Since we parked quite far inside, and the two places are quite distant from each other, we had to walk for a while to reach the Academy. The first thing we encountered were countless homeless people. When we got out of the car, the outdoor temperature was quite low, but in the lush forest, there were tent after tent. It was scary and sad to see - this is California, USA!
National AIDS Memorial Grove
Natural scenery looks beautiful no matter how you photograph it. After passing through the National AIDS Memorial Grove, you'll notice orange Academy signs along the way with very high visibility. Swaying along, you'll eventually reach the Academy's main entrance!
Entering the Academy
The first thing we saw after entering was a giant dinosaur skeleton. Since I had no interest in dinosaur bones at all, I quickly took a photo and left this area, heading to the polar region.
Polar Exhibit Area
I have to say, compared to the polar exhibit areas in Taiwan, the American displays are much more thoughtful and detailed. The penguin hands and feet on display are all 1:1 realistic models, positioned at children's height level, and children can freely touch them - they feel soft! There are explanatory texts and guides nearby.
We immediately saw a group of people queuing for the polar house experience, which was a semi-circular small movie theater showing a science story about water and life. As soon as we entered, all the children spontaneously found places to sit on the floor. I was a bit surprised - sitting on the floor? In Taiwan, this might get you kicked out of the venue! Is this American culture? Although there were chairs prepared for parents around the outer edge of the venue, I still chose to sit on the floor with the children to watch.
Crown Jewel: Albino Alligator
This albino alligator is the crown jewel of the museum. When we first entered, I thought it was fake! But when we came back shortly after, it had actually turned its head! 👀 You can walk or take the elevator to the basement area to observe the albino alligator on the water surface. There are supposedly feeding activities, but since we didn't plan for this on that day, I'm not too familiar with it. If you're interested, you can participate in the Academy's swamp talk activities - the daily swamp talk activity times are announced on the official website.
Marine Life at the Academy
Next, we headed to the twilight zone. The fish species in the collection here seem quite special, with a very diverse variety. The lighting and flow arrangements are incredibly aesthetic, and the colorful LED dynamic displays are not rough at all. Plus, some of the viewing glass is curved, and when you actually stand in front of it to watch, the effect is very realistic and stunning.
This is enough to amaze anyone!
Even though we had already visited Monterey Bay Aquarium, after touring the twilight zone, we still felt we had gained new insights. After coming out, we didn't really look at the guide map much and casually followed large landmarks, heading straight toward the earthquake house.
Earthquake House: Experience California's Great Earthquake
Compared to the US, Taiwan has much higher earthquake frequency, so we planned to take two American kids to experience the earthquake house. Who knew the children didn't even want to approach the entrance to the queue and absolutely refused... In the end, it was the two adults who went to experience the earthquake house 😅... Although we had already experienced various earthquake houses in Taiwan, experiencing it again in the US was still a good experience!
Large Animal and Plant Specimens
Around the earthquake house, there are many large animal and plant specimens. The most memorable was the interactive observation telescope (which actually only magnifies a little bit). Children can observe the lion specimen in front of them through the telescope and press the button next to it to switch the specimen to backgrounds like grasslands or habitats. The most interesting was the last background, which was switched to a carousel at an amusement park. Children found it novel and interesting, while adults had different reflections.
Rainforest Area
Because the journey was long and time was precious, the children had already entered the semi-circular sphere of the tropical rainforest world. After we finished experiencing the earthquake house, we quickly queued up to get in. The tropical rainforest area has a capacity limit, and since it's a semi-enclosed space, when queuing at the entrance, you have to go through an airlock first.
As soon as we entered, it felt like returning to Taiwan with that humid climate feeling (laughs). The semi-circular sphere uses a slope method to arrange the flow, in a single direction. After reaching the top level, everyone takes the elevator down together, so as soon as you enter, you have to start climbing uphill.
The signage is really beautifully made, with appropriate color schemes, fonts, and font sizes, just like biology textbooks 😂😂😂 You'll experience various visual impacts of colors.
Oakland Zoo also has small poison frogs, like Tomato Frogs and Poison Dart Frogs. Although they are all poison frogs, each one is small and very cute.
Although each display case is not very large, they all have places worth paying attention to and lingering over.
The top floor is an open butterfly viewing area, where the butterflies are all very large. Before taking the elevator down, staff will ask everyone to check each other to see if any butterflies are resting on their backs. After exiting the elevator, there's a full-length mirror for another check to see if there are any butterflies on your body. Only after the check is clear will they open the final door to let visitors exit to the tropical rainforest area we walked through earlier.
We first went to the service desk to get tickets for Dark Universe to avoid not being able to enter when there are many people. After that, we went to see the large African animal specimens nearby, all made 1:1 scale. Only up close do you realize that lions are really quite large.
The most shocking part of the entire journey was entering this 3D theater, which is as large as the entire tropical rainforest semi-circular sphere. You don't need 3D glasses because it's inherently curved, and combined with the projection effects, it feels truly three-dimensional. Before the show starts, staff members stand at the front continuously telling scientific dad jokes to everyone. When leaving, you can only exit from the back.
The Dark Universe film is nearly 1 hour long, with content about the scientific story of the origin of the universe. It was worth all the encyclopedias I bought as a child and the similar articles I read in earth science class, plus the stunning visual effects made it hard to fall asleep. However, it was difficult for the two children to watch together, and sure enough, the kids fell asleep halfway through!
Acid-Base Experiment
Outside the observation room, there are specialists who explain acid-base experiments to children, using materials commonly found at home, such as dish soap, lemon juice, etc. The explanation process is vivid and interesting.
Next, we wandered around the gift shop. Although most of the items sold are also made in China, they are much more refined compared to Taiwan's souvenir items. In the end, I bought three packages of ice cream (cookies) specifically for astronauts, which happened to be on sale. The children really wanted to buy sand - sand?? The kind of moldable sand for children sold at Taiwan night markets...
The last place was the dinosaur area, which has an interactive section where you just stand in front and wave your hands, and the dinosaur on the screen will fly over the sea surface - quite interesting!
We used a member card to enter, so we went through the member-exclusive entrance at channel 3.
While organizing this article, I discovered that the California Academy of Sciences actually has a YouTube channel (here). Just watching fish swimming in the water makes you feel happy! If you're interested, you can click to check it out. They have 24-hour live streams of many aquatic animals, filmed from multiple angles throughout the day, including penguins and rays - it's truly exciting!
If you want to understand the museum's exhibitions at once, you can first watch the official 3-minute video.
Afterword
The environment here is indeed suitable for people of different age groups to visit, with corresponding user experiences for each. Even the bathroom sinks have child step stools to help children reach up to wash their hands. Whether it's young children, teenagers, or adults, coming here repeatedly is absolutely worth the ticket price, so it has become the first choice for school field trips. However, when the child was about to come here for a school field trip, they actually said 'I've never been here before,' which scared me into quickly finding some photos to help them remember - we had such wonderful memories together here!