Does anyone remember Marineland having an Aquarium? I was last there fifteen possibly twenty years ago but I vaguely remember a row of tanks with large varieties of fish possibly Pacu and Tilapia. Does anyone else remember this possibly in more detail. This isn't in reference to the failed planned shark aquarium but I'd be interested in knowing what happened to that as well.
There was a planned shark aquarium? Where was that going to be? When I was there five years ago, I went to that aquatheater where the baby walruses were kept and shown 10 years before that, the one just to the right of the park entrance. We went in, and although the pool was filled, the place was empty except for an elderly employee on a lunch break. He told us the building wasn't used and then pointed up at the roof where sunlight could be seen through many large holes. "It gets flooded in here because of the roof." I asked him why not just fix the roof so the building's space could be utilized. He shrugged and said, "He doesn't want to fix anything.". A bear ride across from the bear lake was in the exact state of disrepair it had been in 10 years earlier, and the very dated style of all the buildings certainly proves that "he" didn't like to spend money. A shark aquarium would be a huge expense. But, then again, to be fair, he did build a mountain and the plunge ride that provides such great views of the falls on top of it.....
I remember it wasn't that long after friendship cove was built so they might have been going through an expansion period maybe there was someone influencing it or the capital they expected didn't materialize. I remember it was going to be a huge multimillion diary project a whole new building. I was like 14 at the time maybe younger and beginning to have qualms with marineland at the time but I remember thinking that would draw me back in at least for one visit.
The one place that would be big enough for such a project would be the land under the mountain and dropping/plunging ride. Maybe that was intended to be the new shark building, but either funding fell through or they got uneasy about being able to get sharks if they couldn't be taken from the wild. It probably cost MUCH less to create a huge mountain of dirt with a ride on top.
