If you have ten minutes to kill and a lot of money to lose, go to the Mystic Aquarium! It's not an aquarium---it's a huge project thrown together at the last minute. Worse, the park employees make a wonderful opportunity for you and your family to lose money and make you miserable the whole day! Me and my family went there earlier this week on our little getaway to Connecticut, and I cannot tell you how surprised we were at this place! Here's what went on since we arrived:

ARRIVAL: We arrived at the aquarium after a one-and-a-half hour drive from Waterbury, CT, on a cloudy and rainy early-afternoon. Once we got to the admission booth at the front of the park, we were overcharged by almost a hundred dollars to get in! That agrrovated us already because for four people (two parents and two kids, ages 15 and 12), the admission was too high for the amount of wildlife exhibits, restaurants, and shops we were allowed to browse.

AFTER ADMISSION: When we first walked into the park, we were greeted by a park employee woman, but guess what we got for a proper greeting? Instead of a simple "hello", she asked us if we could go over to the area close to the opening of the park to get our photo taken! We denied her request, and we then asked if most of the aquarium was indoors or outdoors. The woman said that most of the aquarium activities were outdoors, so we left her and couldn't believe our eyes at this place! She was wrong about explaining that 75% of the aquarium was outdoors--75% of the aquarium was indoors instead.

OUTDOOR PART: Does this sound like an actual aquarium to you? In the outdoor portion of the park, there was nothing but a restaurant, a gift shop juxtapositioned (next to) to that, and a remote- controlled boat race where children can race their own little ships against others. There were almost NO wildlife exhibits outdoors, and when we went to the penguin exhibit, there was NOTHING! No live penguins, just a bunch of advertisments and facts about them in the exhibit. We couldn't get to the stingray petting pool because it was too crowded! The only source of wildlife in the outdoor portion of the aquarium was the beluga whale exhibit which was the only thing we all enjoyed as a family! Then we entered the indoor portion of the aquarium, and it was just as bad!

INDOOR PART: Here, there were more wildlife exhibits, but there was a major problem: the inside of the aquarium was way too small and way too crowded. At each exhibit, we were almost crowded shoulder-to-shoulder by many other visitors. It was crowded enough that we were close enough for people to talk and shout certain things to other people in our faces. In those little narrow exhibit areas, there were so many people crammed in them that we all got stuck in them as well. Crying and screaming children made our experience in the indoor part of the aquarium worse.
Another terrible part of the indoor portion of the aquarium was the wildlife presented at some exhibits. At the aquarium, there were usually starfish, lionfish, sea lions, nurse sharks, flounder, tree frogs, lizards---what was that? Frogs, lizards, and regular turtles DO NOT represent the wonders of underwater wildlife!

OTHER: We also visited the Titanic exhibit at the aquarium. We did not find it interesting at all. It was like a large school project thrown together at the last minute. Why would an aquarium like this one have a Titanic exhibit? I thought it was supposed to especially commemorate underwater wildlife only!

In conclusion, I do not recommend the Mystic Aquarium. The place is so small that it could all fit into the New England Aquarium's wildlife tank. The park employees were rude, the admission was too high, and it was crammed with visitors in either portion of the park! We as a family spent a total of a half an hour at the aquarium and we were out! Go to the New England Aquarium instead and pay less money for admission and have a better time. What a waste of time and money. Don't go!

We visited this Aquarium in July 2008 - we nearly didn't as my husband was a little put off by some of the previous comments on this site.
Hey - this isn't Seaworld, but it doesn't advertise itself as that either. We were pleasantly surprised by the high standard of the outdoor tanks and enclosures, and the fact that this aquarium has three Beluga Whales!
There is also an indoor area with many well-maintained tanks showing not just fish but other creatures - from cute turtles to a scary giant tarantula. There are also touch-tanks where kids can get closer to the animals.
I wouldn't queue for a long time for the 3D motion theatre which isn't great, but other than that Mystic Aquarium is well worth a visit.

I expected alot more for the prices they charge. I was not impressed at all. The food in the food court was not very good either for the prices they charge. I'd skip it and opt for just the Seaport, Mystic Village, and Downtown Mystic instead!

I went with my family to the Aquarium two weeks ago, it was nice but i feel that it could be better. The diversity in the sea creatures is Ok but I was very dissapointed with the shows or "classes" about the sea lions and beluga whales, it was my mistake maybe to believe that it was a show and not a class, the girls speak very fast and the children get distract very easily and they want to go. When the girls in the "classes" stop speaking you think that the sea lion will do something ... but no. I know that it is not a circus but the children have some expectations of entertainment. The shows are not for children under 10. The indoor pavilion were very NICE.