Aquarium offering ‘interactive’ experience coming to Layton Hills Mall
An exterior rendering of SeaQuest Aquarium, coming to Layton Hills Mall later summer 2016.
LAYTON — Layton Hills Mall is going under the sea.
A new, interactive aquarium is coming to the mall, located at 1201 N. Hill Field Rd., by late summer.
While most aquariums discourage visitors from touching their animals, SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium will be designed for guests to interact with their animals as they travel through, said owner and Bountiful resident Brad Boyle.
“We think people learn more from seeing how animals feed and being in their environment — we feel people have a better experience and remember things better,” Boyle said. “If you don’t have some kind of interaction, most of what you see you forget.”
The 20,000 square-foot aquarium will be taking over the previous Head Over Heels space on the mall’s lower level Center Court, located directly underneath the food court, Boyle said.
“We had the perfect space for them so it’s something we wanted to pursue,” said Layton Hills Mall general manager Linda Kelley.
The aquarium will house 300 species and 1,500 animals from around the world, according to SeaQuest’s website. Visitors will be able to feed, touch and interact with the majority of them.
Each of the aquarium’s rooms will be themed, Boyle said. There will be Amazon, California Coast and pirate ship rooms, among others.
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Photo supplied/Brad Boyle
A rendering of the “Amazon” exhibit at SeaQuest Aquarium, coming to Layton Hills Mall later summer 2016.
According to a SeaQuest and Layton Hills Mall news release, guests will be encouraged to connect with the animals through hands-on activities such as hand-feeding stingrays, sharks, caiman alligators, birds and tropical animals.
There will also be a walk-in aviary, according to the release.
A 40,000 gallon exhibit that guests will be able to snorkel in will hold the reef sharks, stingrays and hundreds of tropical fish, according to the release. Boyle said the tank will have water that is four to five feet deep.
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Photo supplied/Brad Boyle
A rendering of SeaQuest Aquarium’s shark/stingray exhibit. The aquarium will open coming to Layton Hills Mall later this summer.
And for those who might worry about safety, Boyle said the aquarium will take every precaution. The stingrays’ barbs, or poisonous tail spines, will have been removed.
“Anything that has any element of danger, it’s behind glass,” he said.
All of SeaQuest Aquarium’s animals will come from a certified source, no different from where Draper’s Loveland Living Planet Aquarium or SeaWorld gets theirs, Boyle said.
Boyle said the aquarium has been working with Weber State University’s zoology department to get an internship program started.
“It’s a great opportunity because they actually have a really good program up there,” he said. “It will give them an opportunity to work with all those animals.”
He’s also been working a lot with Layton City, Davis County and Davis Plays. Layton Mayor Robert Stevenson is on board, Boyle said. Plus, Boyle got unanimous approval from Layton’s city council.
At first, “they were shocked,” Boyle said. “They were like, “What, we’re going to have this in Davis County?”
Boyle is looking forward to working with the mall and the community.
“We’re excited about the impact it’s going to have on the community,” Boyle said. “I know that sounds cliche, but the more we are involved with the community, the better it will be.”
Boyle chose the mall model because malls have a built-in clientele, he said. He chose Layton Hills for it’s demographics.
“It’ll be a great family destination for people,” he said.
An estimated 7 to 10 million people walk into Layton Hills Mall each year. The interactive aquarium is projected to add 500,000 to that number, according to the release.
“It extends the reach of how many people would come,” Boyle said.
Kelley said the aquarium is something the city, county and state will benefit from.
“I think it will draw a lot of people that will find this is something really unique and fun for kids of all ages,” she said.
Boyle is hoping the aquarium will bring people from all over Utah, Idaho and Wyoming to Layton.
The Layton Hills Mall location will be SeaQuest’s flagship location — another will be opening two to three months later in a Las Vegas mall.
The aquarium will also feature a birthday party room and will be an ideal venue for school field trips, parties and private events, according to the release.
Admission prices will probably be about $12 for adults and $8 for kids with online discounts available, Boyle said. An annual family pass will be $149. There will be an extra fee for feeding animals.
To learn more about SeaQuest Interactive Aqaurium, visit its Facebook page.
Contact digital producer Sonja Carlson at 801-625-4229 or scarlson@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter @sonycarlson and like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SonjaCarlsonSE.