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| - We went to BW on a Saturday afternoon and expected it to be packed- luckily it was busy but the traffic flow of BW was very well orchestrated. When you first come into BW you go into a small theater and watch a really cool 3D movie. Probably one of the best 3D movies I have ever seen. The movie is about 15 mins long. From there you go into a room where you can see butterflies at all different stages of coming out of their chrysalis's. Then, from there- into the atrium. Now, this is advertised as "America's Largest Butterfly Atrium". Is it really? Eh. I saw a previous review that complained that it was hot and humid in there....duh- it has to be. Come prepared for that. With that said, I wouldnt recommend coming in July/August. But you can walk around the atrium as long as you want and it is truly beautiful to see all the butterflies fluttering around. I was hoping to see more varieties of butterflies, but it was still pretty cool.
After the atrium you can go in and check out the bees, ants, fish, and stingrays. This is all pretty new and it shows- if you have seem the sting rays at the Phoenix Zoo- dont waste your time with the stingrays at BW. Finally- you go into the gift shop. Prices were reasonable. It would be great if they could eventually sell the honey fromt he bees.
Last, is the "Mirror Maze" and "Laser Maze" area. This is so obviously an after thought and I was HIGHLY disappointed in the staff in this area. We had never been here before and the staff did not explain how to do the laser maze to my 7 and 9 year old kids. The girl running the laser maze just said to them, "Okay, go in." But the laser maze has 3 stops the kids need to check in at to complete the maze. However, I wasnt actually surprised by the poor customer service here because it was the general theme throughout BW.
Bottom Line: For the $20/person admission- this place needs to seriously invest in quality staff. Yes, the butterflies are pretty and this place has potential to be a wonderful gem- but they have got to realize that people are paying for an experience. Not a single employee we interacted with was smiling nor were they helpful in anyway, shape, or form. They could be walking around sharing facts about the butterflies, stingrays, fish, etc...instead they only bark orders to not touch and to let them take the butterflies off you.
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