Kenversations™
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Time to Meet Flipper
Only my eleven-year-old nephew and I had the dolphin interaction package. We were placed in a group and given a little education and explanation about dolphins and what we were going to be doing. Then, it was off to the water!

Two trainers took us out as a group into water that was shallow enough for us all to stand in, and introduced us to our dolphin. We were encouraged to touch him. Each person was taken out away from the group for some time with the dolphin, including hitching a ride on the dolphin back to the rest of the group.

In exchange for playing with us and practicing tricks, the dolphin was rewarded with fish (guests were allowed the honor), ice, poured water, and petting.

A younger dolphin not assigned to any group approached us, and our dolphin got a little territorial, giving her a gentle nudge and cutting her off.

Park employees take videos and digital pictures of you to sell you at extra cost. They don’t give out digital copies of the pictures, because they are hoping you will by more copies later. So, the pictures here were taken by digital camera, printed out, and then scanned, and thus aren’t quite as good as I’d like.

Overall, though it was a wonderful experience, and for me, it was worth the extra cost.

I swear I’m not that pale

But Wait - There’s More!
The saltwater in the coral reef area and the neighboring ray pool was a little chilly, unlike the rest of the water in the park. Stingrays of all sizes and all sorts of tropical fish fill the coral reef area. Sharks can be seen behind an invisible wall of glass. I spent more time enjoying this part of the park than any other section.

The "freshwater" pool is part of a lazy river loop, including caves behind a wide waterfall. The floor in the deeper areas has "artifacts" strewn about here and there for subtle theming. Part of the river takes guests directly under a then waterfall, which is actually a water curtain marking your entry into the aviary.

More than once, I climbed up the stair to hang out inside the aviary. The first time I did, a bird quickly perched itself on my shoulder and started to nip at my earlobe. Sometimes, all a person would have to do is hold out their arm and a tropical bird would land on it.

Park employees keep watch and hand out food for the birds to guests.

At the end of the day, we were surveyed about our visit. My sister’s verdict: worth the price and they were definitely going to come back.

The price is quite reasonable when you factor in that it provides admission to Sea World Orlando for seven consecutive days before or after your visit to DC.

Is Discovery Cove the example for the future of theme parks? Time will tell.

Back to the Mouse
Sunday, it was back to Disney. Our first park of the day was Disney-MGM Studios. My mother had flown in the night before, and was joining us for a few days, so we now had a caravan of two cars.

I picked up FastPasses for Rock n’ Rollercoaster (RNR) while the rest of the group got in line for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (TOT).

TOT, of course, is one of the best Disney attractions yet; a beautiful marriage of theme, story, and thrill, with the physical trills coming at the climax of the story. I don’t ride a lot of thrill rides due to my acrophobia (which seems to be waning as of late), so when I do, it is a treat.

I noticed the "see yourself in the ride" effect isn’t working. "We can put a man on the moon…"

We had some time after TOT before we could use our FastPasses for RNR, so we took in the Great Movie Ride, which I love except for the really "rough" ending of the film montage. The witch is still an impressive use of AA technology.

We walked back to RNR to use our FastPasses. I love the launch, the loops, and the on-board sound, but it just seems so short. I prefer California Screamin’ at Disney’s California Adventure, even though it only has one loop.

Having done all we wanted to do at the Studios, we took the boat launch from the Studios to the International Gateway at EC to grab some food at another great all-you-can-eat restaurant at the Germany pavilion. Unlike Akershus in the Norway Pavilion, desert is included.

When the performers called for people to come up and dance, my eleven-year-old nephew, a born performer, was the only one to heed the call. The crowd started clapping for him, and he became too self-conscious and quit before we could get any video evidence. Ah, the awkward ‘tween years.

We saw the American Adventure, one of the all-time best Disney attractions. This attraction almost always tugs at my heart, most strongly when the film montage shows JFK Jr. saluting his father’s casket (JFK Jr. was alive and well when this clip was added) and the Vietnam memorial. The applause at the end of the show was more intense than in the past, a response to the terrorist attacks.

By the time we decided to leave, the only way to get back to the Studios parking lot was to walk from one of the EC Resorts, a negative side-effect of short operating hours. A security cast member ended up picking up most of the group part of the way through the Studios parking lot and driving them to the cars. As a guest, I’d wanted a bus back to the Studios and a tram ride to our cars. As a shareholder, I wanted to know why it was okay to pay a security cast member to do this but not a bus driver or tram driver.