My Family had a great time at the aquarium, the attractions were very educational. A lot of hands on with several of the attractions. They enjoyed touching the rays and being able to hold sea stars. The penquins were the best (up close) and very playful near the glass...kids really liked the closeness. Great day out with the family.

My husband and I recently took a long weekend to Mystic and hit the touristy spots, including Mystic Aquarium, Seaport, and Village. We had a blast. Mystic Aquarium was the first attraction of the weekend, and it was worth the stop of the day.

When we arrived, we picked up tickets at the main gate, and opted for the Mystic Pass (admission to both seaport and aquarium, free drinks, t-shirt, and discount coupons) which ended up being worth it for us. So far, so good. Upon getting through the gate, they do the picture thing that I HATE with a passion. They were nice when we declined and headed into the park.

The Aquarium is smaller than I expected, but there's a lot of walking to do. By 10:30 it was so hot that we had to find the indoors and cool off. With no further ado, we toured the aquarium and oohed over all the displays, watched a couple informative movies, put our hands in a tank to pet some rays (coolest thing ever!), and generally tried to beat the heat. We saw the Seal Show, the Beluga Whales, penguins, and tons of fish.

After a few hours, we'd seen everything we wanted (and gone back to pet the rays a second time), gotten tons of pictures, and were worn out. We hit the gift shoppe then picked up our t-shirts.

All in all, we had a good time. It could have been much cooler, and that would have made us happier and inclined to stay longer. Not their fault. Yes, it's a tourist trap, and yes, you're going to spend money if you eat there, go to the special shows, and hit the souvineer shop. I would recommend it for the young at heart and young families that pack a lunch. For added value, if you get your ticket stamped before you leave, you can re-enter the next day, which gives you bang for the buck for those kids that LOVED the park. Would we go back? Absolutely!

Before setting off for our first visit to the Mystic Aquarium, I read several reviews which cited how expensive this attraction was. We set off and paid $24 for an adult admission and $17 for each child admission---- this price allowed us to visit the attractions including up close viewings of Belulga whales (only one of several places in the US that house these beautiful mammals), petting rays, petting a python and seeing hundreds of other aquatic creatures. Our admission was valid for 9 hours and could be used the next day as well. People not wanting to shell out $$ for onsite cafe food could leave the premises and walk about 200 yards to a shopping area/restaurant area offering a variety of alternatives. How many of these reviewers have shelled out $35 or more per person to go to an amusement park that doesn't even have any education value? Or, a movie theater where they pay $4.00 for a soda? My kids thought this aquarium was great. And, if money was really a huge issue we could have gone on a Monday when admission for children 14 and under is free.

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!