. As of 2024, the General Admission ticket (which does not include the Dolphin Swim) starts at $224 per person, and the Signature Dolphin Swim Package (which does include the Dolphin Swim) starts at $274 per person.

The starting price of the ticket is misleading. Prices change based on the projected demand for each calendar day, so the same ticket could cost you hundreds of dollars more during the peak season.

Once you’ve selected your ticket type, you can start upgrading your experience with add-ons. The following add-ons are available:

• Premium Day Beds, starting at $79
• Private Cabanas, starting at $199
• SeaVenture Underwater Walk, $49 per person
• Trainer For A Day Dolphin Package, starting at $249
• Shark Swim, $169 per person
• Ray Feeding, $59 per person
• Animal Trek, $79 per person
• Photo Packages, starting at $99
• Premium Drink Package, starting at $40

Once you’ve selected your add-on experiences, you’ll be asked if you’d like to purchase tickets to any of the other three sister parks to Discovery Cove: SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Bush Gardens. You can save quite a bit of money by bundling your ticket purchases, so if you plan to do any of these other parks during your stay in Orlando, you should take advantage of this.

We purchased the Signature Dolphin Swim Package and added on the SeaVenture experience. We waited to buy our tickets during a Black Friday sale and scored 50% off, bringing our total to only $200 each (and we went during peak season!). Discovery Cove is known for their annual Black Friday discounts, so if you’re considering this park and you want to save, mark your calendars and wait for the sale.

Buy your tickets here! Florida Residents can save an additional 20% by clicking here.

What is there to do at Discovery Cove?

It’s nearly impossible to be bored at Discovery Cove! There’s something for every type of traveler. Spend all day on the beach with a cocktail in hand or find your wild side by swimming with sharks.

General Admission

Even with the most basic ticket, you can have an amazing day at Discovery Cove. General Admission includes access to the Explorer’s Aviary, Serenity Bay, the Wind-Away River, the Freshwater Oasis, and The Grand Reef.

Explorer’s Aviary

The park contains a massive aviary with over 250 exotic and tropical birds, including toucans, macaws, and parrots. The lazy river runs right through the aviary, so you can float along while admiring the beautiful birds and listening to them sing.

You can even come face-to-face with a variety of bird species if you upgrade your ticket to include the Animal Trek (more on that below).

Serenity Bay

Serenity Bay is the park’s freshwater swimming area, heated to a cozy 85 degrees year-round. The water is surrounded by powder-soft sand and boasts two roaring waterfalls that cascade over an underwater cave. Go behind the waterfalls and into the cave to find the starting point of the lazy river.

Don’t forget to grab a pool float! You’ll find bins filled with foam noodles along the shore.

Wind-Away River (Lazy River)

The Wind-Away River is a heated lazy river that runs through the aviary and circles half of the park, so guests can ride the soothing currents through a tropical oasis of beaches, waterfalls, and underwater caves. The river starts and ends in the park’s freshwater pool, Serenity Bay.

The part of the river that runs through the aviary is flanked by two waterfalls. These waterfalls are pretty intense and you will need to go under them at both the entrance and exit of the aviary (if you’re entering through the river). The only way to avoid this is to get out of the river and walk to the other side of the waterfall and hop back in. It’s a long walk and it’s easy to get lost, but it is an option.

Don’t forget to grab a foam noodle! Parts of the river are nearly 8 feet deep so even if you’re a strong swimmer, you’ll be glad to have a float to relax on. You’ll find large bins full of them near the shore.

Freshwater Oasis

The Freshwater Oasis is where you’ll find the park’s animal encounters. Set in a tropical canopy of trees, this area is surrounded by shallow waters and wading areas. The lazy river connects to this oasis so you can even make a pit stop while floating along the river’s current. Asian small-clawed otters and white-headed marmosets are featured here.

The Grand Reef

The Grand Reef is an underwater grotto filled with moray eels, reef sharks, sting rays, and tons of tropical fish. You can snorkel the area on your own or do an underwater walk called SeaVenture. A shark-filled lagoon is sectioned off from the other fish by a clear glass wall, where you can swim with sharks or walk over them on a rope bridge.

You could easily spend half your day snorkeling in this beautiful coral garden. The stingrays are mesmerizing and the schools of fish never stop dancing.

Food And Drink

Breakfast and lunch are both included with your ticket. Laguna Grill serves breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It’s served cafeteria style and you can go through the line as many times as you want.

Soft drinks, slushies, water, beer, and wine are served all day, along with soft pretzels, chips, and cookies.

Upgrades And Add-Ons

Each ticket can be upgraded to include a variety of experiences, such as the Dolphin Swim, Shark Swim, SeaVenture Underwater Walking Tour, Stingray Feeding, or Animal Trek. Do as many or as few add-on experiences as you want!

Dolphin Swim

If you purchased the Signature Dolphin Swim Package, the Dolphin Swim is included with your ticket. You’ll get to touch, interact, and swim with a dolphin during your experience.

You’ll meet your group of no more than eight people in the dolphin habitat. You’ll stand about waist-deep in the water (this water is really cold!) as the trainers teach you about the dolphin’s behaviors and abilities. Then, each person in the group will get a chance to interact with the dolphin individually.

Cell phones and cameras are not allowed during the Dolphin Swim. Instead, a professional photographer will be snapping pictures throughout your experience. The photo packages are very expensive, so we swore we wouldn’t buy them, but once we saw our pictures we couldn’t walk away. Luckily, we were able to pay for the photo package on the spot since we didn’t buy it in advance.

Shark Swim

This exclusive experience will get you up close and intimate with over 20 sharks. This is a deep-water free swim and snorkel experience with blacktip reef sharks, nurse sharks, zebra sharks, and bonnethead sharks. You’ll also learn about each shark species and the care they receive at Discovery Cove.

Although swimming with sharks would be incredible, we opted to skip this after reading that the experience lasted less than 20 minutes. For the high price tag, it just didn’t seem worth it for so little time. If swimming with sharks is on your bucket list and (like us) you just can’t justify spending this kind of money, check out our guide to Exuma, where you can swim with nurse sharks in the wild for only $10!

SeaVenture

SeaVenture is an underwater walking tour using dive helmets. You’ll walk along the reef floor as you pass by schools of fish and sting rays. You’ll come eye-to-eye with sharks, with nothing but a thin glass window to separate you. It’s such a unique add-on experience, we highly recommend it!

The underwater walk only lasts 20 minutes, but we still thought this was worth the cost.

Ray Feeding

You can also upgrade your ticket to include a stingray feeding. This is a morning activity, where you and your group will actually feed all the tropical fish and the stingrays their morning meal. The rays will eat right out of your hand! This happens before the water activities begin at 9:00 am.

Only a few people can sign up for this each day, so make your reservations well in advance.

Animal Trek

The Animal Trek is a private tour with a park Ambassador that takes you behind the scenes to meet some animals up close. On this 30-minute tour, you could meet macaws, anteaters, armadillos, kinkajous, and sloths.

Many of the exotic animals are not exposed enough to be seen without joining the Animal Trek, so if your heart is set on seeing as many animals as possible, it’s worth the ticket upgrade.

Trainer For A Day

The Trainer For A Day Upgrade turns your all-inclusive day into a VIP experience. In addition to the Dolphin Swim, you’ll get a second interaction with the dolphins and a private photo session with them. You’ll also get exclusive behind-the-scenes experiences with the park’s many animals, including a private session with the otters and special bird feedings.

Discovery Cove limits the Trainer For A Day Upgrades to only eight people a day, so you need to book well in advance for this experience.

Premium Drink Package

The General Admission ticket does include beer and wine, but the Premium Drink Upgrade will get you a full selection of unlimited alcoholic drinks. Ask for a frozen margarita, a mojito, or even an old fashioned — the experienced bartenders can make it all.

If you see yourself lounging on the shore all day with a drink in hand, this is the perfect upgrade for you.

What to expect at Discovery Cove?

Guests can check into Discovery Cove as early as 7:15 am. Once you park, you’ll make your way to the glamorous reception center to get checked in. You’ll be greeted by a staff member who will go over your itinerary for the day, and you’ll be given a waterproof lanyard with your scheduled activity times and meal times.

Water activities in the park don’t begin until 9:00 am, but it’s still important to arrive early. We got there at 7:30 am and couldn’t believe how quickly the lobby was filling up. At 8:00 am we were led to the dining area for breakfast. We spent about 30 minutes there before making our way to the lockers and grabbing our wetsuits.

_{💣 Antisocial Tourist Tip — Bring a beach bag or an extra cover-up and claim a couple of beach chairs before you grab breakfast. The beach area will fill up quickly after everyone eats, and you can relax knowing you’ve secured a spot.}

By the time you’ve picked a locker, grabbed a vest or wetsuit, and gotten settled in, the water activities should be starting. You’ll plan your day based on your scheduled activities. We had our SeaVenture experience at 10:15 am and our Dolphin Swim at 11:30 am, so we spent the morning snorkeling The Grand Reef before doing the SeaVenture, then we swam in the freshwater pool until our Dolphin Swim.

Although it’s not enforced, all guests are given a specific time to grab lunch. We joined the lunch line just before 1:00 pm. It did move quickly, but we had to wait around 30 minutes for our turn. Both breakfast and lunch are served cafeteria style, so you’ll point at anything that looks good to you and the kitchen workers will add it to your tray.

After lunch, we didn’t have any more scheduled activities, so we were free to do whatever we wanted. We spent the rest of the day floating around the lazy river and spotting animals and birds. Once we had our fill of the park, we showered and changed into dry clothes, and headed back to our hotel.

Are wetsuits required at Discovery Cove?

Discovery Cove does have one rule that’s important to know — all visitors are required to wear a swim vest or a wetsuit. We’re not really sure why, but there’s no way around it. You only need it when you’re in the water, but you’ll find that most guests opt for the vest and keep it on all day. There are two stations set up in the park where you can grab a vest or suit, or even exchange it throughout the day for a dry one.

The swim vest is the easier and preferred choice, but there are two add-on activities that require a full-body wetsuit: the SeaVenture and the Shark Swim. If you plan on doing either of these activities, you will need to wear an actual wetsuit for the duration of the activity. Once it’s done, you can swap your suit for a vest.

Surprisingly, full suits are not required for the Dolphin Swim. Vests are perfectly fine for this activity, but you will be asked to zip them up. We were actually asked to keep our vests zipped up each time we got in the water, but it was no problem leaving them unzipped when we were walking around.

If the idea of wearing a wetsuit really freaks you out, skip the SeaVenture and Shark Swim and just grab a vest. Just don’t let it deter you from visiting Discovery Cove. It’s really not a big deal and every single person around you will also be wearing one!

What is the best place to stay when visiting Discovery Cove?

Discovery Cove is right in the heart of Orlando, near all the other major theme parks. It’s less than one mile from both SeaWorld and Aquatica, and just ten miles from Disney World and Universal Studios.

Discovery Cove does not have any on-site hotels or resort-related hotels, but there are tons of options nearby! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites and had a great experience.

OUR TOP HOTEL PICKS NEAR DISCOVERY COVE

📍Holiday Inn Express & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
Comfort Chain Option
This hotel is perfect for those looking for a straightforward and reliable hotel. There’s nothing wrong with choosing a chain hotel if you know you can count on it being clean and comfortable!

📍Castle Hotel, Autograph Collection by Marriott
Boutique(ish) Option
This hotel has a boutique feel without compromising functionality. It’s clean and comfortable and has a heated round pool that looks like it truly belongs in a castle.

📍JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes
Luxury Resort Option
Don’t let the traditional rooms fool you — this hotel is first-class. As soon as you step foot in the lobby, you’ll see what we mean. The pool alone is worth the price of a room here.

Final Thoughts: Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove is such a hidden gem in Orlando! It’s the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation, especially when compared to the other theme parks in the area. Whether you’re swimming with dolphins, snorkeling with marine life, or simply unwinding on the beach, the park is an unforgettable experience. Everyone should experience Discovery Cove at least once!

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