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Dive Quest Review and Coral Reef Closure

One of my all time favorite Disney restaurants, Epcot's Coral Reef, is scheduled for a brief refurbishment later this summer.

The restaurant will be closed from August 27 until August 29. Thankfully it will be back open for our next trip in the fall.

I had the amazing opportunity to dive in the tank at the Coral Reef as a birthday present from my wife. I had eaten there before, but getting in the tank was such a cool experience. I highly recommend that any of you who are scuba certified give it a try!

At Epcot's Divequest you have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and see how all of the life support systems work for the aquarium. As a lifelong aquarium hobbyist who has worked in both the Marine Biology and Aquatic Biology fields this was a dream come true. Even my wife who does not have the nerdy love for fish that I do thought it was cool.

Disney does a great job verifying all of your Scuba credentials for you. This birthday present was a surprise, so I did not have my dive log or card with me. All I had to do was tell them that I was NAUI certified, give them my first name, last name, and date of birth and they contacted NAUI for me. The equipment provided is brand new and clean, and the changing rooms were spacious.

The dive itself was an absolute joy, getting to see all of the fish, as well as the people watching you! During your dive if you find any shark teeth at the bottom you are allowed to keep them, but I did not find any. I have been swimming with sharks and sea turtles in the wild, but this was still a really cool experience. The animals are not at all skittish and let you get very close. I was surprised by how many people were taking pictures of me! After you get in the tank they escort your loved ones down to the main viewing area so that your family can take photos. During the dive there is a videographer in the tank with you, and you have the option to purchase a DVD of your dive. I purchased it, and I highly recommend that you do as well.

For more information about Divequest go here

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