When planning a family vacation, I tend to get overwhelmed by all the details. I love planning…until I don’t. Thankfully, I had a trusted travel agent friend help with the Discovery Cove booking, and I’m so glad I did! (Thank you, Darlean with Travels by Dar!) After spending three nights in Orlando with our main focus on Discovery Cove and SeaWorld, I can confidently say this trip was absolutely worth it.
Here’s everything you might want to know before booking your own Discovery Cove adventure—from travel logistics to what to pack (and what you definitely don’t need).
✈️ Getting There and Getting Around
We flew Allegiant into Sanford International Airport, which is smaller and less hectic than Orlando International. My husband said he’d gladly fly into Sanford again even though it was about a 40-minute Uber ride to our hotel.
Airline Notes:
- Allegiant is bare bones: no Wi-Fi, snacks and drinks are available for purchase.
- We each brought a backpack (as our free personal item).
- I paid for one small carry-on suitcase, which ended up being necessary since I was carrying everyone’s water shoes and a few extras.
- I was nervous about Allegiant’s strict bag size rules, but we had no issues.
🏨 Where We Stayed
We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott, which was:
- Clean and comfortable
- Equipped with a kitchen (bonus!)
- Walking distance (1.2 mi) to both Discovery Cove and SeaWorld
Yes, we walked—even in the over 90°F heat. Was it toasty? Absolutely. But manageable. Thankfully there was a CVS on the way, which we stopped at at least twice a day for water, snacks, minor emergencies, and forgotten essentials.
🐬 Our Itinerary at a Glance
Tuesday:
- Landed in the afternoon
- Did an early check-in at the hotel
- Walked to SeaWorld
Wednesday:
- Full day at Discovery Cove
- After it closed (5PM), went back to SeaWorld
Thursday:
- Back to Discovery Cove (Dolphin swim day)
- Left early to revisit SeaWorld
Friday:
- Flew home in the afternoon
🌴 Discovery Cove Highlights
Discovery Cove was intended to be the main event. It felt like a peaceful, private beach oasis…without the usual Florida chaos. Everything was super clean and calm.
What’s Included (and Worth It!):
- All-inclusive meals: breakfast, lunch, snacks, and soft drinks. (We had the alcoholic beverage upgrade but didn’t use it.)
- Unlimited soft serve ice cream (yes, please)
- Animal-safe sunscreen
- Towels, lockers, wet suits, and snorkeling gear
- Access to the lazy river, snorkel lagoon, and animal exhibits
- Short educational presentations throughout the day
We opted for the dolphin swim on Day 2. My husband and I had done one before, so we could’ve skipped it, but it was totally worth it to see our girls have this experience.
Optional Add-Ons:
- Animal encounters (sharks, dolphins, flamingos)
- SeaVenture- (underwater walking tour in the Grand Reef – we will do this next visit!)
- Cabanas (we didn’t get one; we moved around too much to stay put)
Family Favorites:
- The lazy river was a unanimous favorite.
- The freedom from large crowds and everything being provided made for a stress-free day.
Tips:
- Arrive early! The hotel had a free shuttle (only at scheduled times) so we opted to walk and get there closer to opening time and we still waited about 30 min to get in the door.
- Floaties and life jackets get snatched up quickly – the kids thought they didn’t need them because they are pretty strong swimmers so we didn’t grab any at first. However, both kids had a bit of a scare going through the waterfalls in the lazy river the first time. After that they were totally fine when they knew what to expect, but it was pretty scary for a couple minutes.
- Book your encounters as soon as you can – encounters can get cancelled if it rains, even if it’s just a short shower, so try to get your activities booked earlier in the day to avoid that.
- USE YOUR DISCOUNTS!! – We had a discount card with our package but I completely forgot about it when purchasing our photo package. =( At least my husband and older daughter was able to use it for their dinner at SeaWorld.
🎢 SeaWorld Observations
SeaWorld was a bit more hit-or-miss for us as a family.
- My husband and oldest daughter loved it and went on multiple rides.
- My youngest was hot and tired and not into long lines (so we relaxed at the hotel and Door Dashed fun snacks!)
- Ride wait times ranged from walk-on to about an hour.
- Evening visits were much more enjoyable thanks to the cooler temps and fun events.
Highlights:
- Orca Encounter
- Dance party
- Drone show + fireworks
Downside? Spending over $7 on a water bottle and $13 for an ice cream cone felt brutal after coming from an all-inclusive environment!
🎒 What I Packed — The Real MVPs and Misses
(For your convenience affiliate links have been included.)
✅ Things I Brought That Came in Handy:
- Water shoes for the whole family
- Water bottle
- Waterproof phone case – (these were available at the resort, but at 4x the cost!)
- Backpack
- Sunglasses
- Socks to wear around the hotel
- Extra bags for garbage, sorting and storing clothes and shoes, etc.
❌ Things I Brought But Didn’t Need:
- Makeup – I’m pretty low maintenance as it is, but thought maybe I’d wear a little. Nope! Not once.
😬 Things I Wished I Had Packed (normally I carry many of these, but we packed SUPER light…a little TOO light, I suppose):
- Energy drink packets – we needed a boost for these long days!
- Bug Bite thing – we didn’t see any bugs, but did get some bites!
- A hat (found some at CVS!)
- Mini first aid kit (hello, mystery blisters and headaches)
- Extra snacks for the hotel (Door Dash & Target delivery to the rescue!)
- Warm clothes for the flight
🌟 Absolute Must-Haves:
- Water shoes (some areas are rocky)
- Sunscreen (use theirs at DC but bring your own elsewhere…we bought some from CVS since we couldn’t bring any on our flight)
- Comfortable walking shoes – We had to stop at CVS to get new sandals for my youngest when her (practically brand new!) sandals broke during our first walk to SeaWorld.
- Waterproof phone case (the kids absolutely loved taking videos underwater!)
- Extra battery pack/phone chargers
- Comfy swimsuit – my daughter quickly learned she much preferred shorts and swim top to bikini. I absolutely loved my swim tank and swim skirt – I didn’t feel weird walking around outside the parks because it looked like an outfit.
- A relaxed attitude — the days go fast, and not everything will go as planned
🏖️ Final Thoughts
Would we go again? 100%.
Discovery Cove was exactly the kind of relaxing-yet-fun family experience I didn’t know we needed. It gave us all the beachy vibes without the ocean stress—no sharks, no rip tides, no stepping on shells or seaweed. Just calm, clear water and clean sand.
Planning the trip was a little daunting, so I’m so glad I had help booking the Discovery Cove portion. If you’re on the fence, I highly recommend it – my whole plan was ONLY to go to Discovery Cove but my agent gave me options and it wasn’t much more to add on SeaWorld…and it was for our whole trip! We actually could’ve gone to Aquatica too, but didn’t get there this time.
💬 Have You Been?
If you’ve visited Discovery Cove or SeaWorld, I’d love to hear what you thought! Drop a comment or let me know what you’d pack differently.
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