Hello DRchris,
We have to been to both, Everyone seems to promote Dolphin Island because it's in open water,but still they are caged in.
We thought Manatee park was much better, we swam with the Dolphins for about 20 minutes, the dolphins pulled the girls in the water and were much more playful. We didn't feel rushed with them at all and there were 6 people in the pool with 3 dolphins.
I was able to take as many pictures as I wanted, and of course they had pictures you could purchase, with 2 dolphins giving you a big smooch one on each cheek!!
I bought the cd from Dolphin Island and came home and it was corrupt, there were no pictures on the CD, which was sad!! And because you are not allowed to take any pictures from the sidelines we didn't end up with Any.
We spent almost a full Day at Manatee park, we encountered a couple of snakes on out trail our guide was quick to shoo them off...it was awesome, I felt like we were walking through the jungle...they have some amazing birds, the Toucans were very cool, one was trying to get at my daughters hair...Overall Manatee Park will leave you pleasantly fulfilled, our bus dropped us off at 10:00 am, and we left at 6 but we weren't ready to leave!!