America's Best Aquariums
- Thread starter BeardsleyZooFan
- Start date
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
I quite agree.... but some of these ranking discussions get pretty sharp for "enjoyable" IMO and go beyond "comparing and contrasting" into competing. It's boring to see so many threads of heated debates over what is, in the end, personal preferences and opinions. Often there is little actual comparing and contrasting going on.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Thanks! That's a really generous question.
I guess I'd like to hear more from members about specifically what they enjoy about specific exhibits. Instead of "great for animals" or "best hippo exhibit in the lower south east states beginning with the letter M," I'd enjoy hearing something more like: "I spent fifteen minutes there just listening to the tiger 'chuff' which I'd never heard before," or "First time I visited the aquarium was on a Tuesday at 11am and it was overrun with school groups, which the exhibits couldn't handle. But on my next visit, at 3pm, there were fewer visitors and I actually got to spend ten minutes watching the octopus which was pretty active!"
Or even, "I know the exhibit looks like crap but the gorillas love it" (I'm thinking of a post Snowleopard wrote about some Texas zoo where he changed his mind about gorilla exhibits because of what he got to see animals do in one particular enclosure. Really enlightening.)
I have little interest in members writing cold, dispassionate statements as though they were writing an architectural review for a trade magazine. I'd rather hear what someone loved or hated and why. Yes, that artificial tree may look awful, but is that all we can judge an exhibit by? Is it really that black and white? So I'm interested in the shades in between!
What would you like to hear here that you're not?
mweb08
Well-Known Member
That stuff is good too. I'm fine with all of it. However, my one issue with the type of comments you like is that one moment is often not indicative of an exhibit or attraction. Extremely small sample size and all.
I'd actually see more rankings.
I was hoping to get a ZooChat official rankings going like they have in college sports. People would vote on the rankings every so often and we'd see where the zoos are ranked and how much they rise and fall throughout the years.
I'd actually see more rankings.
I was hoping to get a ZooChat official rankings going like they have in college sports. People would vote on the rankings every so often and we'd see where the zoos are ranked and how much they rise and fall throughout the years.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Well enough people have ranked their exhibits numerically that you could start it with what's already here I suppose. Be a bit of work finding all those rankings and working out the statistical model, but the "data" is there as a seed project
mweb08
Well-Known Member
Well enough people have ranked their exhibits numerically that you could start it with what's already here I suppose. Be a bit of work finding all those rankings and working out the statistical model, but the "data" is there as a seed project
Well I'd want an official ZooChat zoo ranking more so than an official exhibit ranking.
And yes, I suppose I could take the existing rankings and do that, but I'd want more participants and I'd want people to also rank zoos they have not been to, even though I realize that is far from perfect.
What is intriguing is that I can count at least 40 brand-new aquariums that have opened in North America since 1992, with many of them not just tiny ones but behemoths that are amongst the best of their kind. The number of new aquariums is so far ahead of the list of new zoos that it is at the point where even small, non-tourist destinations can sometimes harbour an aquatic facility.
In many cases the local aquarium pulls in many more tourists than zoos, as aquariums are often centrally located in popular sections of cities. Even with the high entrance fees, it seems as if an aquarium is a worthwhile diversion for families on vacation, and a reliable place of discovery for locals. I wouldn't be surprised if there has been at least 50 new aquariums just in North America within the past two decades, and that alone is an astonishing statistic.
In many cases the local aquarium pulls in many more tourists than zoos, as aquariums are often centrally located in popular sections of cities. Even with the high entrance fees, it seems as if an aquarium is a worthwhile diversion for families on vacation, and a reliable place of discovery for locals. I wouldn't be surprised if there has been at least 50 new aquariums just in North America within the past two decades, and that alone is an astonishing statistic.
cloudedleopard
Well-Known Member
My Rating
I have only been to 3 aquariums
but I have been to several zoos with aquariums, some good, some bad.
Ranking of True Aquariums-
1. Shedd Aquarium. Amazon Rising was my favorite and the glass floor at Wild Reef where the stingrays were below you.
2. SeaWorld San Diego. Being a dolphin lover, I loved seeing dolphins, orcas and sea otters, but it was sort of gimmicky and too many gift shops and crap.
3. DC Aquarium. This was nice (the nautilus exhibit and the alligator/turtle) but was small, overpriced, and trashy.
Zoo Aquatics Exhibits-
1. Columbus Zoo
2. Pittsburgh Zoo
3. Toledo Zoo
4. Akron Zoo
5. Cleveland Zoo
I have only been to 3 aquariums
but I have been to several zoos with aquariums, some good, some bad.Ranking of True Aquariums-
1. Shedd Aquarium. Amazon Rising was my favorite and the glass floor at Wild Reef where the stingrays were below you.
2. SeaWorld San Diego. Being a dolphin lover, I loved seeing dolphins, orcas and sea otters, but it was sort of gimmicky and too many gift shops and crap.
3. DC Aquarium. This was nice (the nautilus exhibit and the alligator/turtle) but was small, overpriced, and trashy.
Zoo Aquatics Exhibits-
1. Columbus Zoo
2. Pittsburgh Zoo
3. Toledo Zoo
4. Akron Zoo
5. Cleveland Zoo