dive quest at epcot - report

[BabyDuck]

d a aquamaster and i did the dive quest at disney's epcot tuesday. it was a blast!

we met the rest of the group at guest relations at epcot. there was me, larry, and a group of 4 - a guy who was an instructor, his gf, and her two older teenage daughters. yep, just 6 of us. there was a behind-the-scenes tour of the filtration system, feeding areas, and the aquarium itself. after a little film of what to expect and signing waivers, we changed into swim suits and shorties. all equipment is provided - all you're allowed to bring of your own is computer and mask. too bad fins aren't included in that list, but we'll get to that.

the platform into the water is on top of one of the viewing areas into the aquarium. we put on fins (splits for larry - HAHAHAHAHA!! and those slingshot type for me, ick) and our scubapro bc's. i've never dove with a stab jacket before, so i was a bit worried. we all agreed that rule six was suspended for the duration. our weighting was guessed by the dm's, and mine was a bit light, but there were drop weights on the down line, so with a couple extra pounds all was good. we went down the line.

there was a videographer taking shots of everyone as we did a 10min or so tour with the guide. they had told us to be all animated for the video, but that's just against my diving religion of being quiet & i couldn't do much, but i was definitely more lively than larry. you could see the people on the other side, both in the restaurant and the exhibit areas. they would wave & take pictures, and we'd wave back & do flips & barrel rolls.

let me just say for the record that those slingshot fins suck. i could make them frog, but not with power because they'd 'sling' just when i needed them to stay stiff, and they had no backup gear *at all*. sigh. but other than that, the gear wasn't in the way. my first stab jacket dive was a success!

the sharks and fish were pretty cool. the big pleasure to me was the turtle - i've seen sharks and fish, but not ended up close to a turtle before.

after 40 minutes, we got out. we left the gear to the dm's and took a shower. we got those drawstring backpacks and 3x shirts (because they have some big shirts left over from when they gave shirts) and saw our video. yep, i bought one. i'd have bought a divequest pin, too, but there aren't any.

a very nice time. we had a lot of fun.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

As Marci states, you can't bring your own fins. For me, it was a chance to again confirm that Jet Fins rock and split fine suck. I was issued a pair of Twin Jet Max fins while Marci got Sea Wing Novas (the slingshotty things). As Marci indicated they don't have a reverse gear and frog kicks were possible but not as elegant or very efficient.

Otherwise I give them high marks for equipment with Scubapro weight integrated BCs, shorty wetsuits and Atomic regulators.

The whole experience starts with a briefing on whats in the aquarium and how it all looks to the crowd with an emphasis on a need to project a good conservation image as the viewers will think you are cast members. There is also a video followed by a trip to the locker room to ge into a wet suit. Then its a walking tour of the backstage operations at the aquarium, a visit to the dolphin "rest" area and the manatee rehab program. All very interesting and well worth the time.

Then it was into the pool for a 40 minute dive. They give you an AL 63 and on average with only 25' max depth you should have a thousand or so psi left at the end, but they advised if someone hit 500 psi they'd quickly swap them into another tank, so hoovers are not going to miss out.

The dive itself was fun. For obvious reasons the resident fish are not shy but if you aren't feeding them they also don't swarm you and the net affect was being treated like one of the regular inhabitants.

The interesting critters are the people in the viewing areas, restaurant and conference room outside the aquarium glass.

The whole experience is around 3 hours with 4:30 or 5:30 pm slot times that have to be reserved in advance. A 6:30 slot is available for groups that want to reserve (and pay for) the whole session.
Our group was interesting in that 3 of us were cave or tech divers and 3 were fresh out of OW class. And to there credit they did very well in the water.

After the dive you shower and debrief, by which time they have edited a video for you - the same video you watched before but with your group inserted into the diving segments.

Overall it was great fun and worth the cost. The only negatives are the fins, the guesstimated weighting (they badly overweighted me) and a shortage of the CD's with your video - in our case they assumed we were in two groups and burnt two CDs when they could have sold 4.

 

[fjpatrum]

Thank you both for the review. I've been thinking about doing this during my upcoming spring trip. Did you happen to notice if they had full suits? Shorties probably won't do for me...

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I didn't notice anything but shorties. But the water temp is a snuggly 78 degrees.

 

[BabyDuck]

One of the folks after us had a full suit. She was preggers & going to snorkel instead of dive, so I have no idea if they're available upon request or only for pregnant folks or only for snorkelers or what.

 

[Davemohio]

Thanks for the great reports.

I wondered what diving there would be like. Sounds fun.

I don't own the slingshots myself. Like the straight paddle types.

But I like the way I could turn with the slingshots. The "bands" take some getting used to.

I would not be very animated either. I am way too serious.

 

[Doubler]

Cost?

At first I thought she was using a Dual Hose and wondering how they allowed that.

 

[Chris12day]

Sorry,
I did not enjoy the experience. I had about 50 ocean dives prior to the experience
The personnel were great and the equipment was all in excellent condition. Only shortees were available and no outside equipment was allowed except mask and fins.
The environment was way too sterile for me. The “dive leader” escorted the divers through the tank and then into a “dive bubble” for a picture without your mask. Then you were allowed to swim on your own for about 20 minutes before given the sign to surface.
The only real enjoyment for me was waving to a few kids eating lunch in one of the restaurants, but that excitement ends quickly.
If you are a brand new diver or one who “never” seems to see underwater creatures, do for it. If you have any experience, I would skip it.
Safe diving!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It sounds like there have been some changes since you went.

The air bell is in the parking lot being rebuilt.

The Tour portion of the dive is now less than 10 minutes and it's major purpose is to set divers up for convenient video shots to be incorporated in the video, and they are upfront about that.

It really isn't about seeing underwater critters, it's about seeing how an aquarium operates and to some extent how the fish are different given the different level of human interaction, and especially at Disney, it's about seeing how the public responds with you more or less being a "cast member".

In that regard it's a unique diving experience - and I say that from the perspective of 27 years of recreational, technical and commercial diving in freshwater, saltwater, caves, wrecks, rivers, under the ice, in two oceans, the gulf of mexico and the great lakes.

Maybe if you'd had a few thousand dives rather than 50, you'd have better appreciated what was unique about it.

 

[grantwiscour]

I haven't been to Epcot or Disney. I usually go someplace to scuba but what they've got going on sounds kinda fun. We dive in some places that a crawdad wouldn't live just to dive. I agree with DA...and I try to remember to keep all dives in context. I can't dive the Vandenburg this weekend but if I can brave some cold water I can dive locally this weekend or any other.