Texas State Aquarium

Reviews 3

AL

Alex S.

Im ONLY giving this aquarium 4 starts solely for the 4 lovely dolphins we saw preforming at the aquarium. Other than that the park wasnt so great. We went on a Sunday early in the morning and let me just start off by saying; OVERPOPULATED. It was a chaotic mess. Kids running around everywhere, doing as they please, cutting you off, and it doesnt help that some of the parents there were just as rude as the kids. My fiancé and I drove here from Houston to celebrate our anneversary but werent even able to enjoy any of the exhibits as much as people swarmed everything in site. I cant begin to tell you how many times we were either cut off in line or shamelessly push to the side while trying to look at the fish and stingrays. The park is very small compared to other places weve been to and due to this, it causes a lot of crowds and irritable people. I heard theyre currently undergoing an expansion to their exhibits so hopefully that helps with the congestion of people. Apart from that, It seemed everyone with a child there felt entitled to first dibs on the attractions and with the atmosphere and the way people were acting, it basically felt as if you dont have a kid of your own, you are not important to any of the other families there and will get trampled over. Also: STROLLERS EVERYWHERE. It was very annoying when it came to finding a decent spot for the dolphin show as the strollers took up A LOT of space that could of been used for others wanting to see the show. The seats were already completely full 30 minutes prior to the show which was ridiculous. We ended up standing right under the sun for the whole show as a lot of people decided to put their lovely strollers under the limited spots with shade. A poor elderly man in a wheel chair was even sitting under the scorching hot sun due to everyone taking up space with their strollers and hogging all of the shaded seats. Again, if you do not have a kid of your own, YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT. We didnt even get to see the wild flight show as my fiancé was just fed up and wanted to leave. All in all, it took us about an hour to view most of the things they had there. The admission was okay, but not worth coming back for us at least. This place is VERY kid friendly and if youre not a parent, Id advise to just go else where. I promise youll be fed up and annoyed with all of the crowds and parents wanting their kids to be first at seeing the attractions. Its understandble when youre a parent, but for couples or a group a friends, not the best place to go to. I honestly feel bad for the employees AND the animals having to deal with all of the unrully brats and inconsiderate people on a weekly basis.

TA

Taylor White

This place was very disappointing, especially at $35 a ticket. When we arrived, I picked up a map and the layout seemed pretty simple. We went through the first exhibit on the first floor, which took about 5 minutes. Upon exiting at around 12:30, we saw that the seating for the 1pm dolphin show was already starting to fill up, so we went ahead and got a seat. They squish you in like sardines for this 15-minute show that leaves a lot to be desired. Afterwards, we went back inside. Not finding any other exhibits on the first floor, we took the escalator to the second floor. Again, nothing spectacular. 5 minutes later were done and looking for the next exhibit. We see an escalator, but it was going down. The only other options were the elevator and stairs which took you to the 3rd floor which is mostly admin. Finally, we decided to go down the escalator which took us to a different exhibit on the first floor. After a few minutes in there we began looking for a way out, or at least back to the lobby. The only option seemed to be the elevator, but it only took you to the second floor were we just came from. After about 15 minutes of going back in forth from the two different levels, trying to find a way out, we asked one of the workers how to get to the sea turtle exhibit. With an eerie look she replied, “the best way to find your way around is to look at the show times.” What the hell does that mean? It honestly felt like we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone and I was starting to feel claustrophobic. Finally, we saw another couple that was also looking for a way out and thought it might be through the gift shop. They were right and we were able to escape with them. Thankful that I wasn’t about to be in the latest installment of Saw, we decided to head outside before we made a break for it. Unfortunately, once outside, the madness continued as the dipping dots stand didn’t carry any chocolate flavor, they had two strawberry flavors but not chocolate. Just being happy I was alive, I settled for the vanilla and headed over to take a look at the sea turtles before heading out. For $70, our frustrating hour-long visit seemed like a waste. I really don’t how parents can afford to take all their kids to this place. I would recommend you save your money and skip this place. You can have a lot more fun for a lot longer at the USS Lexington for half the price.

BR

Breezalynn Becker

I was very excited for this aquarium because the reviews were so great. I was a little weary because the tickets were a little expensive. After buying our tickets, we went to the stands for the employees to scan them. One employee was helping another family so we went to the other employee. There were 2 standing at the podium just talking and wouldnt even look at us so we had to wait for the other employee. We went inside and saw the dolphin for my toddler to take a picture with. There were people just crowded around so we didnt know there was a line until wed been standing for 10 minutes and an employee let us know. We started in the Gulf of Mexico and everything seemed pretty nice. Ryan(an employee) was showing people shark skin which was very interesting. He seemed very knowledgeable so that was nice. We got to the jellyfish section and there was another employee(did not catch her name) who didnt seem to know much about the jellyfish. We asked if there was anything special about them and she said "not really, they are good treats for the turtles". That was irritating. We finished that side by 12:30 and went to the 1:00 dolphin show. There were quite a few people already seated for the show. There was a lot of space between people and yet no employee made an effort to have people make room for everyone else standing. We were told to be there 30 minutes early and we were and couldnt get a seat. The employees basically had a "sucks for you" attitude about it. We then went to see other areas of the aquarium because it was way to hot to be standing directly under the sun. I was a little disappointed because most exhibits didnt have signs so we didnt know what anything was. There is also only one bathroom in the underwater area which makes for an extremely long wait. Definitely wont be recommending this aquarium to anyone.

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