6/12/2019
On June 12, 2019, we visited the largest aquarium in the US (the third biggest in the world).
The Georgia Aquarium opened in 2005 and was funded mainly by donations.
Admission and parking tickets were purchased online in advance. There are different types of tickets depending on who wants to go and when. We bought the "IMAGINATION NIGHTS" ticket after 4:00 PM. We also got a 10% discount for online shopping, so the ticket cost $27 per person (it would cost $42.99 when purchasing the ticket in Feb 2023).
When you buy the ticket, you can also buy a parking ticket, which costs $12 in advance ($15 at the gate; it's still $12 in advance in Feb 2023 but would cost $17 at the gate). At the entrance to the parking garage, all you have to do is scan the barcode, and you're in. It's pretty awesome.
The aquarium itself holds more than 37 million liters of water¹ and houses more than 100,000 marine creatures. It's almost beyond comprehension.
Since we couldn't go until after hours, we had to think carefully about what to look at to get time to see everything. You can spend a lot more time in one place anyway because it is so impressive. The place is divided into different themed areas. Everything is very sophisticated, and the aquariums are large and spacious. We saw a lot of fascinating creatures, and we looked around with our mouths open like kids.
The size of the most giant aquarium is hard to imagine. Like in the Tropicarium in Budapest, you can look in from a tunnel, and there is also a wall-to-wall "glass window."
Here you can sit down like in a movie theater and just watch these huge, memorable, or just wonderful, colorful animals swimming. Very calming.
We especially liked the lunas (puffins) and belugas. We haven't even heard of puffins, but they are adorable little birds. And we haven't seen beluga live yet.
The world of coral is pretty magical, too. It's incredible how diverse aquatic life is.
We made the most of our time because we didn't leave until closing (at 9 PM). We think you could easily spend half a day here.
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