Discovery Cove Ultimate Package

What it is

Discovery Cove is a limited-capacity day resort next to SeaWorld where everything is included: breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks including alcohol, snorkel gear, wetsuits, towels, lockers and sun cream. The Ultimate Package adds the dolphin swim, a thirty-minute session in the lagoon with a small group and a trainer that ends with a short tow from the dolphin.

What else you get

The package includes fourteen days of admission to SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica, so if you were planning both anyway, this is a smart way to buy them. The Grand Reef, a snorkelling lagoon with rays and thousands of tropical fish, and the lazy river through an aviary are the highlights beyond the dolphins.

Things to know

Numbers are capped at around 1,300 guests a day, which is why it never feels crowded and why it sells out in school holidays. Book a date early. Children must be six or over for the dolphin swim. The Day Resort package without the swim is considerably cheaper if the dolphins are not the point. Your own sun cream is not allowed; they provide fish-safe cream.

Our verdict

Expensive, and one of the days people remember most. If the budget stretches, do it once.