Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay is a public aquarium located at and owned by the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its main tank is 1,300,000 US gallons (4,900,000 l), one of the largest in North America. The facility is 95,000 sq ft (8,800 m²), and displays numerous different species of sharks, rays, fish, reptiles, and marine invertebrates. It also features a shark tunnel.

The Shark Reef Aquarium is the only Nevada institution accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). While most aquariums are located close to the ocean, the Shark Reef is exceptional in that it is located in a desert, far from any natural water source. The reef was developed in consultation with the Vancouver Aquarium.

History

The exhibits opened in 2000. In 2007, it underwent a re-branding campaign adding "Aquarium" to the official name. Shark Reef Aquarium officials stated that the re-branding is intended to present the actual nature of the habitat, as members of the public sometimes confused Shark Reef as a name for a bar, lounge, restaurant, etc.

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort after Disney's River Country, which closed in November 2001.

The park, which opened on June 1, 1989, is home to one of the world's largest outdoor wave pools. The theme of the park is the "Disney legend" of a typhoon that wreaked havoc upon a formerly pristine tropical paradise. Ships, fishing gear and surfboards are strewn about where the storm flung them. The centerpiece of the park is "Miss Tilly," a shrimp boat impaled upon a mountain named "Mount Mayday" that erupts a 50-foot (15 m) geyser of water every half hour, right before the bells of the watch sound on Miss Tilly. Typhoon Lagoon's mascot is “Lagoona Gator,” and he is related to Blizzard Beach's mascot Ice Gator.

In 2014, Typhoon Lagoon admitted approximately 2,185,000 visitors, currently making it the second most visited water park in the world. Typhoon Lagoon operates year-round with an annual maintenance closure during either the fall or winter; during the closure, its sister park, Blizzard Beach, will remain open.

Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International. One of the property's towers operates as the Delano, also the Four Seasons Hotel is independently operated within the Mandalay Bay tower, occupying 5 floors (35–39).

Mandalay Bay has 3,309 hotel rooms, 24 elevators and a casino of 135,000 square feet (12,500 m²). Adjacent to the hotel are the 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m²) Mandalay Bay Convention Center and the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center. The Mandalay Bay Tram connects the resort to its sister properties, Excalibur and Luxor, all three of which were constructed by Circus Circus Enterprises before its sale to MGM.

History

Circus Circus Enterprises bought the Hacienda for $80 million in 1995. They closed it on December 1, 1996, and imploded it on New Year's Eve, 1996. The Mandalay Bay project was introduced on December 31, 1996, as Hawaiian-themed, "Project Paradise" and had a cost of $950 million. In February 1998, the project was renamed Mandalay Bay, despite the fact there is no actual bay in the inland city of Mandalay in Myanmar (Burma).

Academy of sciences

An academy of sciences is a national academy or another learned society dedicated to sciences.

In non-English speaking countries, the range of academic fields of the members of a national Academy of Science often includes scholarly disciplines which would not normally be classed as "science" in English. Many languages use a broad term for systematized learning which includes both natural and social sciences and fields such as literary studies, history, or art history, which are not typically considered "sciences" in English. For example, the Australian Academy of Sciences is an organization of natural scientists, reflecting the English use of the term "scientist". There are separate academies for Arts, Humanities and Social Science. The Hungarian "Academy of Science" (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia), however, has members from many other areas of academia. Presumably, the Hungarian term tudomány has been translated as "science" in a broader sense, as it was used in English 200 years ago, and is still used in French and other languages.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas (/lɑːs ˈveɪɡəs/, also locally /lɑːs ˈvɛɡᵻs/; Spanish: [laz ˈβeɣas]) officially the City of Las Vegas and often known as simply Vegas, is a city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, the county seat of Clark County, and the city proper of the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining and nightlife and is the leading financial and cultural center for Southern Nevada.

The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its mega casino–hotels and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, Las Vegas is the 29th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 603,488 at the 2013 United States Census Estimates. The 2013 population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area was 2,027,828. The city is one of the top three leading destinations in the United States for conventions, business, and meetings. In addition, the city's metropolitan area has more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world, and is a global leader in the hospitality industry. Today, Las Vegas is one of the top tourist destinations in the world.