Discovery Cove Ticket Redesign

[goofballs]

I have really wanted to do DC for a number of years. Finally convinced my spouse that April 2019 would be perfect - kids a good age and we can check out SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens to make it worth the $.

And then DC goes and changes the pricing structure... No more 14-days of visits to the other parks. Now a 2 or 3-day add.

I am seriously bummed.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

That is disappointing news. That really added to the value of a DC ticket. The 14 day unlimited pass worked perfectly for us on our two week trips in the summer. We hop over to Aquatica to cool off in the middle of the day several times and go to Seaworld over a few different days for just a couple hours at a time. We definitely made use of it. I'm bummed to see this perk go too.

 

[jaceraden]

Uh oh. I am halfway through planning a trip for 7 friends for next March. I bought 4 of the DC tickets. Now half of my group won't have the awesome ticket. What do I do?????

 

[mjhtvchick]

You may still be able to get it - have a look at this post under the Discovery Cove sticky:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/discovery-cove-general-information.3587710/page-3#post-59460141

 

[goofballs]

You may still be able to get it - have a look at this post under the Discovery Cove sticky:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/discovery-cove-general-information.3587710/page-3#post-59460141

Thank you! I will try to call on Monday. Fingers crossed that we will be able to get the old offer. Yes they lowered the DC price (-$30 for our dates), but the SW/Aquatica are +$40 for just 2 days instead of up to 14.

 

[Amysita]

Well this just stinks! I was planning a DC vacay next May, and was counting on the unlimited admission to SW & Aquatica to spend a total of 3 days @ SW & 1 day @ Aquatica. My 3rd day @ SW, I was going to add a couple of tours, & a dine w/ Shamu meal. Now that the max I can add is 3 days, that will be 2 days @ SW, and 1 day @ Aquatica...with no add-ons. There just won't be enough time. Their loss, I suppose...I would have spent more money there under the old paradigm.

 

[briemer99]

This sounds like a pretty ridiculous jump, regardless of the price... from up to 14 days to a max of 3?! When we did DC we spent 2 days EACH at SW, Aquatica and BG and still didn't manage to do everything. Hopefully they revert back to the old format eventually.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi I am with everyone. We were planning this next June for my DD's graduation. We were going to use the Sea World parks only as our trip. It was such a great deal. Now back to the drawing board. I am so bummed.

 

[HopperFan]

First SW raises their parking prices, now they pull what really helped folks justify the DC price. I mean SW is not crowded. If you don't "pay" to get in you tend to spend money on parking, food, drink, goodies ........ now they will lose that. If I go to DC, I'm not paying more to go to SW. They need a reality check that when you are the park that is struggling and trying to keep above water .... you don't shoot the foot of those that can bring cash flow.

 

[shh]

We were planning a DC visit based upon the extra days at SW and AQ - but will probably pass now that they've changed it. We never went for longer trips like many here so didn't use the full 14 days or anywhere close, but as an animal lover, to me, SW definitely merited 2 days minimum on its own, (three during halloween weekends ) with at least 1 day for AQ.

WDW and UO can do whatever and charge whatever they want and the throngs will still visit. SW needs to be much more careful - they're not a "destination" park like the above two. They're an "add on" for most visitors. Many guests will drop them without a 2nd thought if they start nickel and diming with parking increases, less value, etc.

 

[McKelly]

When is this ticket change supposed to start? Because on their website - it states 2 and 3 park package - but then it says 14 days of unlimited admission. Is it just 14 days to the two or three parks you pick? I interpreted it, 1 day at Discovery Cove and then 2-3 days only at the other parks. Which is correct?

https://discoverycove.com/orlando/pricing/

 

[CAPSLOCK]

They changed it in the last few days.

It looks like they are offering either the cheaper price w/o other parks, or the old package with 14 days unlimited to SW & Aquatica, or the old "ultimate" package with 14 days access to SW, Aquatica, and BG and free parking.

So in effect they are making their unpopular change optional, with the original pricing and packages available again as an upgrade. Which actually is a great idea, and a benefit to those who didn't take advantage of the other parks anyways.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Which actually is a great idea, and a benefit to those who didn't take advantage of the other parks anyways.

To be honest, I think there are more folks that fall into this category than anyone realizes. Countless times over the years, I've read comments from people on this board saying that they didn't plan to use the complimentary admission to SW & Aquatica that came with their tickets to Discovery Cove (especially those who are adding DC to a Disney trip, and who won't give up any more of their vacation days to non-Disney parks). So I'm quite sure that Discovery Cove had probably as many people complain about the fact that they were paying for package entitlements that they didn't plan to use as much as they had people furious over the discontinuance of the complimentary admission.

 

[jaceraden]

That's an interesting take and it makes me feel a little better. Though not tons better since my family was planning on using the 14 days (or a large chunk of it) for our next trip.

Edit: Well nevermind to most of my comment. It looks like it changed again and you have the 14 day option back. Phew!

 

[mom2rose&john]

That is great news. We love the ultimate package. When we purchased last time we were there only a week but it was a dedicated DC, SW, Aquatica and BG trip. Food, drinks and souvenier $$ were spent in the parks.

 

[goofballs]

Phew is right. I was trying to figure out how inthe world to save our trip! DH was not going to be on board without the 14-day park tickets

 

[Disneytam]

As I stated on another page I received an email from Discovery Cove for a $179 swim with the dolphins package. I called to book a mid October trip for my son and told that I could book the 14 day Sea World, Aquatica etc. add on but I couldn't get the birthday discount price of $179. It would be $230. With the $179 price I could pay $40 to add on two park days. Since they only planned on doing two parks anyway (1 day each Sea World and Aquitica) we did the $40 add on. The tickets were emailed right to him. I booked this on July 27 and the person I spoke with said there was all kinds of confusion over the new pricing.

 

[goofballs]

The re-redesign pricing model is a head-scratcher.
The add-on price for 14 days of Sea World and Aquatica is +$30.
Add Busch gardens and free parking for another +$25.
So if you are only doing DC, buy that only. If you are doing SW/A, buy the +$30, and the +$55 for one person if going to the add-on part is for more than one visit (parking is $22/day).
Am I missing something?

 

[jaceraden]

I suppose you're only missing something if you're saying something I don't understand.

example
DC day only= 199
Trip with DC + 14 days SW and A = 230
Trip with DC + 14 days SW, A, BG, parking = 255
(DC day with dolphin swim, in case someone wonders about the $$)

 

[goofballs]

So if I am a party of 4 and plan to do DC with swim, 2 SW days, and 1 Aquatica day, I should buy 3@230, 1@255?