Hi, I’ve never been but have seen the Dallas World Aquarium on videos etc. I’ve always wondered how much a contained aquarium/zoo like that cost, so was just wondering if anyone knew or had seen it anywhere as I couldn’t? Or if anyone knows or anything comparable?
Numbers like that probably aren't around for DWA. It's privately owned by one person and doesn't receive any funding from the city or state, so he doesn't have to publicly disclose the financials of running the place, cost of exhibits, etc.
You're welcome! I went several years ago, it's definitely a unique place. It's right in the city but the owner continues to expand it by purchasing surrounding buildings, mostly old factories, that he then converts.
I've never been, but I want to when I get the chance. It'll probably be five years at least though before I can make it to Texas. It will be interesting to see what expansion comes next- possibly Australasian or Afrotropical areas would be good additions, or something completely different. Based on species list alone (because I don't like judging quality of exhibits I've never seen), this facility is probably one of, if not the, best South American collection out there. It would be nice if this could carry over to other regions of the world as well.
I hadn't planned on going at all! I had a friend in the area (she's since moved), and she joked that she'd only go to this one event a few weeks from then in Houston if I went with her. Looked at flights, just out of curiosity, and caught a massive sale, less than $50 per flight It's a difficult place to judge based on species list alone. You aren't going to see a large amount of the species listed, way more than most other places. Birds are rotated between on-show and BTS fairly often, and they especially often lack signs. A lot of the birds are free-flight in certain areas, or are in otherwise large/heavily planted exhibits that make it difficult to spot them. You'd likely have to do multiple laps of the place to get close to seeing most of them, at minimum.
Yeah it looks really unique, would love to go one day! I don’t know of anything similar here in the UK, so might be a while before I see anything like it! I like how they expand its very interesting and the multi story aspect of it is interesting too!
