Happily! The best part of living in Detroit is that Chicago is only a 4 1/2 hr car ride away! The Shedd has kept the old fashioned part upstairs, and I love it. They have added in lots of more modern style tanks in the last several years, updated the look and added lots of good stuff. Still, I love the "old school" species specific tanks that harken back to the original days of fish keeping. They have also kept a lot of the beautiful fixtures and things that go along with the original architecture. If you ever make it up this way, D, we'll go for sure!!!
We were just there a couple weeks ago. It was very cold so no outside photos. We actually had to stand in line, out in the cold for close to an hour. I was disappointed, they used to have a very nice SW display. It has all been moved into their "wild reef". We used the library pass, just general admission. The dolphin, whale, tide pool display used to be included w/general admission, now that and wild reef are an extra charge. Over the years, Shedd has gotten very expensive for a family. Anyway, we enjoyed the day. These are the only photos that are viewable. Lighting was very dim inside. These were taken in the Amazon section. I know you were interested in the displays but the only ones I photographed were so bad I deleted them. They don't really show too much of the aquarium, sorry. There is a central enormous aquarium where divers feed the fish, could sit and watch for hours. Enjoy your day. Getting to see behind the scenes, wow, very lucky. Stay safe!
Make use of your time. while standing in line to examine architectural details. check out all the trim, ceiling and light fixtures. Every where you look sea themed and absolutely breathtaking.
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