Hopefully, this post will be received in the spirit of "better late than never." I was in Orlando for a technical conference in late September and arranged for my wife to join me at the end of my conference for three nights in a Beach Club Villa studio. My mother-in-law kept our children, so this provided a rare (and wonderful) opportunity for my wife and me to have a brief vacation at WDW without the kids. My wife and I both have long had an interest in sea mammals (and in fact, my wife used to teach an elective on sea mammals at the elementary school where she teaches), so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to try the "Dolphins in Depth" (DiD) program at the Living Seas in EPCOT. I reserved our spots a couple of months in advance, but didn't tell my wife, choosing to keep it as a surprise. The morning of the tour she knew that we were going to EPCOT, but didn't know about DiD until I told her right before we left our room.
As we left the room, we carried with us a small bag containing our swimsuits. (Everything else we would need, including towels, would be provided at DiD.) Since we were staying at the BCV, we entered EPCOT at the International Gateway entrance, and proceeded through the World Showcase (which was still closed since it was shortly after 9 AM). Crowds were not bad that day, so we were able to take a quick ride on Test Track on our way through Future World. After that, we exited through the main entrance, and reported for our appointment at Guest Relations. DiD is offered Monday through Friday at 9:45 and is limited to 8 participants. We had a full set of eight that day, and it was a fun group of folks, which made the event all the more enjoyable. Two nice young ladies led us to a shaded area beside Guest Relations where they made introductions, explained the rules for the day, and asked us to sign a waiver. We were then led behind the Living Seas Pavilion, and were provided with various bits of trivia as we went, such as the fact that the entire Spaceship Earth sphere would fit entirely within the Living Seas tank with room to spare.
After entering the Living Seas through a backstage door, we were taken to a room near the top of the tank where we received education on dolphins, as well as on some of the research that goes on at the Living Seas. We sat in a semicircle around our guide who showed us a number of video clips, explained a number of things, and answered any questions we could come up with. An interesting aspect of the room that we were in is that it has a couple of pools that connect to the main tank of the Living Seas. Shortly after we entered the room, "Bob" swam into one of the pools. He then "stood up" (for lack of any other way to describe it!
) and looked us over. During the remainder of the education session he would swim over near our group occasionally and rotate so that one eye was out of the water, casually keeping "an eye on us."
After the education session, we were led over some walkways that run along the edge of the top of the tank. We observed one of the research projects in progress, and the guide pointed out the area of the tank that we would be entering later. We were then led down into the main part of the Living Seas Pavilion where the rest of the guests are. Here we sat alongside one of the windows into the tank (with a lot of guests at the rails behind us) and observed the research project with a view of the underwater activity.
Next we were led backstage again, this time to a room with some comfortable chairs and a refrigerator with sodas. We basically took a little break while the guide gave us final instructions for the next phase of the tour, the dolphin interaction. We then proceeded to the locker rooms where we were each given a key to a locker to store our clothes, jewelry, etc. We changed into our swimsuits, and then pulled on our wetsuits and booties. (Author's note: For those of us who are not exactly "slim and trim", wearing a wetsuit is a bit of an adventure in itself!
)
Now it was time for the main event: We were led back to the top of the tank and over a catwalk out towards the middle. We slowly descended a ramp into the water, and then onto a ledge where the water was about waist deep. As you might expect, the water was quite cold. However, for those that might be concerned about that, I will note that even my wife, who does NOT like to be in water that is even cool, quickly adjusted, partially because of the warming effects of the wet suit, but probably more due to the mesmerizing aspects of the experience.
There were two trainers already in the water, and they introduced us to the two dolphin residents of the Living Seas, Bob and Rainier. (It should be noted here that Rainier is a relatively new resident of the Living Seas. He replaced Toby, who passed away quite suddenly in May. The guide who discussed his death became quite emotional, which is a tribute to the bond that can form between man and these gentle creatures.)
Bob and Rainier, at the direction of the trainers, would swim rapidly away from us, jump in the air, and then follow a high-speed arc back towards us. When viewed up close, these are very large animals, and it was truly awe-inspiring to watch them speed by us in the water.
Our group was then split into two sets of four, with each set going to a different trainer. Our trainer called Rainier over and we spent some time observing him, holding his fins, and leading him in some "tricks" that he performed based on some signals we were told to give him.
Next the groups swapped places, and we went over to the other trainer to spend some time with Bob. It was during this phase that we experienced the absolute highlight of the tour. The trainer called us each over individually. When it was my turn, he had me kneel down in the water, and Bob swam up so that he was resting on my knee, with my arms reaching around him. (OK, so 600 pounds of sea mammal wasn't completely "resting" on my knee, but you get the idea.) At that moment, it was just the dolphin and me (with the trainer close at hand). For anyone that has any fondness for wildlife, and especially for the highly intelligent creature that is the dolphin, this is an incredibly exciting and moving experience.
After our visit with the dolphins, we returned to the locker room. There are showers there, with soap (liquid, not Mickey bars!
), shampoo, and towels provided. After cleaning up and changing, we returned to the break room to wrap up the tour. We were each given a "Dolphins in Depth" T-shirt and a commemorative video of the experience. The video has some standard scenes from the Living Seas interspersed with footage shot of the group during the experience with the dolphins. It makes for a nice keepsake from the tour.
In summary, both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed Dolphins in Depth, and I would recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in dolphins or marine life in general. For those that have stayed with me this long, thank you for reading. If there are any questions that you might have, and that my poor excuse for a memory can dredge up an answer for, I'll be happy to try to help.
