CARLSBAD: New aquarium opens with a splash

Legoland California celebrates Sea Life project's completion

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Monday, August 11, 2008 8:18 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Legoland California opened its kid-friendly Sea Life Aquarium on Monday, hoping to draw new visitors by combining marine life education with Lego-style entertainment.

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The two-story aquarium complex, which requires a separate admission ticket, is the latest in a string of new attractions at Legoland California, including an Egyptian-themed group of rides, a water play zone and Miniland Las Vegas.

Park officials have said they're aiming to broaden the park's appeal and encourage out-of-town visitors to stay an extra day. They've even added roller coasters in recent years to bring in older, thrill-seeking kids.

The new attractions appear to be working. After a slump following the 2001 terrorist attacks, attendance soared to a record 1.6 million visitors in 2006. The park repeated that figure in 2007, and Legoland officials have said it is likely they'll do so again this year.

John Jakobsen, president and general manager of Legoland California, said Wednesday that the two-story, 36,000-square-foot aquarium complex ---- about the size of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's aquarium in La Jolla ---- is a huge addition to Legoland.

Part of a $20 million upgrade, the aquarium complex is the biggest attraction added to the amusement park off Cannon Road since it opened in 1999, he said.

The aquarium, in part, is a result of Legoland being taken over by new management. The British-based Merlin Entertainment Group, which bought the park in 2005, is known for its Sea Life Aquarium attractions in Europe. These aquariums feature special porthole windows where kids can go eye-to-eye with fish, and there's almost a playground feel to the displays.

This will be the company's first aquarium in North America.

What sets the Carlsbad Sea Life Aquarium apart is that it takes advantage of its location at Legoland's main entrance to use the trademark Lego building blocks inside its tanks, Jakobsen said Monday.

"It's kind of cool," 7-year-old Bridget Brightfield of Encinitas said eagerly as she hoisted her 19-month-old sister, Cheryl, up in one of the aquarium's famed porthole viewing spots. "You get to sit in it and all these fish swim around you and people can see you."

Meanwhile, Bridget's mom, Amy, and older sister, Alison, read the educational sign over the octopus tank, and local dignitaries on hand for the day's grand opening ceremony wondered aloud whether the rays swimming in a huge tank upstairs had teeth. (They don't.)

The centerpiece of the two-story aquarium complex is a "Lost City of Atlantis" where sharks and other fish swim around an 11-foot-long Lego submarine and a 10-foot-tall Lego statue of the sea god Poseidon. Kids can walk through a 35-foot-long, see-through tunnel under that 200,000-gallon tank, or go upstairs where they can peer eye-level at a shark.

Unlike the outdoor Lego structures in the amusement park next door, Lego bricks inside the aquariums haven't been treated with a special coating.

"Legos just happen to be made out of the plastic that they recommend for aquariums ... rather convenient for us," said Legoland spokeswoman Beth Downing.

However, builders did have to treat the steel structures that hold the Lego models in place to keep them from corroding, she said.

The aquarium complex will employ about 100 people, including a team of 10 folks who have a background in marine biology, as well as the regular restaurant and gift shop sales staff.

Kids were captivated Monday morning by the aquarium's Lake Tahoe section because it featured a real slide above a giant tank of freshwater fish, but 8-year-old Emily Bleck of Oceanside said she liked the seahorses in an upstairs tank best because they were so colorful.

She wasn't the only one. Carlsbad City Councilwoman Ann Kulchin also professed a fondness for the horse-shaped sea creatures.

"The males carry the babies ---- I like that part," she told Carlsbad's mayor Bud Lewis and his wife, Beverly, as they paused to peer into the tank.

The only truly unimpressed people appeared to be those folks waiting outside in the midday heat.

"We've been here over an hour," said one frowning woman as she held a baby in her arms.

The entrance line moved very slowly because people were admitted only in small groups. They couldn't come in any faster, staff members said, because the first room of the aquarium complex ---- a mock submarine with two bubble towers and a welcome to the aquarium commentary ---- had space for only about two dozen people at a time. More than 150 people showed for the grand opening ceremony.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.