World's Largest Aquarium Opens in Georgia
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. You know that there's a feeding frenzy, well, so to speak, in Atlanta, as the Georgia Aquarium, said to be the world's largest, opens its doors to the public Wednesday. Fredricka Whitfield has more on the big fish in one really big pond.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Making a huge splash in their Atlanta debut, marine life from around the world, a dream four years in the making.</s>BERNIE MARCUS, HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER: I've got to have this.</s>WHITFIELD: The brain child and primary financial backer, Bernie Marcus.</s>MARCUS: I wanted to do something.</s>WHITFIELD: At 76, the cofounder of the Georgia-based home improvement chain Home Depot said it's not just something he wanted to do but had to do.</s>MARCUS: I owed something. I look at what I have today, and I would never have had it without these people that did it for me.</s>WHITFIELD: He made millions selling hammers and saws at his Home Depot stores.</s>MARCUS: Stock was going up.</s>WHITFIELD: And because Marcus doesn't do anything on a small scale, he figured this time, why not small and really big scales! With more than $200 million of his own money, he helped bring hammerheads and saw fish to the mother of all fish tanks.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gracie, up.</s>WHITFIELD: Among the creatures warming up to their new state-of- the-art home, five beluga whales, two of them rescued from a noisy amusement park in Mexico City. Also a pair of Taiwanese whale sharks, now 18 feet long, but they could grow to more than 50 feet. None of this came easily. The whale sharks had to be transported from Taiwan in special life support tanks on board a UPS 747. And Marcus himself made waves by arguing that Atlanta's downtown business district and the expected tourist draw to his aquarium would be hurt by existing panhandling. He wanted the city to ban it. Three months before opening day, Marcus got his way, despite public outrage. And, now, with the major hurdles behind him, this week is show time.</s>MARCUS: It's not like a regular aquarium. We took it three steps further. It's theater. The lighting, the music, the ambiance is so different than any aquarium we've been in.</s>WHITFIELD: The star attraction, a six million gallon tank the size of a football field, 30 feet deep.</s>MARCUS: I was brought up this way. My mother brought me up to share with people.</s>WHITFIELD: Bernie Marcus, a billionaire businessman accustomed to big returns, is hoping this latest venture yields great reviews.</s>MARCUS: But they all say one word, "Wow." And that's what I want to hear. And that will be the payback, as far as I'm concerned. Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.</s>SANCHEZ: There's a caveat to this story. If one of these prized possessions gets sick or needs some emergency care, there's a fully- staffed E.R. to handle it. With help from the University of Georgia, the aquarium is also the largest veterinary teaching project of its type. And the man who made it all happen, Bernie Marcus, will be our guest Wednesday right here on</s>AMERICAN MORNING. O'BRIEN: Well, Bernie Marcus, I think we can say wow, that's amazing. What a beautiful aquarium, the one that's the size of a football field.</s>SANCHEZ: You've given him his "wow."</s>O'BRIEN: Absolutely.</s>SANCHEZ: He was looking for one.</s>O'BRIEN: I'm sure I'm not the only one.</s>SANCHEZ: Can I get a "wow-wow"?</s>O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Me and everybody says, "Wow." Ahead this morning, we're talking to Daniel Sieberg. He is our technology correspondent. He's got the very latest on the new Xbox 360. Hey, Daniel.</s>DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Another "wow" factor here. If you're a gamer, you might be dying to take this thing out for a spin, the new Xbox 360. But if you're a parent, though, you might be wondering where this fits into your home entertainment center and within your budget. In the next half hour, we'll be talking about all those things and even playing some games, as well.