Scooter and Big D - 50th Bday! Day 5

[scooterca42]

Cast – Big D – this trip is his 50th birthday celebration
Scooter (me) – a bit younger than Big D, planner and plotter
Staying at All Star Sports on Free Dining plan (regular, not quick service) from Sept 21 - 27

Day Five

We packed our bag for Epcot! We had a tripod, a camera bag, and a swim bag. Yup - locker time! My head was fairly clear, Big D was a bit stuffed, but I brought antihistamines, knowing that as long as we could equalize our ears the dive could go ahead.

OK, Epcot is our absolutely favourite park, and we felt like we were coming home when we walked in. Once we'd got a locker, we rode the new Spaceship Earth - I do like this! I always did, with every iteration. From there we visited the Seas, did the ride and Turtle Talk, then the standby at Soarin' was just fifteen minutes so we did that. We watched "Oh Canada" (I'm not a Martin Short fan but he's funny in this! And it's so much better than the old one…) then checked in for Le Cellier. Wonderful meal as always.

With only an hour and a half, more or less, till we had to report for our Divequest experience, we went to Mission Space (rode it green that time) and Test Track - some wonderful people gifted Big D with two fast passes just as we got there - then grabbed our suits and my mask and joined our co-divers at Guest Services outside the park.

Only six divers! And the Navy Bell is gone, it was rusting too badly. They're going to replace it with something, but it meant we didn't need to line up to enter it - forty whole minutes of exploring and playing with the guests in Coral Reef! Big D and I had a wonderful time - it's always good when you dive with your usual dive buddy - we were very close to several of the sharks, and Big D - 6'4" - lay down on the tank floor next to a huge sea turtle - head to tail, just as long as he is! They have new BC's, for anyone who dives - new, weight-integrated US Diver stuff. The purge valve takes some getting used to and they always over-weight. Better than under-weighting!

We were down forty minutes and still had over 1000 PSI left. OK, I learned in Imperial and I still think in Imperial - I like diving in the States because it's all feet and PSI!

We were able to equalize just fine, no squeeze at all. Yay!!!

We washed off and watched the video - bought it, of course, it was excellent as always - then we bid farewell to our new diving friends and went to England for fish and chips. The area overlooking the lagoon was closed - L so we went to the garden and ate, then watched Illuminations from the bridge between England and France.

We waited for almost the last bus out of the park - it was nice sitting watching the people go by, and talking about our dive. It is a treat. I don't think we'll ever go to Disney and not dive in the Seas, as long as we're able to do it! Next time I'll schedule it earlier in the holiday. There was a story about this particular dive planning, too, I posted it a month or so ago - it was my tale of how great minds think alike!

Firsts - Turtle Talk for Big D, and the new Spaceship Earth

Tips - Don't run for the first bus out of Epcot after Illuminations! It's fun to just sit and enjoy the park at night.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

The dive sounds like it was so cool! Glad you had a super-trip.

Sorry to hear you're had some stuffiness issues, we always back some cold/allergy medicine, so we don't have to worry about finding some down there.

[LittleRoosMommy]

What a great day!! The dive sounds amazing!

[CanadianWDWFan]

Dive Quest is fun all around.

I have to ask, did the Eagle ray have her pups yet? When I did Dive Quest at the beginning of September, she was due any day.

Thanks for posting!

[DizNee143]

so glad you were both feeling well enough to continue on with the dive and had a blast doing so! hope the both of you are feeling even better by the next day!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[KylesMom]

Glad your head is better and that your dive was such a wonderful experience. That has to be a trip! Thanks for sharing yet another magical day with us all!

[faline]

Diving is one of those experiences I will probably never have and so, totally appreciate living it through other's experiences! What an exceptional day!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[scooterca42]

No - no pups when we were there, but she did look VERY pleased with herself!

[ChipDale]

Your dive experience sounds really cool! I'm glad you both felt good enough to enjoy it. Great report - thanks again for sharing.