Problems at the Aquarium? (Atlanta, Columbus: credit, vacation, work)

[ellar]

Oh my goodness...I'm surprised by this thread. Maybe many people haven't been in Atlanta long enough to see what used to be in the area that now has the park and aquarium. It is such a HUGE improvement that I would think most people would be thankful. We went to the aquarium shortly after it opened and loved it. I don't know what people are expecting--there is only so much you can with an aquarium, and we had no complaints.

[onemanarmy]

Originally Posted by ellar

Oh my goodness...I'm surprised by this thread. Maybe many people haven't been in Atlanta long enough to see what used to be in the area that now has the park and aquarium. It is such a HUGE improvement that I would think most people would be thankful. We went to the aquarium shortly after it opened and loved it. I don't know what people are expecting--there is only so much you can with an aquarium, and we had no complaints.

Don't worry the fast majority of the visitors to the aquarium are satisfied. Most of the posters here are pestimistic about everything Atlanta, until you ask them about "their neighborhoods" You will also find that most posters here fall into two following categories.

1. OTP who blames everything with METRO Atlanta on the City of Atlanta
2. ITP who blames everything with METRO Atlanta on OTP.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by ellar

Oh my goodness...I'm surprised by this thread. Maybe many people haven't been in Atlanta long enough to see what used to be in the area that now has the park and aquarium. It is such a HUGE improvement that I would think most people would be thankful. We went to the aquarium shortly after it opened and loved it. I don't know what people are expecting--there is only so much you can with an aquarium, and we had no complaints.

I don't think anyone in this thread has said, "I wish the Aquarium had never been built". Maybe I missed that comment, but re-reading the entire thread I don't see it.

Just because people think it wasn't designed as well as it should have been, doesn't mean they prefer the old neighborhood it's in, nor does it mean they're "bashing" Atlanta. They (as am I) are saying that if you're going to try to boast Atlanta as an "International world class city", and if you're going to boast the Aquarium as "The worlds largest and best Aquarium", then you'd better darn well live up to those boasts.

The Aquarium is "neat" in that Atlanta hasn't exactly had the reputation for having anything like that. There are only so many Civil Rights attractions you can have before even the people who are interested in them go, "Yawn... what else??". It just seemed like the Aquarium was Uncle Bernie's vision of wanting something that could be boasted as being the biggest, rather than something that was carefully thought out and designed to be the best.

There's still hope that as time goes on they'll remodel here and there and the place will evolve into more than the original, but so far all that we're seeing are key people leaving their jobs and animals dying, with plans to bring in even more intelligent animals (dolphins) just to drum up some more revenue. What's needed are a redesign of some of the smaller viewing areas, better crowd control/flow, better employee courtesy, a ban on supersized baby strollers, and some more natural habitat type environment features in the exhibit areas as well. Heck, the Aquarium is the one place in Atlanta where you see the highest concentration of people from the most varied numer of countries in any one place, and they don't even have signs that are in a variety of languages for crying out loud. Anyway - that's my take on it. Others vary.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I don't think anyone in this thread has said, "I wish the Aquarium had never been built". Maybe I missed that comment, but re-reading the entire thread I don't see it.

Just because people think it wasn't designed as well as it should have been, doesn't mean they prefer the old neighborhood it's in, nor does it mean they're "bashing" Atlanta. They (as am I) are saying that if you're going to try to boast Atlanta as an "International world class city", and if you're going to boast the Aquarium as "The worlds largest and best Aquarium", then you'd better darn well live up to those boasts.

The Aquarium is "neat" in that Atlanta hasn't exactly had the reputation for having anything like that. There are only so many Civil Rights attractions you can have before even the people who are interested in them go, "Yawn... what else??". It just seemed like the Aquarium was Uncle Bernie's vision of wanting something that could be boasted as being the biggest, rather than something that was carefully thought out and designed to be the best.

There's still hope that as time goes on they'll remodel here and there and the place will evolve into more than the original, but so far all that we're seeing are key people leaving their jobs and animals dying, with plans to bring in even more intelligent animals (dolphins) just to drum up some more revenue. What's needed are a redesign of some of the smaller viewing areas, better crowd control/flow, better employee courtesy, a ban on supersized baby strollers, and some more natural habitat type environment features in the exhibit areas as well. Heck, the Aquarium is the one place in Atlanta where you see the highest concentration of people from the most varied numer of countries in any one place, and they don't even have signs that are in a variety of languages for crying out loud. Anyway - that's my take on it. Others vary.

So because a few internationals make it to the Georgia Aquarium, we should cater to them in their own language? I don't think so. That's a great way to destroy the aquarium, for people (real Americans) would be turned off by the catering to other languages. They'd go once, see the other languages, and not desire to come back.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

So because a few internationals make it to the Georgia Aquarium, we should cater to them in their own language? I don't think so. That's a great way to destroy the aquarium, for people (real Americans) would be turned off by the catering to other languages. They'd go once, see the other languages, and not desire to come back.

So they should cater to childish jingos, instead?

[ramblinwreck17]

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

So because a few internationals make it to the Georgia Aquarium, we should cater to them in their own language? I don't think so. That's a great way to destroy the aquarium, for people (real Americans) would be turned off by the catering to other languages. They'd go once, see the other languages, and not desire to come back.

Are you serious? Or was that a joke? "Real Americans" seeing signs for other languages will turn them off to coming? Have you been overseas? I very much appreciate being in Rome or Munich or wherever and seeing signs in English assisting me to my point of interest. Why can't we extend the same courtesy? Because it will offend our sensibilities?

I laughed at the "Real Americans" comment but then I found this and realized you are right. I never knew...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnnxDqy515s

[LovinDecatur]

They said this AM on WSB that Aquarium attendance is down 39% this year.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

So because a few internationals make it to the Georgia Aquarium, we should cater to them in their own language? I don't think so. That's a great way to destroy the aquarium, for people (real Americans) would be turned off by the catering to other languages. They'd go once, see the other languages, and not desire to come back.

Oh geez, man. Get real. Have you ever been to a real city before? New York? San Francisco? Toronto? Tokyo? London? It's COMMONPLACE in places like airports, subways, and major tourist attractions for their signs to be in their native languages, with multiple other languages underneath for visitors to read. Whether or not Atlanta is yet a "real" city or not gets debated regularly on here, but the fact that the Aquarium is probably the most commonly visited attraction within the city by visitors from abroad is fact.

No one is saying to replace English on the signage. Like other cities do, English should be at the top of the sign in the largest lettering, followed by the more common languages you hear from visitors here in smaller letters to translate: (Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese and perhaps German or Korean, too. I seriously doubt that you'd find ANY American visitor to the Aquarium who would go, "Aww gawddman, look at dat - furin' languages on thu signs! I'm leaving!!". Well, ok, maybe people coming in from Alabama or Bremen might say that, but I'm talking about normal people.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

They said this AM on WSB that Aquarium attendance is down 39% this year.

I suspect a lot of nonessential activities are down this year. We've cancelled vacation plans outselves.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

I suspect a lot of nonessential activities are down this year. We've cancelled vacation plans outselves.

My thought, too...that and the 'novelty factor' is wearing off.