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| - We were among the first to be there the minute it opened... Here is the scoop.
What's happening: As of today Friday Sept 2, a soft opening day (for members Lifetime and Annual pass holders) was possibly a really bad idea. OdySea Aquarium is getting hammered with rough reviews because of the forced opening weekend.
Tomorrow it will be open to the general public, I'm sure the Aquarium is looking to capture a flow of people over Labor Day weekend, but this may backfire quite painfully. I would say they are still 25% from pulling off a soft opening of any kind.
We parked next to a bulldozer, most of the people around the venue still had hard hats on! OdySea will be under some major scrutiny for the flop of this opening and how they sadly missed an opportunity to win the approval and hearts of their Lifetime Members, those said to be from the Founders' Circle. We hold one of those passes, and sadly, like many, we were only made aware of the opening just 12 hours prior.
Contrary to bad reviews: OdySea has many rescues in their venues, like Valor a sea turtle with "bubble butt" and Boudreaux, a two-finned sea turtle who now has a home where he normally couldn't make it in the wild due to unfortunate events. I'm sure many more rescue stories will come from that place. Don't miss the bathrooms in the lobby folks... This may be the only time you could claim going to the bathroom with a shark literally staring at you.
The verdict: Give it 2-3 months, I'm sure OdySea will please the public, eventually. Overall they jumped the gun. The place is neat, and has potential, the gift shop is actually beautiful with merchandise that doesn't feel cheap, the food court is good, nice space. The jellyfish tanks are amazing. Once the "rotunda" the outdoor portion (surrounded by the actual Aquarium) gets filled with good places to eat and additional shops. It should feel close to an outdoor mall.
Why the reviews will suffer for a bit: Their PR crew dropped the ball big time, hopefully they can turn it around. Members are disappointed right now, public was invited too early.
Tip: You want answers or vent about how things aren't going right? Their Facebook person who is on call way more than she needs to, is pretty good at getting back through private messages. See if you can work things out before writing them a mean review.
There is still time OdySea! Make it up to your patrons who have supported you before you even broke ground. Don't take those Lifetime Members for granted, make it right and shoot straight in your promotions, but take care of those who took a gamble on you, giving our city something potentially, great and different.
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