{"id":37,"date":"2019-05-25T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999951462"},"modified":"2019-05-25T05:00:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T12:00:36","slug":"pacific-visions-aquarium-pacific-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/pacific-visions-aquarium-pacific-open","title":{"rendered":"Aquarium of the Pacific’s new Pacific Visions wing is open; here’s what the first crowds saw"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the main missions of the Aquarium of the Pacific\u2019s new Pacific Visions wing is to get visitors to think about how their actions impact the planet.<\/p>\n

The first group through the doors Friday were students from Lakewood High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my students came up to me after the tour and told me:\u00a0\u00a0\u2018All of those things you\u2019ve been teaching us are true,\u2019\u201d said Yassi Khairolomour, who teaches environmental Biology Aquaculture at the school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nam Ly, of the Aquarium of the Pacific’s marketing department, had the critical job of holding onto the giant scissors before the ribbon-cutting ceremony at new Pacific Visions wing. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The aquarium\u2019s newly completed $53-million expansion<\/a> encourages visitors to explore human impact on the ocean and think about solutions to environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Visitors to Honda Pacific Visions Theatre can watch a multi-sensory video<\/a>\u00a0film that includes mists rising into the audience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Visitors watch the multi-sensory show at the Honda Pacific Visions Theater. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lakewood student Andrian Engle said the tour gave him a lot to think about. \u201cFrom here on, I\u2019m going to use less useless plastic,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd I think I\u2019m going to go home and grow a vegetable garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visitors can interact with a theater-sized screen when they finish watching the video.\u00a0\u00a0When marine life streams by, participants can touch a bubble to reveal factoids about environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Morrissey Delatour operates one of the interactive exhibits at the Aquarium of the Pacific’s new Pacific Visions wing. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Helena Ruiz, 3, was especially fascinated by a pair of dolphins that would swim past.\u00a0\u00a0She figured that they had been a couple for a long time.<\/p>\n

Her brother Alex, 17, filled in the details for her: \u201cTheir names are Gerald and Macy,\u201d Alex deadpanned. \u201cMacy thinks Gerald works too much and that is harming their relationship. But I think Macy has always been rather needy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aquarium of the Pacific is located at 100 Aquarium Way. For more information and tickets, click\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lillian Forsha checks out the California Yellowtail. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Aquarium of the Pacific’s president Jerry Schubel, left, speaks before the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Pacific Visions wing. To his right is Nam Ly of the aquarium’s marketing department. Photo by Bill Allkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A group of taiko drummers greets the first visitors. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A group of taiko drummers greets the first visitors.\u00a0Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Aquarium of the Pacific security guard Erin McBride watches over the new Pacific Visions wing. Photo by Bill Alkofer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A giant multi-sensory theater is just one of the new exhibits at the long-awaited Pacific Visions expansion at the Aquarium of the Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":65569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[46],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-aquarium-of-the-pacific","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}