POR9

This is one of those strange places that costs a lot, has no rides, yet the time slips away so fast you can almost feel your skin being wrenched away. Most people will go for the experience of swimming with Dolphins but there is more to it than that. Some people will tell you that you can get more time with a Dolphin for less money on the Gulf Coast; that is also true but there is more to it than that as well. But this day was a holiday in itself. We woke up on the Friday morning, early, as we knew we'd need to turn up just after 8am to get an early time with our Dolphin. At this point, and upon checking the details on the ticket, we realised we should have been there yesterday. This could have turned into the worst day of our holiday but I suggested we go along and see if we could salvage anything from this self-inflicted fiasco. Joining the queue (really, you need to get there early) there were tears in our eyes - this was a day (if not THE day we'd been looking forward to). To our amazement, the girl behind the ticketing desk told us that this sort of thing happened all the time. The park was not fully booked and we were allowed in - no additional cost, no questions, nothing. If we'd done this in the UK we'd have been told, "tough, sorry" or words to that effect. Therefore note that you can consider booking well in advance for September but may be lucky and be able to book while you are there if you haven't. We had our photo ID made up - these cards also can be used to access Seaworld and/or Busch Gardens for a running 7 or 14 days depending on the ticket you have purchased. The people were mainly Brits. I heard a foursome arguing over who should have paid what for the taxi. Their names were Britney, Chantelle, Shane and Troy - I did not know that at the time but rather via multiple experiences of them throughout the day. I asked one of the staff about nationalities visiting and they reckoned normally about 20% US against 80% rest of world - of that figure, 95% were normally Brits. Shane and Troy were wearing England shirts. The first thing I saw was a Sloth, cradled in the arms of one of the trainers as a sort of welcome to Discovery Cove thing. I have never seen a Sloth before - it resembled a sort of cute and cuddly monkey but with hooves. I don't know what Sloth's do, but they are the sort of animals you'd imagine being soft, loyal and, well, like cuddly toys. This was strange; I'd assumed everything would be kind of fish based. It was a nice experience regardless - I'm not sure if I'll ever see a Sloth again, let alone be able to touch one. We were outfitted for our wet suits and given a locker (sufficient to hold all our stuff). I chose the manly vest - Mrs Chinners went for the full monty and spent the next several hours saying "I have never looked this slim" as the whole thing seems to act as a sort of girdle, pulling in all the right places. You are also given a bag with a mask (which should be returned), a snorkel (which you are allowed to keep) and some suntan lotion which is a dolphin friendly sampler. Why dolphins needed sun lotion was beyond me, although I later learned that they too can get sunburnt. I kept the snorkel for days afterwards until I realised I did not ordinarily snorkel and could find no real use for it. I tried dipping my head in a sink full of water back in my hotel room but it wasn't the same. Then breakfast - all the food and drink is inclusive with your admission price. I can't remember what it was - some sort of Continental type thing I think - but nice all the same. The toilets were magical, although it is worth pointing out that if you have a full monty wetsuit, you should allow additional time for ablutions - in other words, try not to get caught short. Mrs Chinners nearly lost her wet suit once due to the elastic forces generated when trying to disrobe - I had visions of the wetsuit twanging into the adjoining cubicle. The toilets also had mouthwash (to counter the effects of kissing a dolphin), hand sanitizers and actual towels for drying your hands, shower facilities, as well as an unlimited supply of beach towels. These were amongst the highest rated toilets in a park I experienced throughout my entire stay. I saw Troy and Shane in the toilets at one point, arguing over who's turn it was to pay the tip for tonight's meal. Troy had his wetsuit vest over his England football shirt. The dolphin swim was about a 30 minute experience in a group of 8 or so. Most of this time was spent at waist depth, introducing you to the mammal (our dolphin's name was Hutch), learning how & where to touch the dolphin and a little about the anatomy of a dolphin. There is group and individual interaction and a bit of dolphin kissing going on. Periodically, we were interrupted by another dolphin (Aries) who was a 2 year old still under training. She did not yet have the attention span of a fully trained dolphin and preferred our group to the one she was supposed to be with. This was playtime for dolphins in her opinion and showed the inquisitive nature of these mammals off quite well. I'm no expert but, for those who have feelings of antipathy to places which have animals in captivity, it really seemed that these dolphins were free-range and I had no doubt that the care and love they received from their trainers was absolutely genuine. Eventually, you swim out maybe 15 metres into the deeper water where you are then towed back to shore by your dolphin. The whole experience was photographed and videoed (DVD) - an expensive proposition at over $150 for the full package but money well spent again - the end results were highly professional. Now here's the really amazing thing. Mrs Chinners cannot swim yet decided she could not miss out on this experience of a lifetime. Our trainer's companion/assistant (Paul), who had obviously had much experience of such a situation, and after discussion with Mrs Chinners, actually managed to take her out of her depth, staying with her (obviously) and talking about shopping (to distract her). Before she knew it, she was holding onto the dolphin and being towed back to shore - the look on her face was priceless. I have nothing but admiration for these people, and a special mention again to Paul - what he achieved was actually more significant than the dolphin swim itself. These staff are true professionals and this really is not a theme park - I really cannot thank them enough. As we left the water, Britney and her group were entering , discussing last night's meal and who should have paid what if one person did not have a starter and another had taken 2 desserts. The rest of the day was spent snorkelling (I encountered a Barracuda and nearly had an inadvertent toilet break until I realised it was set aside in a separate tank), swimming, lazing on the beach and eating. There are also a few appearances by animals and birds in one of the Cabanas and, if you have time, is worth seeing. There is also a guided nature walk which covers the plants and vegetation (botany), and there is a pretty huge aviary as well where you can feed the birds (there were a couple of small deer inside the aviary - that's how large it was). This is a day when you leave feeling fully relaxed. There is no pressure, no racing around, and the only queuing involved was getting in, or getting food at peak times. Although we've been a good few times to Orlando, this was the first time we'd done this - I wish we'd done it earlier and can thoroughly recommend it. This day is really what you make it - some people left early - we preferred to stay until closing. On our way out, we saw Britney and Chantelle discussing who should be responsible for paying for the petrol costs, as Britney and Troy had used the car exclusively to visit Ponderosa one morning while Chantelle and Shane had inadvertently overslept. We saw no electric scooters today.