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| - To say this was a disappointment is to undersell the level of disappointment that one can feel. I purchased dual annual passes for my bf and I and we thought we would activate them today. We should have known better when it took probably over 20 minutes just to get our receipt for the day's entrance (that's right, no fancy membership cards like Disneyland or other zoos/aquariums).
After that debacle, we finally entered the aquarium itself. It was very small and the tanks were, at best, half full. We passed on the iguana experience, and the line for that was quite long. Doesn't seem like much fun if you have a nagging child with you who wants to see cool stuff (which we did not, thankfully). The tanks only got worse from there. Many of them were murky, which leads me to believe they were either poorly filtered or overfeeding the critters, neither of which seems like a good idea.
There were some interactive areas, but there were no signs to indicate to parents (or older children) what they were supposed to be replicating in nature or learning about. The tanks claim to be interactive, but you really can't touch anything without getting into the tank because of the depth. The parakeet cage also featured a long line, and the parakeets were so high up that I am not sure kids could really enjoy them.
The tortoise was MIA in both of the exhibits, so I hope they are ok. Few of the tanks featured informational signs and the ones that did were so poorly lit that it was impossible to read them. The axolotl looked like it was on its last breath.
I can't believe I paid $55 for the dual annual passes (and that was with the 50% discount). For a few extra dollars (2 dollars more if you're a local), going to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay is definitely a better experience (and you can actually learn something and touch things in the touch tanks). We will not return despite having the annual passes, and I wish there was a way to get a refund. I would not visit this place even if it were free. I almost feel like someone needs to shut them down.
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