Everything on the poster will be complete within the next 6 months, and then long-term the outdoor area will be revamped and the total cost of the construction will easily top $100 million. The entrance area, gift shop and restaurant might seem boring to some zoo nerds but I think that it is a brilliant idea and the icing on the cake is that visitors will be dispersed throughout the facility in order to ease congestion.
This will be the first time that Vancouver Aquarium will have a purpose-built gallery for rotating exhibits, which is something that many great aquatic establishments already have. Oregon Coast, Shedd, Long Beach and Monterey Bay (which creates fantastic temporary exhibits) all are examples of facilities that have had rotational rooms for years but it will keep locals coming back to see the "next big thing".
At the moment the special exhibition is Jelly Invasion featuring around 15 species of jellyfish, but it is scattered throughout the building and is popular but also a hodgepodge of exhibit designs and styles in a variety of locations. In fact many of the jellyfish tanks are actually in front of existing exhibits and so a deliberately placed single location for temporary/rotational exhibits will be terrific.
