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| - I really hate to say I was disappointed because I love aquariums, but I really was very disappointed. The price for admission is ridiculously high for what they offer. I have been very spoiled with aquariums, so I made sure to adjust my expectations before coming and unfortunately that didn't even help. So, they hyped the place up to be the biggest aquarium in the southwest, but I'm assuming that refers to the actual square footage of the property and has no reference to the aquarium in terms of number of exhibits or anything.
There's 2 levels. The upper level we got done with in roughly 30-45 minutes. It mainly consists of "river fish", the otters (they were not out), the Penguins, the sting rays and then the touch tank. They didn't have anyone observing the touch tank which made me nervous for not only the creatures in it, but also nervous of the children just doing whatever they wanted. I was also nervous of the sting ray area because it was an open tank and people were just sticking their hands right in-again no staff supervision.
The lower level takes around the same time to get through but a good 15-20 minutes is spent sitting on the "carousel" -the idea is cool, but I would much rather prefer to be able approach the tanks and look at my own pace. There's a few other tanks with more "tropical fish" but it's definitely lacking.
To put it in perspective for you, I've been to a zoo that had an aquatic building (they don't even consider it an aquarium) and it was much more extensive and organized than odysea. Hopefully they can work out their kinks and try to add some better exhibits. As of right now I would say money is better spent elsewhere. And if going to the aquarium is that important, drive to California.
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