Vancouver Aquarium / Aqua Luminescence

 Visiting the Vancouver Aquarium has always been one of my favourite past times. It is the largest Aquarium in Canada and by visiting the aquarium, you help them with their research (Because they are a non-profit organization) and conservation. They actually are the organizers of the Canadian Shoreline Clean up and rehabilitate hundreds of wildlife a year. (visit www.vanaqua.org for more details)

I went there during New Year's Eve, at about 3:00PM. (According to the aquarium website, their busy hours are around 11:00AM to 2:00PM, so I went there after their busy hour to avoid the crowd). There are some renovations as they are expanding the aquarium, so the entrance was relocated.
INDOOR EXHIBITS
Once you enter the aquarium through this temporary exhibit, that is where the indoor exhibits begin. There is the lobby with features some cool glow in the dark Jellyfish. There is also the Amazon exhibit that lets you submerge into a different world, where even the temperature is raised to give the feel of the Amazon. Inside there are butterflies and birds, where you get to come up close to see.
In the lobby, they have the two electric eels that they used to power somethings. Like once, they used them to power christmas lights. This is always interesting to see.
If you go downstairs, you can see the frogs exhibit, which is very interesting and abit creepy because sometimes the frogs are so still you don't know if it's alive or not.

4D THEATRE
It seems like every Christmas, they have the Polar Express in 4D. I watched it for the first time, and it was pretty amazing. I won't spoil it for you, but this is a shortened version of the actual movie. The length is only about 15 mins, but the affects were amazing. I would have liked it even better if the chairs could actually get up and move like the ride "Soarin' over California" in Disneyland, but without the Chairs moving, the 4D theatre did a pretty good job in making the Polar Express come to life.
Besides the Polar express, they also have many other shows going on.
Being the only 4D theatre in the Canadian West Coast, it is sure a must visit when you are at the aquarium.

OUTDOOR EXHIBITS
The funny thing about the different types of marine mammals they have in the outdoor exhibits is that I realized most of these animals are living in paradise of somesort. They all seem to be very happy. Take the Otters for example, everytime I go there, they are either playing or sleeping
BELUGA SHOW
Currently (depending on the time you read this, but as of January, 2013), there are 2 belugas at the Vancouver Aquarium. It is really cool to see these beautiful creatures as they swim ever so majestically. I always found it amazing their ability to communicate, and sometimes they make me wonder what really goes on through through their minds.
One of the must sees of the Vancouver Aquarium is the Beluga show. It is practically a classic! I took a short video of it and a snap shot of Aurora spitting water at the crowd!

Besides the Belugas, they have a really cool Dolphin show too. When we were there, the dolphin show was over already, so we didn't get to see it. However, the Dolphin show is a must go too. Underneath the exhibits, you can see the mammals under water. The dolphin was really cute. This one came up to my camera and was confused for a few seconds as it stared at me... Then a whole of people saw the dolphin coming up to the glass, and the dolphin saw them... and it went away. But it was cool.
After visiting the dolphins, we went out to see the penguins. These penguins reminds me of the penguins from Madagascar... except they arn't planning some evil scheme. Tho, they cuddle around in a circle and they look at you as if they have something up their sleeves.

Dining

The Aquarium has a Cafeteria that sells Oceanwise foods. From fish and chips to burgers, they have it all. I must say however, the price is not cheap. For a cup of hot chocolate, we got it for around $3, which was abit on the expensive range considering the size. You can get a discount if you are a member, (I would recommend getting a membership if you are going to visit here more than once). All of the proceeds go to the Aquarium and their conservation efforts.

How to get here:

There are several ways, you can walk here, take BUS 19 or drive.
Visit Translink for bus schedules: www.translink.bc.ca

MORE: Please visit my youtube channel here: www.youtube.com/peaceLUCK6789 for some videos.