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| Location | Orlando, Florida, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 28°24′19.50″N81°27′42″W / 28.4054167°N 81.46167°W |
| Opened | July 1, 2000 |
| Owner | United Parks & Resorts |
| Operated by | United Parks & Resorts |
| Website | www |
Discovery Cove is a theme park owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts, and located in Orlando, Florida. It is the sister park of SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica Orlando. Visitors to the park can interact with a range of marine animals including bottlenose dolphins.
The main experience at Discovery Cove is swimming with a dolphin, where visitors can "talk, touch, play and swim" with bottlenose dolphins. [1]
The park contains a free-flight aviary, which contains over 250 tropical birds including parrots, toucans, and over 30 other species of exotic birds. [1] The heated Tropical River runs through the aviary and circles the park, allowing guests to float past an assortment of the Discovery Cove's beaches, waterfalls, and rainforest landscape. The Tropical River runs into the park's freshwater resort pool. [2]
In June 2011, the park expanded with the opening of The Grand Reef. This reef was needed due to the original reef having a persistent salt water leak, which affected the ground water, and replaced the original reef with Freshwater Oasis. [3] The Grand Reef features a white-sand beach, palm-lined island and underwater grottos filled with moray eels, reef sharks and scores of other tropical fish. Activities range from snorkeling with eagle rays to crossing a rope bridge over a shark-filled lagoon. [3]
In summer 2012, the park introduced the Freshwater Oasis. The area features water filled trails covered by a rainforest canopy that contains a viewing glass window featuring an exhibit for Asian small-clawed otters and an island in the center of the pool known as Primate Island containing White-headed marmosets. [4] [5]
Discovery Cove admission is all-inclusive [ clarification needed ] and options include tickets to SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Orlando, and Busch Gardens Tampa. Three different admission options are offered by the park, including the dolphin-swim, non-dolphin-swim and “Trainer for a Day” packages.[ citation needed ] Reservations for Discovery Cove are required and a maximum of 1300 guests can be present in the park at any one time. [2] Discounts are often available for Florida Residents. [6]
The National Aquarium – also known as National Aquarium in Baltimore and formerly known as Baltimore Aquarium – is a non-profit public aquarium located at 501 East Pratt Street on Pier 3 in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. Constructed during a period of urban renewal in Baltimore, the aquarium opened on August 8, 1981. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.5 million visitors and is the largest tourism attraction in the State of Maryland. The aquarium holds more than 2,200,000 US gallons (8,300,000 L) of water, and has more than 17,000 specimens representing over 750 species. The National Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the world's aquatic treasures. The aquarium's stated vision is to confront pressing issues facing global aquatic habitats through pioneering science, conservation, and educational programming.
SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by United Parks & Resorts. The parks feature orcas, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals.
Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than 11 million US gallons (42,000 m3) of water. It was the largest aquarium in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2012 when it was surpassed by the S.E.A. Aquarium in Singapore and the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China; the Georgia Aquarium remains the largest aquarium in the United States and the fourth largest in the world.
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded by Disney's River Country which closed in November 2001.
The Minnesota Zoo is an AZA-accredited zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota. The zoo is one of two state-supported zoos in the United States, with the other being the North Carolina Zoo. When it opened on May 22, 1978, it was fairly revolutionary in its exhibit design. The zoo, built in a suburbanizing rural area, had more space to house exhibits and was one of the first zoos to organize its animals by their living environment as opposed to their species.
Sea Life at Mall of America is a public aquarium located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. The 1.3 million-US-gallon aquarium contains thousands of aquatic creatures, including sea turtles, sharks, sawfish, stingrays, jellyfish and seahorses. There are eleven exhibits featured at the aquarium. The aquarium is highlighted by a 300-foot (91 m) 360° clear acrylic tunnel, which consists of four different areas housing both freshwater and salt water creatures.
Underwater World, also known as Underwater World Singapore Pte Ltd, was an oceanarium located on the offshore Singaporean island of Sentosa. It was opened on 13 May 1991 and closed on 26 June 2016.
SeaWorld Orlando is an animal theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Although separately gated, it is often promoted with neighboring parks Discovery Cove and Aquatica as well as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, all of which are owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. In 2022, SeaWorld Orlando hosted an estimated 4.45 million guests, ranking it the 10th most visited amusement park in the United States.
SeaWorld San Antonio is a 416-acre (168 ha) marine mammal park, oceanarium and animal theme park in the Westover Hills District of San Antonio, Texas, on the city's west side. It is the largest of the three parks in the SeaWorld chain owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. As North America's largest marine-life theme park, and one of the world's largest marine-life theme parks, it is focused on conservation, education and animal rescue. It is a member of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park located in Mission Bay Park, San Diego, California. Owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts, the theme park is an animal-focused marine mammal park, oceanarium, marine animal rehabilitation center, and aquarium.
The Texas State Aquarium is a nonprofit aquarium located in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It aims to promote environmental conservation and rehabilitation of the wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico. It has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1995. It is the largest aquarium in Texas and one of the largest aquaria in the United States.
A public aquarium (pl. aquaria) or public water zoo is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept by home aquarists, as well as smaller tanks.
Sodwana Bay is a bay in South Africa on the KwaZulu Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi. It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination. The term is commonly used to refer to both the marine reserve and the terrestrial park, as well as the geographical bay.
Dolphin Cove is a SeaWorld attraction, which can be found at SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego. The habitat holds about 700,000 US gallons (2,650,000 L) of water and is one of the largest dolphin pools in existence.
Sea Life Park Hawaii is a marine mammal park, bird sanctuary and aquarium in Waimānalo near Makapuʻu Point, north of Hanauma Bay on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, United States. The park first opened in 1964, and includes exhibits that let visitors interact with the animals by swimming with dolphins, sea lions, and rays, taking a sea safari in the aquarium, and feeding the sea turtles. The park was acquired in 2008 and is operated by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos from Dolphin Discovery, which had acquired it in 2005.
Turtle Trek was a 3D dome film projection theater located at SeaWorld Orlando in the United States. It was designed by Falcon's Treehouse and PGAV Destinations.
Aquatica is a chain of water parks owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. Aquatica parks are operating in Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas.
The fauna of the United States Virgin Islands consists of 144 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, 302 species of fish and 7 species of amphibians. The wildlife of the U.S.V.I. includes numerous endemic species of tropical birds, fish, and land reptiles as well as sea mammals. The only endemic land mammals are six species of native bats: the greater bulldog bat, Antillean fruit-eating bat, red fruit bat, Brazilian free-tailed bat, velvety free-tailed bat and the Jamaican fruit bat. Some of the nonnative land mammals roaming the islands are the white-tailed deer, small Asian mongoose, goats, feral donkeys, rats, mice, sheep, hogs, dogs and cats.
The Utría National Natural Park is a national park in the Chocó Department, Colombia. It contains diverse flora and fauna in a lush, mountainous rainforest environment with some of the highest rainfall in the world, at up to 10,000 millimetres (390 in) annually. The park also protects the coastal marine environment, and is known for visits by humpback whales, who give birth in the lagoon after which the park is named, and sea turtles who nest on the beaches. There is accommodation for visitors, and ecotourism services are provided by the local indigenous people and members of the coastal Afro-Colombian communities.
