The Mandalay Bay Aquarium: August 2000
The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada was a relatively new resort and casino in August 2000. Mike and I were on our tenth anniversary trip and we paid the money to see the sharks. If I remember correctly, I was appalled because it was $30 to get us into the aquarium, which was more than the Monterey Bay Aquarium cost and I was sure that there was no way Mandalay could beat it. Back then, $30 was a lot to pay for us, so we were uneasy. We decided that we were on a fun trip and it was one of the few things we wanted to do, so we shelled out the money for it.
If you look closely, you can see Mike and me in the reflections of almost every one of these photos. It makes me smile to see us there, enjoying the aquarium in these inadvertent self-portraits. I remember really enjoying the aquarium but thinking that they had played up the shark thing a little too much since all their sharks were under three feet long.
It’s almost six years later and Mandalay Bay is still playing up the shark theme, although now, maybe their sharks have grown older and larger. Now, the cost is $15.95 for adults and $9.95 for children. There is a guided tour, which there wasn’t before, so I’m sure the event is much more educational than our visit. We are fish enthusiasts, so we were able to identify all the different varieties, but a guided tour would have been fun for us.
I think I’m ready to go back there and see the sharks again. Maybe this time they will be more menancing.