Adventure Aquarium

It took three years to come up with a new name for the New Jersey State Aquarium, but there was one guiding principle: Ditch the "New Jersey. " And so it was decreed yesterday that the place would be called the decidedly less regional Adventure Aquarium when it reopens in May after a nine-month expansion. "We didn't want to pigeonhole ourselves," said David Wechsler, vice president of Steiner & Associates, the aquarium's new operator. "The old name sounded too institutional, and we didn't want to get into the whole New Jersey and Philadelphia thing.

CAMDEN - Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to attractions for Adventure Aquarium's smallest visitors. "KidZone," which opens Saturday, is the aquarium's most child-accessible exhibit space yet. The underwater windows are closer to the ground, the rooms encourage interaction, and the sea creatures are relatively small. But they all have their quirks. Any child who remembers the film Finding Nemo will recognize the display's orange-and-white clown fish, or the outgoing cleaner shrimp - which, given the opportunity, will climb on your hand and inspect your cuticles.

For cold-weather creatures, winter may seem like no big deal. But just how do they survive in these chilly times? Adventure Aquarium gets at the heart of how animals such as seals and penguins keep warm with "Deep Freeze. " The two-day event gives visitors a look at how animals' built-in defense mechanisms, such as blubber and fur, help them through the winter. "It's educational and it's interactive," says aquarium spokesman Bill Larson. In keeping with the theme, an ice carver will transform blocks of ice into some favorite aquarium creatures, and children can get warmed up on a polar-bear moon bounce.

How do you say "Happy Birthday" to a hippo? At Adventure Aquarium, the party for Button, one of two resident hippos, features sing-alongs, face-painting, dancing the "hippo hustle," playing pin-the-tail-on-the-hippo, and even vegetarian "birthday cake" feedings. The 3,000-pound Button, who lives in the aquarium's West African River Experience exhibit, is celebrating her ninth birthday with activities throughout March. "We're the only aquarium in the country to have hippos," said Adventure Aquarium spokesman Bill Larson.

LIKE their tutu-ed cousins in the Walt Disney classic, "Fantasia," Genny and Button slide and shimmy into their rock-garden pool. It's hard to believe that three tons of hippopotami can be so fluid and graceful, but as the two stars of the Adventure Aquarium's West African River Experience exhibit do underwater flips and turns worthy of Olympic synchronized swimmers, it is clear that the new aquatic digs in Camden are an upgrade from what was...

Sharks swam. People pressed against tanks. Pickets protested. As hundreds of children and adults in floppy felt Adventure Aquarium hats inaugurated the shiny, new-again attraction on the Camden waterfront yesterday, police arrested eight people outside. About 70 union demonstrators on the streets in front of the site protested the fate of employees of the former New Jersey State Aquarium. Officers on horses moved the crowd down a hill, farther from the customers. The state facility closed in September to make way for the for-profit Adventure Aquarium, considered the keystone for the waterfront's continued development.

Children can discover their inner shark this weekend in Gill's Clubhouse at Adventure Aquarium in Camden. Kids can compare their strength to that of a shark's jaws by testing out the shark jaw pressure interactive game. They can also meet the aquarium's new mascot, Gill. Families are invited to experience an interactive shark X-ray showing the inner workings of a shark's anatomy and its organs. Other exclusive clubhouse activities let visitors build a virtual shark and compare a human's sense of smell to a shark's.

A sloth rustling in the trees, hippos swimming merrily in the river, and the sound of the waterfall crashing in the background. Are those the sounds of a faraway land? Nope, it's the soundtrack of Adventure Aquarium, on the Camden waterfront, now the home to more than 6,000 furry, scaly and feathery creatures in addition to some unusual aquatic wildlife. Having just reopened Wednesday, Adventure Aquarium offers visitors a quick trip around the globe, with a chance to experience the flora and fauna of the Caribbean, Africa and South America as well as the exotic world found under the sea. "Our goal is to unveil a whole new aquarium," says Greg Charbeneau, executive director of the renamed Adventure Aquarium, where 86,000 square feet of space was added.

Thirteen years after the New Jersey Aquarium first opened on its waterfront, Camden is again staking big hopes on a house of fish. But there are hippos this time, and a big Amazon waterfall, and former Disney executives who are fussing about the "guest experience," and even a $115 opportunity to snorkel in a shark tank. On Wednesday - almost nine months after it closed for a makeover - the privatized, expanded and renamed Adventure Aquarium will open. It is another milestone on a waterfront that is home to more than $400 million in investments, and where plans for future development are bringing into sight what planners call critical mass - the convergence of attractions and amenities that gives a destination wider appeal.

Eat breakfast with Scuba Santa and watch him dive into the holiday spirit as the Adventure Aquarium presents its seasonal celebration daily through Jan. 1. Watch Santa jump into the aquarium's 760,000-gallon Ocean Realm exhibit and swim with sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and other fish. Once Santa hits the dry side, guests can join him and his helper inside the Winter Wonderland Theater for the "I Believe in Scuba Santa" show, and take photos with him weekends through Dec. 24. On Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., for an additional fee, kids can have a buffet-style breakfast with Santa along with mascot characters including Gill the Shark and the newest character, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster.

CAMDEN - Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to attractions for Adventure Aquarium's smallest visitors. "KidZone," which opens Saturday, is the aquarium's most child-accessible exhibit space yet. The underwater windows are closer to the ground, the rooms encourage interaction, and the sea creatures are relatively small. But they all have their quirks. Any child who remembers the film Finding Nemo will recognize the display's orange-and-white clown fish, or the outgoing cleaner shrimp - which, given the opportunity, will climb on your hand and inspect your cuticles.

The battleship New Jersey is in another fight. This time it must ward off efforts to move the ship from the Camden waterfront to New York, in view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Every effort should be made to keep the most decorated battleship in U.S. history harbored on the Delaware River, where it has been for more than a decade. Thanks to a sluggish economy and state budget cuts, the tourist attraction is struggling to make ends meet. Its state subsidy has plummeted from $1.7 million in 2010 to just $32,500 last year, not even enough to pay the monthly electricity bill for the 887-foot, 45,000-ton battleship museum.

The New Jersey Assembly on Monday approved restoring $139 million in transitional aid to fiscally troubled cities, including Camden, after legislative leaders used an emergency measure to put the bill up for a vote. The vote was 67-11 with one abstention. There was no discussion on the measure. The move comes more than five months after Gov. Christie, a Republican, cut all but $10 million in transitional aid from legislative Democrats' proposed state budget over concerns that they had removed oversight funding from the program.

Most of the Delaware River Port Authority's unspent $29.9 million in economic-development funds will go to non-transportation projects, according to a plan unveiled Monday. The biggest payment, $6 million, is slated for a new cancer center at Cooper University Hospital, whose board chairman is South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross. The DRPA has delayed for more than a year a decision on what to do with its unspent economic-development money, the remnants of about $500 million borrowed and spent over the past 13 years for projects such as sports stadiums, concert halls and museums.

Eat breakfast with Scuba Santa and watch him dive into the holiday spirit as the Adventure Aquarium presents its seasonal celebration daily through Jan. 1. Watch Santa jump into the aquarium's 760,000-gallon Ocean Realm exhibit and swim with sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and other fish. Once Santa hits the dry side, guests can join him and his helper inside the Winter Wonderland Theater for the "I Believe in Scuba Santa" show, and take photos with him weekends through Dec. 24. On Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., for an additional fee, kids can have a buffet-style breakfast with Santa along with mascot characters including Gill the Shark and the newest character, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster.

New Jersey residents feel safest in Atlantic City among three of the state's urban destinations for leisure activity. Although there have been two recent fatal carjackings in a casino parking garage there, residents said they would feel slightly more secure at the Shore resort than in Philadelphia or in Garden State cities known for their recreational options, a recent poll shows. But given their druthers, they would feel even better crossing into Manhattan. As for Camden, forget it. Among those surveyed, 64 percent said they would feel at risk there, with nearly half reporting that they would feel "not at all" safe, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released Monday.

What started with a retired Camden police corporal's counseling one at-risk youth in April has grown into a city-run prisoner reentry program that has put 14 formerly incarcerated men to work. The men, who were recruited by Camden's new Office of Prevention and Reentry, are working with the Camden Special Services District Clean Team, sweeping and raking city parks and its business corridors. One of the participants, Adrian Muse, 39, said the job keeps him busy and is a way to give back to his community.

3-month and 6-month bills , Apr. 11; 4-week bills , Apr. 12; 1-year bills , May 3; 2-year notes , Apr. 26; 5-year notes , Apr. 27; 3-year notes , Apr. 12; 7-year notes, Apr. 28; 10-year notes , Apr. 13; 30-year bonds , Apr. 14; 10-year TIPS , inflation-indexed bonds, May 19; 30-year TIPS , June 23; 5-year TIPS , Apr. 21. Business Referral Luncheon presented by BNI, King of Prussia Chapter. Peppers Restaurant, 236 Town Center Rd., King of Prussia; 610-792-2105.

The summer ferry that crosses the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden could be in jeopardy as the Delaware River Port Authority looks for ways to save money. DRPA board members on Monday questioned using $1.2 million in bridge-toll revenue to pay for new or improved ferry docks in Camden and Philadelphia. "I seriously think we need to look at that," said Pennsylvania board member Robert W. Bogle. "Is it a project we need to continue to fund?" The River Link ferry runs during the summer between Penn's Landing in Philadelphia and Wiggins Park in Camden, and this year, it carried 159,638 visitors to such sites as the Susquehanna Bank Center concert arena, the Camden River Sharks ballpark, and the Adventure Aquarium.

Between a shuttered restaurant and a vacant building with a hole above the door sits a little office with tall, green-trimmed windows. On the glass hangs a sign that reads "Re(think Camden). " Shawn Burke, 25, a product of Glendora and Marlton in the South Jersey suburbs, sits at a desk inside. The real estate broker has fallen in love with his adopted hometown, Camden, and particularly the neighborhood where he lives and works, Cooper Grant, the most stable in the city. Burke is working to sell and rehabilitate all but one of the properties on the largely dilapidated 200 block of Market Street, where he has set up shop.