Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens prepares to close for big-budget renovation project - Houston Chronicle
Oooh, a tropical penguin exhibit! And the jellyfish sounds really cool! I wonder what else they'll have? Glad I went last month. I'm wondering what stuff is going be available when it reopens in November, I'd love to see the jellyfish exhibit.
What is a tropical penguin exhibit? Are they just talking about a Spheniscus species or does it have something to do with the exhibit design?
It is for Humboldt Penguins, which will give Moody Gardens a total of 6 penguin species by 2017 as they already have 5 species in an Antarctic-themed habitat. The current 5 species: King, Gentoo, Rockhopper, Chinstrap and Macaroni.
Do you have a link with more information? The one in the OP doesn't say much. My sister got me a year pass for my birthday so I really wanna know more.
The new area will reopen on May 27: Galveston's Moody Gardens Aquarium to Reopen After Years of Renovations
I have went to the renovations, and am currently posting pictures of them. My verdict of the renovations is a meh. I am not all that impressed by them. Not all that much was added to the aquarium, and the signage throughout worsened. Another noticeable change was you can no longer wonder about the aquarium like a large plaza, but it is now a set path starting with the penguin tank and ending with the seal and sea lion tank. Every sign, even those along the sides of the shark tunnel, have been replaced by large electric video screens, that are designed very well and are pleasant to look at, but suffer from one major flaw- they slowly cycle through the species. You will have to sit around for a few minutes to see what the species you just barely missed on the sign or you can't seem to identify is. The larger tanks have 3 species at once on them, but that is nowhere near enough to be able to identify the species on exhibit. As for the additions, an absolutely fantastic jellyfish area was added, and is one of the best Iv'e seen, with a moon jelly touch tank. It's flaw- the signs are out of the way on far corners of the room, and cycle each species lowly, making it very difficult to tell what species is in what tank. An impressive cylindrical tank was added to the center that that is towered by an immense oil rig on top. It is surrounded by very well made info graphics. At it's bottom is a large mangrove themed touch tank with a surprisingly few number of cownose rays, and a lot of stingray from other species mixed in with large spiny lobsters. This is next to a tidepool themed touch tank, similar to the one that was there beforehand. As you leave you get a view of the underwhelming humbolt penguin exhibit, which is quite literally by the exit after you leave the no return doors of the aquarium. It has underwater viewing in a small space that is visible earlier in the aquarium on the incline around the penguin exhibit. This space is small and bland, not being larger than the fish tanks around it. They are very well done renovations, but they didn't add much to the already great moody gardens aquarium. The signage tarnishes the fantastic additions such as the jellies, but the designs of the new exhibits are fantastic (with an eh for the new penguins).
@d1am0ndback Thanks very much for the review and after a cost of $37 million I was expecting a spectacular overhaul of the aquarium. It sounds as if you were fairly disappointed with the changes, but on the plus side how many zoological facilities have 6 penguin species in their collection? That fact alone is astonishing.
