This may be a little long, but i will proceed with what happened to us this year!
We got to Orlando on March 8th (Mon) we were there until March 19th, (Friday) we booked Discovery Cove for March 12th (Friday) knowing we had a week if the weather was bad. We booked it with my brother, his wife and son, they booked to do the dolphin swim, my family (2 adults, 2 kids) booked to do just the park. We had been last Feb and did the dolphin swim so just wanted to enjoy the serenity of the park. We booked with them, cause online, it says you have to have at least 1 person in your party doing the swim. We also used a discount code TNC09 our rate without the swim was $124, and my brothers was $224. Which compared to regular prices was good.
The day before we were to go (thurs) was the day there was tornado warnings, and rain, rain ,and more rain. It was calling for it to continue into the next day with thundershowers. I phoned DC and asked them what could be done if indeed Friday was miserable and what they called for. They said I could change my day over the phone, so I asked what was available, they gave me some dates, and I said alright, I will talk to my brother and call back. I did just that, called back with the day to switch to, and they told me there might be a change in price, came back on the phone and told me that there was a price increase of over $500 I said I don't think so. Told me that because we were due to come in on the last day before spring break price increases we would have to pay the difference. I was livid. Don't get me wrong it is a nice park, but right on there website, it states, 1 complimentary change, but they were not honoring that.
She then said the other alternative was to come in the morning, even if it was crappy weather, and they would see about switching us free of charge, cause we can't go in the water with lightening. So we got up early Friday, I called the park, cause it was storming out, thunder and so on, and they told me over the phone that they were still open, and that if there was any lightening, they would just pull us out of the water until it was over. It thought I am not paying this kind of money to go sit in the rain, especially when we were going to enjoy the park. So my brother decided to pay the difference for the 3 of them, and change his date, which cost him an additional $209 on top of what he already paid. I held fast and said I wasn't paying the difference, and wanted my complimentary date change, I went back and forth with them between emails, and phone calls, they finally agreed to let me change my date at no extra cost, and would hold my ressie for up to 1 year. Which was great but the didn't resolve this until Weds afternoon, so the only day we could go was Thurs, and it 68 and cool that day. We had to fly home Friday morning. We were not planning on going to Florida next year at all, we have been 3 years in a row, we planned on somewhere different next winter. Now we are going back to Orlando next year to use our DC day.
My brother, being the whole ressie was on his credit card, ended up getting a refund back of $209 that he had paid extra, so it helped him with my struggle with them, but I have to take another trip to FL, to use mine.
Just an FYI so everyone knows. Sorry it is so long!