My family, a very LARGE family, ventured to Baltimore to visit their much talked about Aquarium. Ticket prices are around $22 for adults and children ages 3 to 11 are around $13. Children 3 and under are admitted for free. Sometimes, families are not admitted when they purchase tickets during times of big crowds (the time you can enter will be printed on your ticket). We got there fairly early on a weekday, so we were admitted immediately.
The first thing I notices is that strollers are not allowed inside the aquarium. There is a stroller check in near the front entrance. It is free to check your stroller. Our children are a bit older, so strollers aren't used very often, but I pitied the families with smaller children and babies in tow. My sister-in-law had to carry around her 7 month old daughter for 3 hours, and it became tedious at times.
The first exhibit we found inside the Aquarium was the stingray exhibit. The kids were entranced by the 260,000 gallon pool filled with stingrays. We got to see a diver in the tank, feeding the stingrays. In that tank was a green sea turtle that was missing his front flipper. According to the Aquarium, he was rescued in New York, and the flipper was severely infected, so it was amputated to save his life. He now happily swims along with the rays in the large pool.
We moved along to the massive fish displays. This one was called Maryland: Mountains to the Seas and contained fish and other species native to Maryland's waters. I must say that the display cases for the fish were a bit disappointing; all the fish were in small, encased tanks, and no more than 10 people could fit in front of a tank at a time. We were a group of 18, so it took a while for everyone to be able to see the different displays, and it felt like we could only glance at the displays before we had to move on for the next group to see the displays. Although not all the fish were "beautiful", some of the displays were very interesting. My children got to see many fish that normally wouldn't be seen at most aquariums. I will say, though, that there is an overabundance of species of catfish, and after a while, I was ready to move on from the many, many catfish I had seen. There was another area called Surviving Through Adaptation. This display was all about how animals adapt for survival. The children had an enjoyable time at the stone fish display, attempting to locate the fish, as stonefish beautifully blend in with the rocks in their surroundings. We also got to see a giant octopus slime around the tank.
We stopped for lunch at the Aquarium Café, and we were shocked at the overpriced food. It cost us $35 for my family of 5 to eat a mediocre meal, and that was because they had a "special" that my husband and I decided to eat just to save us from paying $9 for a burger combo.
After lunch, we moved on to the shark display. My children were thrilled with the Aquarium's display. The shark tank was basically a circular tank you walked around on a ramp to see. It was really dark in the shark area. There were nurse sharks, sandbar sharks, saw sharks and the sand tiger sharks. I was a little disappointed in the lack of selection, as it seemed they only had a handful of species, but I suppose that trapping a shark for the purpose of placing it in an aquarium is not as easy a task as one would think. The kids, though, were entranced. We got to see a shark feeding (or an attempt at it, as the sawshark turned its nose up at the fish on a stick).
The Atlantic Coral Reef was one of my favorite displays at the Aquarium! This also was a circular tank, but it was brilliantly lit and the abundance of fish amazed us all. The puffer fish, the most massive one we'd ever seen, was a huge hit! We watched, in a trance, as many, many different schools of fish swam back and forth.
We moved along to the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit, which mostly included birds. We were entertained by one particular bird's loud call. The birds were colorful and fascinating to watch. The display also included tarantulas (yuck!) and frogs native to the Tropical Rain Forest. We walked out of the Tropical Rain Forest display to see the various frogs on display. There were poisonous and non-poisonous frogs on display.
The last display we approached at the Aquarium (due to 12 tired children) was Animal Planet Australia. They displayed fish found in Australia, including a lungfish. A lungfish can breathe on land for up to three days, which is good for them during droughts that are common in parts of Australia. There were freshwater crocodiles, bats(!), turtles, and a beautiful waterfall display upon entrance.
Of course, we had to visit the Aquarium Gift Shop so the children could take home a memento of their fun day at the National Aquarium of Baltimore. Stuffed animals at the gift shop are reasonably priced, and it seems they had a vast number to choose from, so no one takes home the exact same toy!
A few more comments: The only way up to the displays was via escalator, which is really fun when you have a five and three year old who are deathly afraid of escalators. There are elevators if you want to go down instead of up, but there are signs saying this is for handicap "only". We looked for stairways, but didn't see any. And, if you park in the Aquarium parking lot, be prepared to pay $21 for parking.
All in all, the family had a great time, especially the children. The parents noticed the overcrowding problem, along with the lack of ability to exit a floor to go to a lower one, along with the mediocre yet overpriced food in the Aquarium Café.
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