Introduction

Uhhh, there was this little problem with the Orlando Police Department. Something about ‘mooning’ the restaurant patrons looking through the windows in the aquarium. --- Put several people off their $25 fish sticks and traumatized a couple dozen children. They'll be in therapy until 2030! <G>

Ok, OK, serious now. <G> (Yea RIGHT!) -- Here goes!

While in Ft. Lauderdale for business, I decided to hop on up to Orlando and do the Disney Epcot Center aquarium dive. –- DiveQuest! (8/99)

Got to Orlando and got a cab to Epcot in time for the last session of the day and did the Dive! Got free transportation from Epcot by Orlando Sheriff's department! <G> --- OK, no more lies from here on!<G>

Last updated: 5/2/04

The Dive - Getting Ready

There were 8 of us for the session at 5:30. (they run a 4:30 session too) The Divemaster took us through a gate to the back-lot, and gave us a tour of the aquarium facility. Filters, holding tanks, research buildings, etc. We then saw a short video about what we'd see on the dive and how to behave. (i.e. ALL the coral is fake so you can handle anything but the critters in the tank.) I was also pleased to find out that a portion of the fee ($140) goes to the marine conservation fund that Disney runs.

We had a nice locker and shower facility to change from street clothes to wetsuits. All SCUBA gear is provided (Sherwood with Body Glove shorties and Al 63 with 3,000lbs), but you can bring your own mask if you have a prescription in it. (I did) No other personal gear or cameras are allowed on the dive. 

They walk you out to the public part of the aquarium and through a "secret" door to stairs that take you up to a gear-up platform above the aquarium. There is an artificial ledge jutting out from the platform, where the water is about 3 feet deep. Your gear is there all set up at the edge of the water. They DO make you wear too much weight. For me, 10lbs on the belt and 4lbs on the tank.  

You sit down on the platform to get in your dive gear with your legs dangling down into the water. As this is where the fish get fed, they see your legs and fins and assume that it is feeding time. All of a sudden you have all these little, and not so little, fish swarming around your legs. I thought it was fun, but the woman next to me didn't like the small sting rays mouthing the water in front of us. After she got in, she had a great time. 

Next, you stand up and shuffle to the edge of the ledge. They have a "down line" on a buoy 30 feet or so out from the ledge. You all swim out and go down the line in a group. For liability, they have the Divemaster, a safety diver and the video cameraman in the water with the 8 guests. 

The Dive

The aquarium is 27 ft deep, so with a oyster shell bottom layer, your actual dive depth is 25 ft. They take you on a group tour of the aquarium first and they do the "standard" video shots of everyone, so you'll all want to buy the video ($35). Then they let you go off in pre-arranged buddy teams of two or three to do whatever you want. The video guy gets various 'grab' shots during this free time. 

There is a dolphin in an adjoining tank separated from the main aquarium by steel bars running from the surface to the bottom. You are asked not to approach the bars as the dolphin can be aggressive. We were told about how they use the dolphins for marine research and how they are trained to let themselves be weighed in a small connected pool.

They have two Caribbean brown reef sharks (8ft or so) and two HUGE green sea turtles (450 lbs). They had about 2200 fish when I was there. They mentioned that they were re-building their stock as they'd drained the aquarium last year to change the bottom layer of clumped up dolomite. They normally said they have over 10,000 fish in it. Even with less critters I had REAL fun! 

One of the best parts is interacting with the kids and adults on the outside. I even turned a summersault and barrel-roll for the crowd. The Epcot monorail cuts through the aquarium and you can wave at the riders through acrylic panes on the top (see picture above to see the monorail tunnel from the top) and sides of the tunnel as they pass through. Cool!!

One of the attractions they have is an underwater habitat (dome) where you swim underneath and can pop up into; take your mask off and shout real loud. The cameraman, takes a shot of everyone doing this and you can actually hear yourself on the tape. Neat!!

They also have a small debris field of "canon balls" that you can lift and pass back and forth. Who knows if they were REAL canon balls. <G>

They give you 63 cft. tanks (small by my standards) and tell you to signal the Divemaster when you get to 500 lbs, so he can send you up. They actually only let you dive for :40, so I had about 1100 lbs left when he signaled for any of us still in the water to ascend. Truth be known, you've seen it all in :40, but I could have played a bit longer.

Après Dive

They then take you to the showers and you get dressed again. They even give you this fancy bio-something shampoo for your hair. LOTS of hot water too. I could have stayed in the shower forever. 

You then go upstairs to the briefing room and get your DiveQuest Certificate and get your Dive Log book stamped; if you want. You have a soft drink, coffee, tea or hot chocolate while you view the video they just took and edited. Of COURSE I bought one. There is a GREAT shot of me with one of the giant sea turtles passing behind me!!! (see video captures at left)

They then turn you loose to roam Epcot as you like. As the DiveQuest fee covers general Epcot entrance, you don't have to pay an additional entrance fee so you can stay in the park until closing. The whole DiveQuest "experience" was about 3 hours. 

All-in-all, it was worth it. I doubt I'd do it again, but it is fun to look at the video. The screen captures you see here are from the DiveQuest video tape I purchased. I used an Intel Webcam and software that captures still frames off video. 

Btw, there is an fake orange coral in the shape of Mickey's face. A 'Hidden Mickey'.

Please feel free to contact me (see below, right) to ask questions or advice. 

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Email me at timboyd1 at yahoo.com
 
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