Disney's DiveQuest
One of the many hidden treasures (and there are many) of Walt Disney World is Disney’s DiveQuest. Here you will take part of one of the most unique experiences Disney has to offer. DiveQuest is a full interactive adventure offered in Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Yes that is right, you will be scuba diving in Disney’s massive 5.7 million gallon aquarium that houses the Finding Nemo attraction as well as the Coral Reef restaurant. Just how big is an aquarium that size you may ask? (I know I did). Let me put it this way. The Seas is big enough to not only house Spaceship Earth (the big golf ball), but also have enough room for a school bus to be able to drive around it. That’s big!!! It’s not the open sea but once your down you may feel like it. Now scuba diving is one of my wife and I’s favorite activities. To me their is nothing in the world like it. You get to experience and see things that the majority of the human population get to. With that being said I have to admit it I was pretty apprehensive about the dive. I mean lets face it this isn’t Cozumel. I have dove sunken Navy vessels and this is an over glorified fish tank. But I figured I hadn’t dove in a while so why not. For $175 I figured it was at least some form of diving and I could say I’d done it. But before we jump in too deep there are some requirements. You have to be at least 10 years or age and be a certified diver. Children in the 10-12 range must be accompanied by a paying adult. Now since I met both of these requirements I was good to go. Upon arrival you are given a backstage look at how the Seas filters and maintains an artificial ocean environment that is inhabited by over 6000 different forms of sea life that aren’t named Nemo from sea turtles to sharks. Yes, I just said sharks. This was also something I was very apprehensive about and to be honest that feeling didn’t go away until I was down below with them for a while, but we’ll get to that. After the tour you will meet with the dive master to go over some rules and discuss the dive. The entire process is roughly three hours including the 40 min dive time. Once everything has been gone over you are then outfitted with all your provided gear( wetsuit, mask, unlimited tanks, fins, etc), and are accompanied to the platform where your dive will begin. Once below you will be given a quick guided your, and are then free to explore as you will. It’s not until you get in there that you start to realize just how big the tank really is and how much there is to explore. You could almost get lost down there. Ok, back to the sharks. As I was saying it took a while for my apprehension to go away from being down there with these creatures. After all I have seen Shark Week, just not a real shark (at least not one that wasn’t separated from me by 3” glass). But after a while you realize that these sharks want less to do with you than you want to do with them. They are amazing creatures and was an incredible experience to swim along side of them in such a controlled environment. Now the sea turtle on the other hand is an entirely different beast. We are told up top to get out of his way if he was coming. They were not lying. That dude will flat run you over. I learned quickly that this was his house. I decided to leave him alone as beautiful as he was and concentrate on the other inhabitants like the sting rays. Those were very cool and surprisingly gentle creatures. After playing around with them for a while we decided to really explore the aquarium. Part of the fun of this is suddenly you realize you have become part of the attraction. Flash bulbs are going off as the guests in the observation areas as well as those dining in the Coral Reef just think you are part of the show. It was really fun interacting with the kids on the other side of the glass wondering what kind of fish you are. One of the things I love most about scuba diving is that you get to see the word from different angle and perspective and DiveQuest was no different. Here we got to see Disney in a completely different light. Again, this is not like diving in the Caribbean. This is different, it’s Disney.
Nick Poche’
Avid Disney fan, husband to Tiffany, father of three, Brock, Bailey, and Brennan. Lover of travel and blogger for the We Dream of Disney and Beyond Blog.