It is a nice trip for 1/2 day, more if you take the eco boat tour. We went through the aquarium in the beginning of the day which was nice and took about 2 1/2 hours ( about right for most ), Had some lunch and then went on the 1 1/2 hour boat Eco tour. Bring a bathing suit because they have a water area for kid's play. Not a theme park by any standard but your kids will have a blast for a couple of hours. Was a nice laid back experience.

Phone ahead if you are planning to go to the Florida Aquarium. We drove especially from South Florida to visit the Aquarium arriving about 2 hours before closing on Sat. May 3rd. Unknown to us, the Aquarium was closing an hour earlier than scheduled due to a special event. They would not sell us tickets and would not allow us to look around for the 45 minutes or so before they closed earlier. There was no accomodation whatsoever. Even a sticker might have appeased my crying 7 year old who did not understand why we couldn't enter. Unfortunately, we had to fly out of Tampa the following morning so that was not an option either. I only have the parking attendant to thank who didn't charge us for parking while we enquired.

While special events are undoubtedly scheduled from time to time, casual tourists have no warning. Some type of coupon for another time, or the ability to see a display or use the waterpark would have gone a long way to relieving our disappointment. Instead the staff was callous, unapologetic and on a mission to get everyone out. For my family, that's likely out, forever.

We have been pass holders YEARS! We starting coming to the aquarium when our children were very small and we still hold our yearly pass because our "teens" STILL love going with thier friends! The aquarium year pass has a great feature that allows thier pass holders to visit other area attractions! It works as such: you buy the year long pass that fits your family best (we have the one that allows up to 8 people to visit each time) then you are given access to the area attractions that "allow" free or greatly reduced admission to thier attractions. The attractions offer thier "shared" admissions on a rotation set out on the aquarium web site and in the many mailings you will get as a pass holder. We have 5 children so this feature has allowed our family to try many things that we may have overlooked becouce of the cost! (the shared attractions include things such as MOSI/ the Lowery Park Zoo, Silver Springs and many other quality day trips!!) The outside water area has been a big hit with our younger kids! It is an easy inexpensive way to make a day trip of jumping through spraying water even better than a day at the beach!! (and the parents can sit at the tiki bar and eat a nice lunch and watch the kids run and play!) Over all the Florida Aquarium is a family hit!

Decent, clean aquarium, but extremely crowded when I went (September). I've wasn't overly impressed, it definately left a lot to be desired. Good for families with small kids looking for something to do, but it won't fill up a whole day.