It looks like the Newport Aquarium is adding a 100ft rope bridge across its 385,000 gallon shark tank. The bridge is set to open mid-April along with a new otter exhibit in mid-March. In addition, the aquarium is acquiring multiple new scalloped hammerhead sharks.

Source: http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=313472

Witn Monmouth Street undergoing a revitalization of sorts, there had to be some sort of new danger in Newport...

I can hear PETA now.

that is awesome

Whoever is in charge of marketing at the aquarium always has something planned to keep people coming back it seems

Once again they're doing "winter family days" (2 kids get in free with every paying adult), and that conveniently runs through March 1st, at which point their giant Galapagos tortoise will be leaving - just in time for the otter exhibit to open. New otter exhibit in March. Bridge over the shark tank with new sharks in April.

By the time the busy summer season hits, those will have gotten plenty of press, reviews, etc.

Also, the website says the Weeki Wachee Mermaids will be back in the fall.

Who thought this was a good idea?

^Wait...what exactly is wrong with this idea?

As a V-shaped rope bridge, I think it will likely look similar to the rope bridge in the tropical rain forest exhibit at Discovery Place. I couldn't find a decent picture from my last visit; a quick search yielded this: http://patrickschneider.photoshelter.com/image/I0000To_qukt7IVI This view shows more of the V shape: http://patrickschneider.photoshelter.com/image/I0000Za9kHygNYkA

It's a unique feature to offer the guests. Many people view zoos, museums and aquariums as a place to visit once a year (if lucky). Bringing in such additions and updates encourage people to visit or buy a membership.

It will be a V-shaped bridge based on a rendering on the aquarium's website: http://www.newportaquarium.com/What-to-do-in-cincinnati/New-Exhibits-Coming-in-2015.aspx

Hmmm... Unless there's a secondary barrier (or a very specific and monitored protocol), this will probably change forms quickly after smart phones, selfie sticks, and pocket contents start falling into the water.

Falling? What if some of the same guests who find it amusing to spit from skyrides or to drop things from high observation towers....

From one of the renderings, it appears as though a net will go from the bottom of the V where you walk up to the ceiling, so that hopefully no cell phones or large objects can get dropped/thrown in. Change or small things well...let's hope the workers keep a strict, watchful eye

Hmmm... Unless there's a secondary barrier (or a very specific and monitored protocol), this will probably change forms quickly after smart phones, selfie sticks, and pocket contents start falling into the water.

I sure hope so there is a secondary barrier of sorts. I feel bad for the sharks since they'll eat just about anything that'll fit in their mouth. SeaWorld typically ran into this trouble with the dolphin petting pools, aside from people grabbing at and teasing the animals, people were throwing coins and other unwanted objects into the water. Kai at SeaWorld San Antonio was a culprit of eating all those foreign objects to the point he was moved to the behind the scenes facility so the only way I could see him was to go on one of the tours. It is/was still a problem even after the petting pools were no longer a free for all and became much more heavily supervised, some people don't like it but it is a lot of the reason why it is so regulated now. Which is why I hope KI better have a good supervisory team on hand with the petting zoo...going by what I saw during Haunt I was not impressed when some of the smaller animals were trying to get away from the wild children grabbing at them.

They are also adding a mermaid dive show, which I am super excited about. Ripley'd Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg has that, and we got to see it when we went there on our honeymoon, and it was really cool!

Those are the Weeki Wachee Mermaids. They were there for a short time this past year as well.

I can hear PETA now.

I can bet that their care bucket would be empty. There's too many sharks, PETA can't bully All the aquariums in the world.

Baby steps with that bunch.

Besides, sharks aren't cute and cuddly and winsome.

some of us are...

A random memory popped into my head from SeaWorld Orlando involving the stingray petting pool....a guest picks up a stingray out of the water and drops the poor thing on the ground. Thankfully attendants got there in time to get the stingray back in the water where he belonged and guest was escorted out.

Ugh...just another example of dumb people.