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| - I was really excited to visit Cleveland's new aquarium. I took my mom and 1-year old there this afternoon, and honestly, it wasn't worth the money, hassle, or crowds.
As far as location, it's fine and not hard to get to. It was pretty exciting to drive over there and see how this new attraction might revitalize the Flats. But my excitement quickly soured when we waited in a line of cars in order to pay $5 for parking. Why? There was plenty of it, and no real reason to charge for it other than the fact that they could.
We knew in advance, from asking a friend who had gone the weekend prior, that the aquarium was entirely indoors and that no strollers were allowed inside (the latter of which made sense only after seeing the cramped, disorganized space). So we left our jackets in the car and brought a carrier for the baby so I could "wear" her through the exhibits. But I could see that people who had not been informed of this no-stroller rule were pretty annoyed that they had to lug their kids around. Not like it's really conducive to having kids roam around anyway, which was another problem. It was so crowded inside that any parent would be terrified to let their kid just run off in this environment. (Plus: for any short kid, there was hardly anything to see without being picked up, as the tanks were all about four feet off the ground.)
We opted to skip the fifty-person line and, instead, went through the "express" check-in, which consisted of us putting all of our personal information (including credit card #, address, phone - they wouldn't accept without the last two) on a piece of paper. We breezed through admission this way, where we handed our slip to a woman who we thought was going to enter the numbers into a computer and then destroy the slip. Instead, she blithely tossed the paper to the ground on top of a pile of others -- what's to stop someone from just slipping behind her and picking them up?
The exhibits themselves could hardly be counted as such. Instead, it was just like an endless, hot, claustrophobic tunnel of water tubes with boring fish. There were hokey "characters" throughout (some of whom sort of seemed fitting, such as a pirate, but others who just seemed odd, such as a man in a beret playing the accordion next to the Florida Keys exhibit). It seemed as though they thought these "extra" things were supposed to make it interesting or worth the 22 bucks. When I pay that much money for a museum or attraction, I'm expecting any of the following: a short movie/screening of some sort; a demonstration; interactive exhibits where kids can actually touch stuff or go on computers; and even the option of food. I know if there had been food, it would have been ridiculously overpriced, so that's probably a good thing that it wasn't offered. But there were hardly even places to sit down, and every chair there was was taken by hordes of families. My daughter had fun playing with some aquatic-themed toys in a common play area for children, and that was honestly probably the highlight of the visit.
We got out of there as soon as we could. When we got back to the car we realized we had spent less than an hour inside. Even the parking lot was a disaster; the aisles were way too narrow and I practically had to make a 5-point turn to get out without hitting a kid or the car behind me.
I don't consider myself a snob by any means, but this was so not worth my time.
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