If Discovery Cove had a mayor, the man who’s known to wear dress shoes on the sand would be it.
"Orlando is so famous for all of the amazing parks that we have in town here, but we wanted to differentiate ourselves,” said Stewart Clark, the Vice President of Discovery Cove.
Clark joined the 30-acre swim-with-dolphins park well before Discovery Cove opened 15 years ago. One of his greatest accomplishments as vice president is sharing what visitors can't see, called "Rising Tide."
"We collect eggs in the reef, and then we partner with the University of Florida and we're raising those fish up and learning more about them,” Clark shared.
The mission of the Rising Tide Conservation project is to protect reefs in the oceans of the world by creating ways to raise ornamental fish commercially. This would provide an alternative to collecting fish from reefs in ocean waters (learn more here).
At Discovery Cove, even the sunscreen is formulated to be safe for the fish, and provided to visitors at no additional charge.
The park is now ranked as the number one theme park in the world by Trip Advisor, for specializing in custom experiences and one-on-one time with dolphins.
Since opening in 2000, new additions have been added. A new saltwater reef, a freshwater stream and the “SeaVenture” experience where visitors wear futuristic-looking helmets and descend to the floor of the reef, where they come face-to-face with tropical fish and even curious sharks.
"We felt like we were in Hawaii,” said Kristen Ronanoski, visiting from Texas with her family. The family now has a swim with dolphins experience to look forward to closer to their home.
SeaWorld Parks and Resorts is taking what they learned at Discovery Cove and recreating a piece of it in Texas.
“Discovery Point” will not be its own park, rather offer swim-with-dolphin experiences as part of the existing Texas park.
University of Central Florida professor Duncan Dickson teaches classes in theme park management at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He said a smaller addition makes sense.
"Going at it slow in that market is the wiser thing to do, because you're looking at a much more regional park in terms of guest demographic,” Dickson said of SeaWorld Texas in San Antonio. He mentioned the Texas park is located in an area that does not see tourism levels like Orlando, Los Angeles and New York City.
As for new additions back at home, the mayor of Discovery Cove is quick to smile.
"We never know what's next. We talk about it and we're planning all kinds of great things,” Clark teased.
Dickson said some of his students have done projects on what additions could benefit Discovery Cove, a park that admits only 1,300 guests a day. A spa-like massage experience in a tropical setting, along with a ropes course, were both ideas that rose to the top of the class exercise, according to the professor.