The Georgia Aquarium
This is an overview of the center of the aquarium!
If you are ever in Atlanta and have the time, or if you are looking for a great weekend getaway plan a trip to visit the Georgia Aquarium. It is located in Atlanta Georgia but when you arrive you will forget that you are in southern American and you will be totally transformed to the different habitats of so many different amazing animals.
Your aquarium visit is best if you have the entire day to dedicate to it. You are required to purchase tickets before you arrive and they operate on an arrival time based off the time frame of your choosing. So, for example when we visited, we picked 9am as our time slot. This meant that our goal was to arrive and be ready to walk into the aquarium at 9am but we were given a grace period of an hour, so between 9am and 10am we could enter.
So, let’s back track a minute here. Who wants to visit the aquarium? Who is going to have a fun experience there? Easy answer, EVERYONE! You can go with your significant other, your best friends, or your kids I truly think you will enjoy your time!
When we visited, we went with another couple and their daughter and it was great. It gave our son someone to play with all day and it gave Allen and I friends there to share this fun experience with.
Now, lets get back to the important stuff like what will be helpful for you to know before you go.
1. Parking – When you get there you will park in a parking deck connected to the aquarium. When you enter there will be parking staff guiding you up the parking deck and to the next open level. Once you park this is a pretty good walk. The parking deck when we got there was already pretty full. The entire day will be full of walking so wear your comfy shoes! Once you are parked don’t forget to put your parking garage ticket in your bag as you will need it to pay before heading back to your car at the end of the day.(We made this mistake, take it from me it will make your life easier!) After you are parked you will head down the elevators and make your way out of the parking garage around to the entrance.
2. Entrance - When you exit the elevators you will head to your right and wind your way up to the entrance. If there is a long line and you have to wait outside there are fans for those hot summer days. Once to the front you will split off to the right if you are an annual pass member and keep to the left if you are just a daily visitor. When you get to the front of the line you will get your picture taken with a cool backdrop that you can purchase later when leaving the aquarium. Then you will go through a metal dictator and bag check. If you are coming with children under 2 they are free and do not require an admission ticket.
3. What to bring with you – If you are coming with children that are stroller age the aquarium does allow strollers but please visit their FAQ page as they do not want too large of a stroller. Wagons, wagon strollers, push cars, jogging strollers and ride-ons are not permitted. There are tight spaces and lots of people visiting so this rule was appreciated as the restricted items above would make it near impossible to enjoy the day. And believe me there were lots of strollers and as a family that had a stroller there were times when it was hard to move around or for our 14 month old to see everything because people were pushing and trying to get in front of us. With that being said if you have younger children this is a long full day of fun so you will definitely want something for their little legs to rest in and have their own safe space as there are big crowds and in my opinion this keeps them safe. Outside snacks are not permitted other than small snacks for children and people with food allergies, but they do have food there so we will get to that soon.
4. What to do once you get inside – The Georgia Aquarium website says most visitors are there anywhere from 2-4 hours. Depending on who you are there with that is a fair time frame. Our group was four adults and two children and we were there for four hours. So, you have planned your exciting trip and you have made your way inside, now what? If you have never been inside the aquarium once you scan your ticket and go through the entrance bars it is a lot to take in. There is so much to see and look at your eyes instantly have so much to take in from left to right and floor to ceiling. My best advice to tackle the day is to start on your right and work your way around in a circle. The aquarium is set up in different sections to enter and then exit back to the main center of the aquarium. I have included a picture below so you can see the layout. Once you have entered, I would suggest starting at Tropical River, then Ocean Voyager second. Ocean Voyager is a really cool experience. It is a theatre style fish tank room. Imagine you walk into the theatre to see the newest movie. You walk in, its dark and the screen makes up the whole wall in that room. Now imagine that screen is the side of a fish tank and you are watching these amazing creatures inside. There are big carpeted stadium style seats and lots of space up front to walk up and really get a good look at all these amazing animals. We spent at least 30 minutes in this room watching them. The kids loved getting down front and watching the fish swim by. My son loved the sting rays that swam by. His little face lit up every time he saw one. After you exit Ocean Voyager you will see the café which will be right in front of you. Then if you look at the map Cold Water Quest, Dolphin Coast, River Scout and the Sea Lion Theater are all on the left. We started with the Cold Water Quest and there are two levels within Cold Water. Upstairs are the penguins and there is yet again another amazing big aquarium with beluga whales inside. Once we finished this left side we went upstairs to see Gator crossing. There is also an interactive area with the sting rays where if they choose to swim up and let you touch them you can touch their backs which is really neat.
This is inside Ocean Voyager, the big fish tank room!
5. Food – So after all this you are going to be hungry. If your anything like my family all this excitement and walking worked up an appetite for us. They have a coinvent grab n go area where you can get premade and packaged wraps, salads and sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, chicken sandwiches, different snacks, desserts and drinks. They also have some adult beverages to choose from if you would like in the drink section. The food was pretty tasty but it is definitely pricey. So, make sure depending on how many people are in your party or how many kids you are feeding you know this will be an expensive lunch that day.
6. Other good facts – There are restrooms located through out the aquarium including changing stations. There is also a nursing/pumping room located on the second floor. There is a full first aid station if needed. Pets are not permitted inside the aquarium but guide dogs for the blind, service dogs for people with disabilities and working dogs in training are permitted to enter the aquarium. They do offer a military discount. If you want to see the dolphin and sea lion presentations, they are first come first serve seats using a reservation service through the aquarium. They recommend getting there 15-30 mins early to get a seat. This is something we did not get to experience on our visit as the kids were a little too tired that day to sit and enjoy.
7. Last thoughts – If there is anything else that you would like to know that I haven’t shared with you I urge you to visit the Georgia Aquarium website which I will link below. Once you go to their website and click on visit all the information you need is right there. Their FAQ section is also extremely helpful. I think they have done a very good job at giving you all the information you need on how to maximize your fun and time while visiting the aquarium. So, if you asked me would I go back and take all this in again my answer would be yes! I think that the Georgia Aquarium has done a wonderful job at giving people a great place to come to and get to learn about and explore different animals and their habitats. I think as my son grows it will also be great for him to see and experience new things each time as he grows older. Once you have seen everything and you are ready to head back home, to your hotel or Air BnB, you will exit through the gift shop. It is rather large and there are some cute things in there. This is also where you can purchase your picture from your entrance. You will exit out the same way you entered and wind your way back to the parking deck. Right at the entrance to the elevators there are pay machines for parking. Long story short like I said earlier we did not bring our parking ticket so our friend tried to our run the elevators by running up the stairs (six flights) and get back down before we could make it up, and you guessed it he didn’t make it. But there was another pay machine on the third floor I believe it was that saved the day so we could exit the garage. All in all, this was a great trip. We enjoyed our time and will definitely be back in the future. We truly hope this information will help you prepare for your trip and be your one stop shop on research for your visit and to help make your experience at the Georgia Aquarium anything but regular!
Map layout of the inside of the aquarium!
Husband Notes
· Beer at the concession area
· Bathrooms were clean
· Elevator to get to the second floor
· Sharks and Giant Stingrays were really cool
· Alligators were awesome
· Skip the Pizza, get the burger