The "Magic Whirlpool," encountered by the guests at the Experiment Site, when Poseidon commands them to journey to his underwater palace, Aigia, appears as a normal (but big) whirlpool on the surface of the ocean. It then slowly rises on it's side like a coin before expanding to allow the guests' boats to pass through becoming the "Whirlpool Tunnel," which magically takes them to Poseidon's faraway, underwater palace.

In actuality, the "Magic Whirlpool" and the "Whirlpool Tunnel" are separate. The "Magic Whirlpool" is an elaborate effect which blocks the doors to the "Whirlpool Tunnel" 'while they open, then becoming it's entrance.

The "Magic Whirlpool" consists of 10 water pumps connected to 10 flexible, clear, plastic troughs and a series of pulleys and cables attached to a motor. The clear, plastic troughs each arranged in a loop - at one end connected to the base of the water pump and at the other end connected to a strong cable.

The reason for the cables and motor is that at first the ten separate loops will be increasingly smaller, giving the illusion of a traditional whirlpool, then, when the loops have moved to stand upright, the motor will let out the cables, exposing more of each trough (to a varying degree) until the loops of water are all the same, giant size as the first one (which does not grow like the others).

The following is a step by step explanation of the effect:

-The pumps and loops are at their starting position lying sideways just beneath the water's surface. The plastic troughs are looped in a gradually smaller fashion, so that, where the bottoms of each loop is a few feet away, the tops of each loop (in this lying position) meet at the same place.

-A high-powered pump rapidly drains the water from the far end of the effect area (just past pump #10) and returns it to the side of the pool while the 10 whirlpool pumps start shooting water through their individual plastic troughs. This combination produces a large, semi-regular whirlpool.

-As the pumps and troughs start to rise on their side, the draining pump shuts off.

Very simply, the Whirlpool Tunnel is a cylindrical tunnel through which the guests' boats pass and in which water jets up and around the walls, over the guests' heads. The walls are semi-transparent, allowing a light source on the outside to shine through. The outside light also circles around and over the guests in synch with the speed of the water. The sides of the flume, in which the guests are sailing, are very close to the sides of the boats, so that if a guest casually looks over the side, they would see only the water cascading down from the sides of the tunnel, giving the effect that the circle of water around and above them is unbroken, like that of a whirlpool.

Pumps shoot the water

up the walls, over the

guests' heads and back

down into the reservoir

The boats exit the "Magic Whirlpool" and find themselves in Aigia, Poseidon's Palace. The palace is located in an underwater grotto. It combines ancient Greek and Roman architecture with the natural coral and grotto walls, much like the houses people build today in caves, with their exposed rock walls and ceilings combined with traditional furnishings. There is treasure everywhere, obviously taken from the shipwrecks of the ages. Also, in the background, the guests will notice many "Magic Whirlpool" entrances (actually filmed effects) with signs labeling where each tunnel will take you. Poseidon sits amongst his treasures on his throne, spewing out his continuous monologue while the boats cruise by him, touring his palace. The following is an excerpt of his speech:

. . . . . . . . . . POSEIDON Hear me now, mortals, as you tour Aigia, my palace; for I am reasonable. But when I witness the death and destruction caused by you, it sickens me. Do you view yourselves as being greater than my subjects? For you surely are not. My kingdom is a peaceful and beautiful place. Why do you feel the need to destroy it? We want nothing from you! And yet you threaten the existence of many of my subjects! You dump your filth onto us! And now you maim us with your deafening thunder! Here this, mortals, for I hold every right to hold sentence on you on behalf of my subjects! It is their lives you stole and it is your lives they demand! Their tolerance is low, cut down after centuries of whaling, overfishing and polluting. I have known many a fine man in my day, but it seems the groves of valor and gallantry are now desolate. With great aspiration I seek the goodness of Man, but it flees from me with every crime against nature my eyes observe.

The boats approach one of the "Magic Whirlpools" marked "Urquhart Bay." They enter, four at a time in appropriate intervals. The "Magic Whirlpool" is just like the one that brought them to Aigia. It takes them to the next scene...