The Florida Aquarium

Reviews 3

LI

Liliana M

CAREFUL WITH THE SHARK TANK!! So as far as this aquarium goes, it really falls short on what is on the website and expected. Its overpriced and overcrowded. The animals themselves were great to look at, but often hard to enjoy because herds of children from a school field trip were yelling, screaming, and tapping the glass trying to get the animals attention or whatever. The adults the children were with couldnt care less, and the employees well they werent around to make sure everything was in order and that rules were being followed (like screaming and yelling plus tapping hard on the glass!!) On to my next point/experience with the employees. There is a section in the aquarium where you can see some type of small sharks, kind of like where you can see the sting rays and TOUCH them....well when I went to the shark tank there are signs clearly stating to NOT TOUCH. When I was there, there was one of the small sharks latched onto another sharks right fin and could see blood...ok fine the circle of life. Well the employee there was jut having a ball watching that and NOT doing her job I saw two children STICKING/PUTTING THEIR HANDS INSIDE OF THE SHARK TANK and A GROWN MAN STICK HIS FINGERS IN THERE AND LOCKED EYES WITH THE LADY EMPLOYEE MESMORIZED BY THE SHARK EATING THE OTHER AND JUST LOOKED AT THE MAN and he asked her "is it ok to put my hand in there?" after he had already put his hand in there (THERE ARE CLEAR SIGNS STATING TO NOT DO SO....and its sharks....common sense??) and she just shook her head and said "no", again she was just paying attention to the other shark eating the other shark in a more entertainment kind of way and NOT a concerned way for the other shark. A lot of people where watching and another man asked the lady employee if the sharks were ok (since it was latched onto its right fin with blood coming out for a good 15 minutes and other sharks tried to bit its fin when the other shark finally let go the shark that was bit looked pretty distressed...), since one was latching on to the other and there was blood. And she just said "they are mating"...Im no shark expert or anything but OK...Im going to Google and check that out since I really dont trust her...anyway I know that may have been a sight to see but she should have been doing her job making sure people (especially young children) werent sticking their hands inside the shark tank. Which she failed to do! They should really have somone reasponsible watching that area, its a HUGE liability risk. I will not be coming back here, its overpriced and I did not get a good vibe at this aquarium. I recommend you go to CLEARWATER AQUARIUM, MUCH better and cheaper! Just wanted to share this experience. It gets two stars because the sting ray tank was a nice experience to get to see them up close and touch them on their fin/wings.

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Didi Paul

This is a very fun aquarium to take little children to, but if you have frequented larger aquariums like Shedd in Chicago, the Chattanooga Aquarium, or some of the north eastern aquariums, this will seem a bit small by comparison. Im rating it as a stand alone location based on the fact that I am a local (an hour away in Sarasota), and also have a membership, and a two year old daughter that loses her mind with excitement in aquariums. (Seriously, Mote and Tampa Aquarium are like second homes to us at this point) The current cost is $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for kids 3-11, and free for two and under. We always have a good time at this aquarium. My whole family absolutely loves the open exhibit featuring local fish, birds, and plants of Florida. We see roseate spoonbills, blue/ green wing teals, ruddy ducks, whistling ducks, and snowy egrets routinely at the preserves we hang out at, but its awesome to see them flying around and swimming up close in an air conditioned (thank god!!!) building in the hot summertime. The ducks and birds are so used to people that you can gawk from mere inches away, and my daughter loves that. This room has giant open top tanks that are about four and a half feet tall, which is a great viewing height for kids and adults as well. In this section look for turtles hiding in the greenery, and small rays buried under the sand. We usually take our time in here, going back and forth a few times to look at all the fish and birds. When you head up the stairs you will see ring tailed lemurs, hissing cockroaches, tortoises, and a handful of other critters. There is a sting ray petting area (the sting rays here are far friendlier than the ones at Mote), and a nice little touch tank zone next to it with anemones and urchins. Downstairs on the first level is a tank where you can pet little sharks. Another highlight is the giant shark tank you get to by going through a sort of underwater tunnel. Its a very peaceful spot to hang out at for a little bit on days that arent crowded. The giant tank has a good amount of seating in front of it if you feel like staring at sharks and turtles for a while. (I personally recommend this) This aquarium wont take you more than about two hours to get through. We enjoyed visiting the splash park after making our way through the rest of the aquarium, but it is currently under construction. I believe it is reopening this month (May), but not sure about that. We are excited to see the new and improved splash park. Its awesome to stroll through the aquarium, and then let the little ones exhaust themselves outside in the splash park.

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Chelsea Hamilton

If you are planning to have your wedding here, First I will say that the venue itself was beautiful. The venue has a lot to offer to entertain your guests. However, I recently had my wedding there on 5/20/17 and it was a logistical nightmare. Everything that could go wrong went wrong and I find that planning and coordination team did not do what they were supposed to do. My coordinator Lara did not send out emails to some vendors and sent wrong information about the drop-off details to the other vendors. I was told last minute that Lara would not be available for my wedding and I would have Mary as my day of coordinator. When I arrive to the venue, no one was there to greet me or my groom when he arrived. No one updated the vendors on the ceremony time so I had flowers arrive a minute before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. The security at the aquarium would not let my vendors in even though they were given permission to setup at 4pm. One of my vendors had to fight to get everyone else in to setup. They were finally able to get in at 4:50pm and my ceremony started at 5:30pm, giving the DJ little time to setup. No one came to get the groom so he had to remember what time to walk over for the ceremony. I am still not sure what Mary did because she did not coordinator the groom or I and she didnt help the vendors at all. The next issue that arise was at dinner. I had previous meetings with Lara and stressed that there was no nuts to be served at the wedding since my father had a nut allergy. But they still served nuts and they had to clear everyones plates when we found out. Mary had left by 8pm so she wasnt available to help with this issue. I was previously told that I had the venue to myself for the night but was not informed of a last minute booking in the ceremony spot. I had to cut my pictures short and I wasnt able to get everything I wanted in that area. They also left my gifts by the front door all night and they never moved upstairs next to the reception space. If you plan to have your wedding here, please hire an outside day of coordinator or wedding planner. Have them communicate what you want to catering and the vendors. The aquarium itself does not have the properly trained people to actually coordinate your wedding.

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