Spaceship Earth, aka the Giant Golf Ball, is an Epcot icon
Everyone automatically envisions Spaceship Earth, the giant golf ball, or the World Showcase, Epcot’s amazing interpretation of countries from around the globe brought to the heart of Disney, when they think of Epcot. From the moment I signed up to dive at Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo and Friends, the #1 thing I kept hearing was, “I didn’t know you could do that…But where do you dive?” I feel like people might have been thinking about the lake in the center of the World Showcase, or maybe they were wracking their brains trying to figure out which country had an aquarium; but alas we dove in the often over looked aquarium nestled towards the front right of the park.
Mr. Sea and I met up the other divers near guest services outside of the park, 3 hours before closing, at a bench with a sign marking it as the pick up point for Epcot Dive Quest experience on Valentine’s Day. Once the group was present, our tour guide took us back to a landing pad, still outside the park, to brief us on what was about to happen. He explained that we would be taking a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium, therefore no pictures allowed, followed by SCUBA diving in the main tank of the exhibit. Everyone signed the usual waiver stating that we are properly trained and understand the risks inherent with diving, that we would not harass the sea life, and that if Disney made any money off of pictures or videos of us diving we would be entitled to absolutely none of that money.
Have you been here?
Still frame from Epcot Dive Quest DVD
As a water science geek, it was kind of a let down when the”life support” portion of the tour consisted of simply gesturing towards the filtration systems and a cement wall hid the waterfall aerating the tank. The constant crashing of gallons of water was it cascaded down three stories corroborated its hidden presence. For being a behind the scenes tour, there was a good amount that seemed off limits. No, we couldn’t go to quarantine to see the fish we would miss out on diving with due to regulations. No, we couldn’t go the control panel room that monitors Disney’s water displays around the world. Thankfully, the tour guide was informative and entertaining.
Inside, we did get to take a peak inside the commissary fridge to recognize how well the fish eat. My stomach grumbled a bit seeing the week’s menu for everyone; which included fish I typically order at nice seafood restaurants. We met the manatees that are being rehabilitated while providing education to Epcot guests on a daily basis. I got to oogle the Water Chemistry Lab and peruse the water chemistry stats for the tanks on exhibit. After the dive, we swung by the dolphin pool to hear about the dolphins’ past and the research they are assisting with.
The tour went by quick and before I knew it, it was time to suit up for the dive. Disney provides EVERYTHING for the dive, absolutely no outside objects in the tank. They even provide tank friendly hair ties. These measures are to ensure the continued health of the tank. The only exception to this rule is personal masks and wrist mounted dive computers. This made me happy because a leaky, or ill fitting, mask is an easy way to ruin any dive. My dive computer is counsel mounted, so no computer for me. It wasn’t missed, since the depth is controlled, can’t go deeper than the bottom of the tank, the length of the dive was predetermined, 40 minutes, and they had a complete breakdown of the dive already written up for us at the end.
Once we had donned our wetsuits, the group was paraded through the main gallery; past guests, exhibits, and the water we would soon be splashing into. People stopped to stare and asked if there was about to be a show. “Not really a show, but there will be divers in the main tank.” was happily repeated to our on-lookers. Up a flight of stairs, hidden behind a door labeled “Staff Only”, and we were on the catwalk suspended under the artificial light and over the turquoise water of the tank that could submerge all but the topmost part of Spaceship Earth. Everyone’s gear was already setup and waited patiently on a ledge for its respective diver.
The water felt chilly in the provided shorty but was forgotten during the short surface swim to the decent buoy. I could already see a shark swimming below me and grey shadows along what I knew must be the aquarium glass before I even got my hair wet.
One of the two Epcot safety divers gave us the signal and we all began to sink in unison. The shadows at the windows quickly took human shape and more ocean life came into view. The first 8 to 10 minutes of the tour was dedicated to following the safety officer on a tour of the tank, complete with swim throughs, a parade in front of the windows of the Coral Reef Restaurant, and videographer to capture the moments that would be missed without my GoPro. This was the least exciting part of the dive but proved valuable when we were set free to spend the remaining 30 ish minutes of the dive as we pleased; I had an idea of the lay of the land, err…tank. The tour ended at a rock outline of those world famous ears for a final group photo op and then we were released to play. One safety diver took post near the partition into the dolphin habitat to ensure that we stayed away; the dolphins participate in communications research and so interacting with divers may alter their behaviors (AND there is a separate, off SCUBA, experience), and the other took to roaming the tank. The videographer recorded for another 10 minutes or so, though we never saw him, before he left to edit his film.
Leaving the majority of the group center tank, Mr. Sea and I swam off to the far, no dolphin enclosure, side of the tank and were immediately greeted by one Epcot’s sea turtles. He pushed off of the bottom upon seeing us and gracefully swam towards us making an ascent mere inches from us. The belly of his shell filled my vision as he climbed above me. Wow, that is how to start a dive! From there, the dive was what anyone who has been to an aquarium would expect; an easy dive filled with marine and terrestrial life, depending upon which side of the glass I was looking at. I thoroughly enjoyed holding my hand against the glass to show kids the eight inches of acrylic between us, posing for pictures and selfies with kids and adults alike. I loved the look of wonder as the little kids realized that I was real and underwater! Mr. Sea had food on his mind and shopped guest’s dinner plates at the Coral Reef Restaurant and pointed at fish and rubbed his stomach in the tank. I stretched myself out over a blackblotch fantail ray that was almost as big as I am, from a safe distance of course, and made friends with a feisty trigger fish.
The clang of the safety officer’s tank disturbed the peace all too soon, calling us back to the dive platform were we had begun 40 minutes earlier. With a regretful wave to the adoring crowd, everyone surfaced and removed their gear. Everyone had a smile on their face and Disney magic was visible across all eleven divers. We crossed the main gallery again, dripping wet and wrapped in towels, to return to warm showers and dry clothes. Then it was upstairs to watch the video of our dive, photograph the dive log write up our safety officers had prepared for us and collect our Epcot Dive Quest swag. During this time, we could hear the fireworks signalling the closing of the park and after a cup of hot chocolate, we too were on the tram back to our car to go home.
Mr. Sea got his wish and we closed our Valentine’s Day with delicious fish dinner, which only felt slightly wrong. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day filled with love, be it romantic love or the love of family and friends.
What was your Valentine’s Day adventure? Have you dove in an aquarium before? I’d love to hear from you.
This experience was paid for out of pocket and all opinions are my own.
