Oklahoma City KEY - Cover Story

Sets Sail on a Voyage of Discovery Through
The Awe-Inspiring and Endangered Reefs

Beginning March 7, visitors to Oklahoma City will be welcomed to a world unlike any other, a world that has been called the "soul of the sea." This is life on a coral reef – where some of the planet’s most diverse, fascinating and mysterious landscapes and creatures exist hidden from our sight. It is a world few human beings will ever experience up close, yet one that helps sustain the very balance of life on earth, and one that might contain unforeseen solutions to human medical problems. Only now it is under siege.

The beauty, danger and wonder of the South Pacific’s many coral reef habitats comes to the OmniDome Theater at Omniplex, larger than life in Coral Reef Adventure. This new giant-screen film from the Academy Award® nominated producers of Dolphins and Everest brings the reef’s wonders and urgent message of peril to life.

The story of the reefs and how they’ve come to face worldwide decline is brought to life—seven stories tall—in an all-new OmniDome Theater experience that takes audiences on a fantastic voyage of discovery to the South Pacific’s reefs, revealing both their remarkable contribution to life on earth and the imminent dangers they are facing right now.

The film captures unprecedented, mesmerizing underwater images of beauty as well as sobering images of reefs in decline. In vivid detail, the adventure reveals the vast array of unusual creatures that inhabit the reefs; introduces everyday heroes hoping to help save the reefs; and teams up with scientists exploring the reefs for clues about their health and for never-before-seen species that are adding to what we know about life on earth.

Found in more than 100 countries around the world in sun-drenched waters in the tropics, coral reefs comprise just one percent of the ocean yet nurture one quarter of all marine life.

Built over hundreds of thousands of years by tiny coral animals, a reef is a metropolis in miniature, providing services to countless species, including humans. Over 350 million people depend on reefs for food and survival while medicines derived from reef species treat heart disease and cancers, among other illnesses.

Coral Reef Adventure will premiere at OmniDome Theater at Omniplex on Friday, March 7. Show times are: Monday, 3:15 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday, 12:45 and 3:15 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m., 12:45, 3:15, 6:00 and 8:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:45, 3:15, 6:00 and 8:30 p.m.

After basking in the warmth of the South Pacific waters, visitors have the opportunity to experience the freezing cold water of the North Atlantic where a legend was born. Pieces of personal histories tell the tale in Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit, featuring hundreds ofartifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site, on display at Omniplex through July 6.

The Titanic, the ship of dreams, was conceived in 1907 and met with disaster in 1912; a brief existence fraught with the drama of a Greek tragedy. It was lauded as the greatest ship in history. On board were titans of commerce, leaders of countries, artists, immigrant dreamers, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. The story of Titanic has been told and retold, but never more poignantly and passionately than by the artifacts presented in this exhibition. Painstakingly recovered from the debris field surrounding the wreck and artfully conserved, these three-dimensional objects, more than words or images, represent the vessel and the 2,228 souls who journeyed with her into history.

Five galleries take visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from the building of the legend, which took 1500 men more than three years to complete, to life on board, featuring authentically recreated first and third class rooms, with furnishings made by original manufacturers. Guests also glimpse a typical day aboard the great vessel by strolling through the Veranda Café, one of the dining areas on the ship. In “The Striking” gallery, guests can touch an "iceberg" and feel for themselves what it must have been like in the water most passengers on the ill-fated vessel found themselves in that April night. Lastly, exhibit guests see the technology and artistry it takes to recover these items from 2.5 miles below the ocean's surface and to preserve them for future generations.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit is the largest traveling exhibit ever to come to Oklahoma. Exhibit hours are Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission for Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit is $16.50 for adults (13-64), $14.50 for seniors (65+), and $11.00 for children (3-12).

For more information on films in OmniDome Theater, and exhibits and events at Omniplex, visit www.omniplex.org or call 405.602.OMNI.

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