As a lover of cultural institutions, I WANT to support all such efforts and admire the Aviary for what it is. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. There is a wide variety of birds to offer amazement and awe. The Lorikeets and Penguin Cove are always a hit.
However, experiences at the Aviary (as someone with young kids) are hit or miss.
Admission is pricey for what you get. The building layout has a natural flow to it, which is extremely tricky to navigate when there are groups or field trips. (Leave your stroller at home, if you can!) Construction is not always communicated on their website. Almost every hands on or interactive experience comes with an additional fee.
Paying for parking in their lot is cumbersome--not an option to pay inside with admission. You must pay outside at the automated machine. We stood in line to pay admission and were sent back outside to pay for parking. Tricky to stand for a few minutes to do when you are holding a baby or have kids with you who tend to run off. Even trickier on a busy day when there is a line to pay for parking and it's raining.
Their store always has interesting and unique items, so we always make sure to check it out.
We had a lovely experience around the holidays with meeting Santa and a penguin. The meet and greet, along with the programming were really well done and family friendly. It was exceptional and something as a family we will never forget. We couldn't wait to go back.
Two unpleasant visits back to back since then. Large groups and restricting construction not communicated on the website make it really tough to enjoy anything. Just wanted to do what we came to do: wonder at the fascinating world of birds.
Regardless, this is a gem for our city and not to be missed if you are a visitor from out of town.