An Awesome 1st Post-Certification Dive Site!

[mermaidmd]

Walt Disney World's Epcot center is home to the most amazing experience I've had since getting certified a few months ago. Called Disney's Dive Quest experience, it's a well-organized behind the scenes tour and 1 hour Scuba Dive in their Giant Ocean Tank known as "The Living Seas". I highly recommend it for divers of any level, but it's especially well suited to newbies. The staff is highly experienced and reassuring, the ratio of staff to guests is 1:3 on our dive. All of the equipment is all provided, ScubaPro gear in excellent condition, and they pride themselves on being able to swap out a tank in 10 seconds. The tank is only 25 feet deep, the temperature is wonderful, around 75 degrees F. There is no current, the visibility is simply 100%...the critters are plentiful. We swam with several sea turtles, many species of fish I can't name, and of course, the requisite scary big-toothed sharks! They were really interesting, and, well, if not exactly friendly, at least they are well fed!
Does anyone know of any other such venues for a Scuba experience?

 

[goaliemn]

Underwater Adventures at Mall of America in Minneapolis has the same thing. Its a dive in the freshwater tank, where you feed the fish and other creatures, then a 2nd dive in the shark tank. its about 20 ft deep and pretty fun. Plus, saying you dove in the middle of December in Minnesota with a wetsuit is kinda fun

 

[doctormike]

Yup, Dive Quest rocks...! A lot of people kind of look down on it, but I think that it is terrific, I have done it three times. What I think is cool isn't the fish or the reef or the great "conditions", but rather:

1) You get to go behind the scenes at Disney World. DW is SUCH a well organized place (in both good and bad ways), that it is pretty cool to see some of the inner workings of the park.

2) You get to be part of the Disney cast. I loved interacting with the kids at the windows... we get kind of jaded about diving after a while, but to these kids it is amazing to see a diver up close, especially one that is playing around with them. Posing for photos, playing patty-cake through the glass, goofing around and doing flips, talking with them in sign language.... all great. A few of the really young ones are scared of the whole thing, but most of the kids think that it's a terrific show. As long as they aren't so old (i.e. teenagers) that they think that they are too "cool" to take part in the fun..

 

[me_diver]

Hi,
Curious how much this costs and how you got tickets?
We are going to hopefully newly certified when we go down to Fl to see the Space Shuttle launch in March, and we were going to do Epcot for a day when we were down there.

 

[Mopar]

Sounds awsome. Let us know how much it costs. I will be taking my son to Disney this summer.

 

[jjjameson]

I looked at it as a possible "different" experience next time I go to Epcot with my kid, it costs $175. 3 hour tour/program, with a 40 minute dive.

 

[doctormike]

It was $140 the last time I did it, but I guess it has gone up a bit. You need to reserve it ahead of time, they were doing two afternoon dives each day.

Here is the info page with the reservation number:

Epcot DiveQuest | Walt Disney World Resort

Enjoy!

 

[mermaidmd]

I agree the interaction with the people watching the tank was indeed fun...and the behind-the-scenes tour was impressive. I keep a small marine aquarium in my dental office (yep, I have a Nemo), so I have a good idea of how much work it is to keep such a habitat so clean and well functioning. It's a chance to see the dolphins and manatees up close as well.
I called WDW directly (1-407-939-8687) to book the tour, the cost was $175 pp, and we were in the water for a solid hour. There were 3 time slots: 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 pm. My personal conclusion to the time choices was that the Coral Reef restaurant is busiest during those hours and the tank is the dining room's main attraction. I can't help smiling at the irony of eating seafood in a tankside restaurant!
When I called WDW, they told me that they were only booking this tour within a 90 day window. Since I wanted to do it the day after Christmas, I made sure I called ON the first available date. At that time there was plenty of availability, and at dive time, there were 18 divers in the tank on the tour. With 4 dive-masters and a professional videographer in the water with us, it still never felt crowded. The camera man did a very professional job of making a 20 minute DVD of our dive. Each diver gets a good amount of face time with the camera, and if you have friends/family dining in the Coral Reef at the time you're in the water, the photographer makes sure to get a shot of you in front of the window with them in the background...it's extremely well done, and a unique souvenir, well worth the additional $35. It's produced and ready for you as you are ending your tour, they take cash and credit/debit cards.
I have since googled aquarium diving, and found there are more places to do it than I'd thought...more things to add to the bucket list!

 

[k374]

I believe the Georgia Aquarium does this as well...too bad there is no such thing here on the west coast, I would love to try it out

 

[tiger shark]

Hey , that sounds great! My wife and I were in Atlanta year before last and went to the Georgia Aquarium and like k374 said they offer a similar dive experience. We were told that this Aquarium was the largest inland aquarium in the world! I wasn't certified when we visited there but I would love to go back and take advantage of their tank dive adventure. Being up close to the Whale Sharks they have their would be an unforgetable experience.The cost last year was $325.00 per person for a 2.5 hr program and a 30 min. dive. Their website is Georgia Aquarium | Atlanta Attractions | Things To Do Atlanta and ph. # is (404)581-4000.