It’s always good times at the Vancouver Aquarium, one of my favourite spots in the city to take the kids. I would buy a family membership, which costs about the same as what we paid for eight of us (three adults, five children) on Sunday except the card only covers up to five family members* and the rest would have to pay winter admission rates. We’d probably go more often with a pass, but the Aquarium can get insanely busy and more adults are necessary to keep track of the Ms. Frequent visits would get expensive.
I tend to take the kids more often to Science World because it works out cheaper for me with the five of them, there are more hands-on activities for their ages (4-9), and the larger spaces make it easier to keep them within viewing distance.
That said, the Vancouver Aquarium is a fascinating place with more information than a person can absorb in one visit. They did some much-needed renovation in the past few years that expanded the exhibits, but my top reason for recommending a visit is that the Aquarium puts an emphasis on conservation and education rather than a show.
I was with friends at Sea World in San Diego in 2001 and watched “The Shamu Show” rather unhappily knowing Bjossa, the last Vancouver Aquarium orca, was shipped down there to perform. (She died a few months later.) I would not have gone to Sea World had it been up to me. All the killer whales are called Shamu instead of their own names so the show never loses its “stars” and the show can go on in perpetuity. I find that unsettling because it turns the marine animals into a water circus and people see them as performers instead of creatures in captivity. I will visit aquariums that rescue animals from environmental disasters and hazards who otherwise could not be returned to the wild, but I won’t support a program of capturing and breeding to sell show tickets.
The preschooler twins are probably a little young to be thinking about ecology and conservation, but the older three (Grade 2, 3, and 4) have a pretty good idea of what it means.
