Orlando is the place to take your family if you want to provide them with adventures and thrills that can’t be experienced anywhere else. In Orlando, adventures and thrills are more than just roller coasters and fast rides. You can take your kids for a swim with dolphins, a trip up a tropical river, a swim in a lagoon with rays or snorkeling at a coral reef, and do it all at one park, Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove is an attraction that is adjacent to the famous Sea World park. It offers you a chance to talk, touch, play and swim with gentle and exquisite bottlenose dolphins. The park is home to 30 of these marine mammals.

The Dolphin Swim begins with an interactive orientation which includes a brief video presentation on dolphin characteristics, how to use hand signals and positive reinforcement to communicate with your dolphin and various safety guidelines.

The orientation is followed by a wade in the park’s Dolphin Lagoon. Groups of 6-8 people wade and go up close to the Dolphins. According to the park’s website, “You will meet and play with a dolphin for 30 minutes, getting to know each other through hugs, kisses, rubdowns and, ultimately, a one-on-one swim together through the lagoon.”

Wow, swimming one-on-one with a dolphin! It is hard to top that but the park offers still more adventures. Have you ever been fascinated by the scenes of colorful fish swimming in a coral reef?

Well, you can get closer to the reefs than a TV documentary with a trip to Discovery Cove’s unique coral reef. Here, you can snorkel through the expansive colorful reefs, shipwreck remains and enchanting grottos. You can spend as much time as you like and watch many species of exotic fish. You can even get a glimpse of a shark or barracuda, without any danger, as the sharks and barracudas swim in glass enclosed areas.

Another feature of Discovery Cove is a chance to make a leisurely trip along a tropical river. The trip takes you through a rainforest environment complete with waterfalls, underwater caves and a freshwater lagoon. On the way you can also take in the sights of an interactive aviary, which is filled with more than 250 tropical birds. These colorful birds are tame and will come up and eat from your hand.

If you want another snorkeling experience you can go to the Ray Lagoon and swim among cow-nosed rays. These are gentle creatures that grow up to four feet in diameter.

As you might expect, this attraction is heavily in demand and admission is on a reservation only basis. The park offers a day package, and in the summer months, an evening package as well. At the present time the price for admission with the dolphin experience is $289 and a non dolphin admission is $189. Visit their website www.discoverycove.com for complete details and schedules, as well as for making your reservation.

So if you love aquatic adventures, then pack up your fins and snorkels and get ready to meet the dolphins at Discovery Cove.

mark whichard writes frequently about orlando tourism. he and his wife susan run http://www.disneyhomerentals.com and provide condo, vacation home and villa rentals for visitors to orlando, disney world and other attractions of south florida.

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