So sad to hear that a child was so out of touch with reality that they thought an aquarium was a touch seen, perhaps the parent needs to take them out more. My local aquarium had an Imax cinema that showed 3D films of cetaceans and lage sharks, they were good to watch but now the Imax has gone and real animals are the sole attraction.
The public simply does not see similar shows as an alternative to real animals. They fill in a niche of 'film', which is what they really are. Good comparison with seeing your friends on Skype and not replacing meeting them in person. 3D cinemas are nothing new. There are also similar shows. I heard there is a show based around BBC documentary 'Walking with Dinosaurs' which shows film clips, music and life-size animatronic dinosaurs walking on a stage. When I was at Plzen Zoo, they had a 'prehistoric aquarium'. I did not enter it, but if I understand there was a 3D screen showing plesiosaurs and such swimming around. At the end (SPOILER ALERT) the animation showed some reptile breaking the 'glass' and water was sprinkled on visitors. At Plzen, people went to see real animals, and were not queuing to see ' plesiosaur in a zoo'. If I remember well, in the book 'Zoo 2000' from the 1990s, the author was similarly discussing that zoos might be replaced by animatronic animals. Well, there is lots of traveling shows of animatronic dinosaurs. They did not replace zoos. I think, now, after years, virtual zoos can be conclusively said to be a futuristic technology which did not catch up.
