A paradise found....

Well we are halfway through our holiday in Florida already! And a busy few days it has been!

As you guessed from previous post, the relaxing first day I had  just spending by the pool and going shopping, turned into a bit of a nightmare with Pickle chucking up for England at the end of the day.

The next morning he woke up fresh as a daisy (me... not so!) and we ventured to Universal Studios!

We were all looking forward to this park as heard so much about it.  Although we were very dissapointed to find out the Harry Potter ride wouldn't be open in time for our visit.

Saying that, I would have to say the latest ride that opened last year, The Simpsons, was AWESOME and my favourite out of the lot.  The boys described it the best....'Mum it was like it was all a dream!'  The ride is a simulater, and it's the closest I'll get Dill on a roller coaster!  I swear, it was just like being on one, but a very bizarre one indeed!  We had a good day, although our feet were sore and we were all tired out by rides by 7pm (when we were in the park at 9am).  We still get to go on all the rides we wanted to because some of the lines were just too long (110 min for one) but it wasn't as bad as I believe in the Summer.  We only queued for 20 min for the Simpsons ride, and a couple we went straight on, oh like the rapid ride...no wonder there wasn't a queue...you got totally soaked on it!  5 hours later, my undies still weren't dry (and I don't mean weeing myself for fear/excitement!). 

Today, we were all looking forward to....spending the day at Discovery Cove.

Oh....my...god.

What a wonderful WONDERFUL place!

First impressions was....I feel like I'm staying at a 10 star resort (even better than 5 star, the service was so supreme).

It started from the Seaworld carpark.  Our bus dropped us off, and Discovery Cove offers complimentary shuttle from that park to theirs (it's all owned by Seaworld).  I say complimentary but really, you pay for it all in the price.  I'll let you know now the tickets cost me nearly £200 each.  That's a days access to Discovery Cove plus unlimited access to Seaworld. Anyways, back to being picked up.

There is a phone by the pick up area, to notify you are there.  I gather majority arrived earlier, as our bus didn't arrive to Seaworld until 9.40am, when the park officially opens at 9am, checking in from 8am.  So we are the only ones there, I pick up the phone, in two rings it was answered asking me how many in the party.  I said 3, and she said they were on their way to pick us up.  Within 5 minutes, a lovely big black SUV (as you guys call them over here, 4WD with trimmings in Oz!) turned up, with a lovely lady driver, who chatted to me all the way, very sweet.  I asked her about being returned to Seaworld she told me the waterparks closed at 5.30pm, officially the park closed at 6pm, but they would keep the shops open till the last person left, and the shuttle buses were there for when we wanted to leave, not the other way round.  A great start to the day, being treated like we were the most important people on the premises.

On arrival, the entrance looked superb, like an extremely expensive large hotel.  Of course this may have looked a little different at peak time, but there was only one other party in front of us when we arrived. 

Oh BTW, Discovery Cove only allows a maximum of 1000 people a day, so there are hardly any queues, and no pushing and shoving, making it more relaxed.

They took our photos, and gave us ID cards to wear around our necks for the day, which also double as our tickets to Seaworld.  The boys were MOST impressed with this little souvenier they received that they didn't have to pay for! (Cause...ya know....I did.)

We were told what time we were swimming with the dolphins, then we were sent on our way to enter the cove, with a lovely little plastic map (that could also attach to the necklace we had to wear).  As we were walking down through the lovely tropical surroundings, we could hear all sorts of birds chirping away.  Pickle asked me 'Mum, are those bird noises real or just recordings?'.  I chuckled...'They are real, they have an Avery here.'  As we kept on walking through the jungle path, Dill is making comparisions of the place looking like the Jurassic Park of Universal, and the bird noises were getting louder and such a different RANGE of birds, I was beginning to think maybe it WAS a recording!

We were stopped by a couple of staff, to take our complimentary entrance family photo (I really do hate how they say complimentary when you really have paid for it!) and I had to ask one of them...'Is the bird sound real or is it filtered through?'  They both look dumbfounded at me...'Yeah, it's real, we have an avery!'  I felt stupid for asking it, but could understand why Pickle thought it was fake, as it was so loud and so many different bird calls!

The next step we took there was ANOTHER staff member there, explaining where everything was, which way to go for wetsuits and towels, when and where the food was on, etc.  It was like staying in an all inclusive for the day.  Continental breakfast was on till 10.30am. Then the snack bars were open offering drinks (including beer) hotdogs, pretzils, icecream and snacks. The main restaurant was doing buffet lunch from 11am till 4pm, as much as you could eat....all in the price (yes, they use the word all inclusive there...that's better!) and the food was TOP NOTCH!!!

So once breaky was in our belly (I waited till I got there, kids had already had cereal, but gorged on the pastries!) and our wetsuits on, we went to the reef.  It was absolutely fantastic!

As most of you know I'm sure, in my past life...(as in pre UK!) I was a scuba diver.  Ok, I still am, just never ge to do it.  The bad points of Scuba diving, is you don't know what you are going to see, how the visibility will be or any of the dangers out there.  The same with snorkelling.  With this reef, you have all the different 'safe' fish, and can snorkel in total safety knowing no harm can come to you.  What a perfect enviroment to introduce snorkelling to children! (Not that I thought about it when I started snorkelling at the same age as Dill!)  There were even sharks in the reef....well, it looks like they are, but they are actually in another part, but you can't tell till you touch the glass! 

The biggest hit with the boys was the sting ray pool.  They swim all around you, you can touch them, feed them.   It's totally safe because they cut their prongs off every month so they can't sting.  All rays are actually born in the pool, being scooped out when born, to be trimmed of the prong, and returned, or sent over to the petting pool in Seaworld.

Then of course, there was the actual swimming with the Dophins.  It was only for half an hour, but so special! We did the hand guestures to make the dolphin, splash us, wave, sing, blow raspberries.  Photos were taken holding and kissing them (Mauri was the one we held, 3 years old)....then swimming with them.(Dexter, 6 years old and very playful!)  These dolphins are so loved by the trainers.  All born in captivity, and the trainers spend 8-10 hours a day with them.  They are taught like children should be (I'm saying should, because not all are I'm sure) they are rewarded every time they do something right, never chastised for doing wrong, just keep trying till they do get it right.  What a fantastic job to have, being a dolphin trainer.

I ended up spending $200 getting prints, frame, DVD and CD of all photos of the dolphin experience, but well worth it I believe, as how often do you get the chance to do something like that? I've done plenty of dives before and never got that close to a dolphin!

So if you ever get a chance to visit Orlando, make sure you visit Discovery Cove, because it is really such an experience and is worth every penny!!!  I'd forgo every park in the area to visit this place everyday!