Seahorse Kingdom: Big hopes for tiny critters

Seahorses have long had a magical quality to them. There's just something about a critter that's got the head of a horse, a tail like a monkey and a pouch like a kangaroo.

As Underwater Adventures prepares to open an exhibit of 300 or more of the creatures on Friday, there's a strong hope that the magic of seahorses will translate into good business, too.

The $250,000 exhibit, known as the Seahorse Kingdom, is the first major addition to the aquarium since 2000. It's also the first investment under London-based Merlin Entertainments Group, the $1.3 billion theme-park operator that bought the attraction in December for an undisclosed sum.

Located under the east entrance of the Mall of America in Bloomington, the 1.2 million-gallon aquarium has had a history of struggles. Previous owner Todd Peterson bought it out of bankruptcy in 1999 for a fire-sale price of about $10 million. Peterson, a Minnesota native and entrepreneur, changed the name from UnderWater World, put an emphasis on sharks and brought the aquarium back to profitability.

Merlin, meanwhile, has deep pockets, decades of experience and a hankering for growth -- despite the worldwide economic woes. The company is second in size (by a long shot) to Disney, and operates 62 attractions in 12 countries, including Legoland and Madame Tussauds, which is scheduled to open its fourth U.S. venue in Hollywood this year.

"As far as the amount of money they're investing, it's pretty minimal," said David Brennan of the Institute for Retailing Excellence at the University of St. Thomas. "But it does show they plan to grow and develop this thing. And it gives another reason for people that have been out there to come back and take another look. It's like retail. You've got to keep it new and fresh. Otherwise there's no new reason to come down."

Merlin has said it will sink $5 million into the aquarium in the coming years. Plans already are in the works for a $1.5 million exhibit that is scheduled to open in early 2010, said Craig Atkins, general manager of Underwater Adventures. Details are still hush-hush.

The seahorse exhibit signals a shift to a more educational and conservation-minded focus for Underwater Adventures, which officials said attracts a little more than half a million visitors a year.

"Sharky," the giant mascot, and other entertainment elements will remain, but instead of the static graphic panels that accompany other exhibits, the seahorse exhibit will have LCD screens with scrolling information about the fragile state of the seahorse, whose populations have become threatened by overfishing and destruction of their habitat in coral reefs, sea grasses and mangrove forests.

"A big part of making the decision to do seahorses rather than jellyfish or some of the other ideas we had, was that there's a lot to be said about the plight of seahorses around the world's oceans," said Atkins, who has worked at the aquarium since 1997. "It felt right. It's got a strong message, and that's the direction we want to go."

The exhibit is small, just 1,000 square feet, and will take over part of the space used by a sea-glass exhibit. Carpenters with Themescapes, a theme-construction company in Forest Lake, will be working around the clock for the next two days, cramming five weeks of work into two weeks' time to get the Seahorse Kingdom ready for public viewing Friday. The official opening is Saturday, just in time for spring break, which typically brings a boost in traffic.

Atkins said the aquarium plans to add to its 190-person staff to handle the extra traffic it expects to draw from the seahorse exhibit and future offerings.

Last year, sales were up about 7 percent. Officials at Underwater Adventure are projecting growth of 6 percent in 2009. With a tighter advertising budget, the attraction is relying more on coupons with partners such as Denny's and the Minnesota Timberwolves instead of traditional radio and television ads, said marketing manager John Sullwold. Online coupons have seen a big jump.

"People know where they want to go, and are setting out to find the cheapest way to do it," Sullwold said.

Attendance at theme parks and other tourism-based businesses are notoriously sensitive to the nation's economic health. Universal Studios in Orlando said last week that attendance, sales and profits slid 1.9 percent in 2008. Attendance at Disney World slid 5 percent in the last three months of the year. Industry experts say 2009 remains a big question mark, as the lingering recession makes the masses more uneasy by the day.

Underwater World's location at the Mall of America provides a different draw than Disney or Six Flags, although Atkins said he hasn't seen a change in the geographic mix of visitors as the economy has slowed. The biggest change, he said, is that traffic has been slow during the week, but picking up on weekends. So far this year, attendance is a little below last year, he said.

Seahorses, he hopes, will turn that trend around.