AAA Colorado ~ EnCompass Magazine

January | February 2007
Volume 81 Issue 1

Feature Article

Diving Disney
Take to the sea with Disney's DiveQuest
By Janna Graber

© Disney

The Disney cast member staring at me has puffy cheeks and bulging eyes. His thick, hardened lips move his mouth open and closed as he inspects me with a look of indifference.

But I'm not intimidated; in fact, I'm intrigued. It's not every day that you come face-to-face with a Goliath grouper, especially one that spends his days entertaining visitors at Disney World.

My new marine friend is part of Epcot's Living Seas, said to be the world's largest saltwater aquarium. The six-million-gallon tank is home to more than 4,000 sea creatures, including rays, sharks and tropical fish. Each year, millions of visitors stream past the exhibit at the Orlando-based theme park, exclaiming over sea turtles and pointing out sharks, but few experience this micro-world beneath the surface of the water. My family and I just happen to be some of the lucky ones taking part in Disney's DiveQuest, a little-known program that allows certified divers to don a tank and dive into this aquatic realm.

It's a whole different world for my usually land-locked Colorado family. Yet we're not the only Mile-High folks to take to the seas. Colorado boasts one of the highest numbers (per capita) of certified divers of any inland state. My family and I spent four weekends the previous month attending classes at a local dive shop. My girls, ages 11 and 14, had been a bit timid at first. But they soon felt at home scooting about on the bottom of the local high school swimming pool. I was thrilled with the feeling of weightlessness in the water. Scuba opens up an entirely new world — and I couldn't wait to explore it.

After our class work and introductory pool time, we completed our deep-water testing. Because there are, quite sadly, no oceans in Colorado, we did this final section at the Homestead Crater in Utah. At 65 feet deep and 96 degrees, the crater worked well to test our skills.

Finally, with fresh dive certification cards in hand, we headed to Disney World. All we had to bring to the experience were our swimsuits and dive cards. Disney did the rest.

Upon arrival, we were fitted with wet suits and dive gear. Then our dive master, Justin Delude, gave our dive group (kept to a maximum of 12 divers) an orientation on the kinds of sea life we would be viewing. Finally, it was time for our 40-minute underwater adventure.

"DiveQuest is a great place for beginning divers," Delude told us as we donned our tanks and readied to step into the water. "There is no current to contend with, and no visibility or weather problems."

Delude was right. For my husband, daughters and me, DiveQuest was a perfect introduction to the world of diving. Even experienced divers enjoy DiveQuest, though. With the diverse array of marine life in the 27-foot-deep tank, divers see more sea life in one dive than they would see during multiple ocean dives.

We can't help but be thrilled as we explore the tank. At first, we follow our dive master as he points out marine life around the tank. Then we head out to explore on our own. The Goliath grouper, just inches from my mask, looks at me for almost a minute before moving on. Then a 400-pound sea turtle floats gracefully past, and a school of large gray fish swirls in circles below our feet.

While the sea life is amazing, that's only half of the fun. At DiveQuest, you're not only in the exhibit, you are the exhibit.

Land-based visitors can see the aquarium and divers from the Coral Reef Restaurant, which has large viewing windows. They can also visit the Living Seas exhibit, which offers a seven-minute theater presentation and a trip on "hydrolators" which take guests to a simulated ocean floor to view the marine life.

My youngest daughter quickly discovers the viewers on the other side of the glass. She swims down in front of one little boy, placing her hands near his on the window. Several other little viewers take notice, and soon my daughter is performing somersaults and other tricks for the young audience on the other side of her own little aquatic stage.

© Disney

One of the other divers has family sitting at a booth in the Coral Reef Restaurant, and they take pictures of him and wave. DiveQuest offers the rare opportunity for divers to share the experience with non-diving family members.

As with most Disney experiences, there is a photographer on hand to capture our day on film. Underwater videographer Jim Wilhelm motions for us to gather together for an underwater family photo, and then films us as we discover Disney's underwater realm.

DiveQuest is different from other Disney World attractions in that it is a non-profit organization. All profits from DiveQuest go to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, an organization that studies and works to help protect the world's wildlife and ecosystems. The organization supports everything from new elephant habitats in Africa to the rehabilitation of orphan chimpanzees in the Congo. Knowing that our dive fee is helping to preserve nature's bounty is another plus to our dive experience.

As my husband and I hover weightlessly in the water, an eight-foot sand tiger shark saunters past just two feet in front of us. Its long body is lean and muscular, but he eyes us with disinterest and then moves on. "Did you see that?" I pantomime to my hubby, eyes wide with excitement. It's then that I learn another little-known fact of diving: It's hard to keep a regulator in your mouth when it's covered with a big, wide grin.

Colorado native Janna Graber is a freelance writer, editor and mother of three.

AAA Connection

AAA Colorado's travel agency can provide four distinctive Disney vacations (Disneyland, Disney World, Disney cruise and new Disney adventures), many of which include exclusive member benefits. Contact your AAA travel agent, call 866-235-7070 or visit www.aaa.com.