The old adage is true that the only time you visit the local tourist hot spots of the place you live is when you have company from out of town. This works out great for me though because I get to experience these places with them for the first time. Last weekend my sister and my 11-year-old niece came to visit me and we decided to explore one of Chicago's beloved destinations, the John G. Shedd Aquarium. We had a great time and I took lots of pictures and I even have a video to share with you at the end of this page. So read on!
I live north of the city so it took us awhile to get there by train and then bus. It had rained earlier that day but luckily we had beautiful clear weather as we walked to the building.
The Shedd Aquarium is next to downtown Chicago in the huge museum complex that is also home to the Field Museum and the Alder Planetarium. Here's a bit of trivia: the Shedd Aquarium opened in 1930 and its tanks hold five million gallons of water and over 20,000 animals including specimens from over 650 species. It's visited by two million people every year.
As you can see the Aquarium is on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Michigan. Since it was summer we could see all the boating enthusiasts out on the lake in their sailboats.
The front courtyard of the Shedd Aquarium has a huge fountain that depicts what appears to be a man dancing with a fish. I tried to see if there was a story behind this fountain but since I didn't find an official story I am free to speculate one up myself. I think this is a "little mermaid" like story of a man named Franklin who fell in love with a large carp named Myrtle. Though they both knew that they came from different worlds and it'd never pan out, their love for each other and their passion for ballroom dancing kept their dreams alive. So this statue was made in their honor; a statue depicting Franklin and Myrtle eternally dancing. And if the wind blows just right Myrtle will spit all over you!
Once inside the main lobby you really get a sense of just how huge the Aquarium is. The architecture is also very impressive. All the walls and even the ceilings are ornately decorated with shell and fish motifs. There are also tridents, the symbol of the Greeco-Roman god of the sea, hidden throughout the building.
Here is a tip if you plan on visiting the Shedd Aquarium yourself, buy your tickets online. I almost did this myself but I waited because I get a local discount when I show my ID. But there are big advantages in buying the tickets online. First, you don't have to wait in line next to smelly tourists and their cranky screaming babies. Second, the website price was cheaper! I'll prove it.
Here is a screen capture of the official Shedd Aquarium website. As you can see tickets are listed at $26.95 for Adult and $19.95 for Children.
Now check out the sign in the main lobby. See anything strange? Yes the Total Pass (same as the basic ticket from the website) is $30.95 for Adults and $23.95 for kids. So I probably would have saved even more than my local discount if I would have just bought the tickets online. Oh well, live and learn.
The Fantasea pass mentioned in the lobby sign refers to the live show they offer at the aquarium. It's kind of like something you'd see at SeaWorld with dolphins and whales doing tricks to music. The show is about a half hour long and there are several showtimes throughout the day. We decided to save seeing the show for a future visit since we wanted plenty of time to see all the other exhibits.
There was also a 4D Experience based on the movie Happy Feet. It's a 12 minute 3D movie with other sensory enhancements like wind, bubbles and seat vibrations that make the film more immersive and interactive. We opted out of this one too. Although it does sound fun. It reminds me of the interactive shows they have at Disney World.
The main floor as you go into the Aquarium is separated into about six halls filled with tanks based on specific environmental zones. So there's rooms dedicated to the Amazon, oceans, islands and lakes, local waters and rivers. Above is a shot of the ocean hall. That poor kid in the lower right covering his ears gives you an idea of how loud the din of people talking got. There is a wicked echo in that hall. Plus, check out those floating orbs in my picture. Either the Shedd Aquarium is really dusty or it's really haunted. Maybe all the dead fish still swim among the living. Bwahhahaa spooky.
These rooms were okay and I did get some nice video of the fish. However, our mission was to see the big stuff: whales, dolphins and sharks! Had to see sharks. They are all on the lower levels of the Aquarium. Which I must say were a chore to get to. There are plenty of elevators. But because only certain elevators lead to specific areas we needed to keep asking people which elevator to take. The map wasn't much help either.
Once we found our way down to the Wild Reef we were met by these gigantic sea anemones. Though these were impressive we needed to see some sharks. Unfortunately the underwater tanks the sharks live in were so dark that it was hard to see anything. My sister and I both agreed that these tanks weren't quite as impressive as the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That aquarium has a moving underwater walkway that is a clear tube with sharks, rays, eels and tons of fish swimming right above your head. All this while being immersed in atmospheric music. After experiencing that, the Shedd's cloudy dark shark tanks were a bit of a let down.
Let me demonstrate. Here is the Ripley's Aquarium's shark tank...
And here is the Shedd Aquariums shark tank...
See the difference? Well even though we couldn't get any pictures of them I did manage to get some sharks on video. All the more reason to watch the movie at end of this article. Can you tell I'm excited about the movie? It has music in it and everything. I'm excited about adding a new level of content to the site. VIDEO. Hellz yea baby!
Anyway, we then went dolphin hunting. That is we headed toward the dolphin tank. To get there we had to go up the elevator we came in and then down another elevator at the other end of the building. Luckily the people working there were really friendly and helped us find it.
The dolphins, beluga wales and penguins all live in the part of the aquarium called The Polar Play Zone. Remember how I said they have a dolphin show called Fantasea but we didn't go see it. Well I lied, because we did get to see the show-from under the water! The tanks in the Polar Play Zone are the same as the ones used in the show. So we got to see the dolphins doing tricks like standing on their tails and swimming backwards from a whole other point of view. The dolphins were great to watch and super fast! The belugas were harder to see because when we walked through they were deeper in the tank.
This area was really dark too so we couldn't take pictures. Each area we went to workers were reminding everyone not to do flash photography because the fish don't have eyelids and the bright lights can disorient them and even permanently damage their retinas. So no flash photography please peoples!
They don't just call it the Polar Play Zone because the dolphins play there. It also has interactive areas for kids to play too.
"We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine..." are you singing along? Come on and find your inner Beatle, "all together now, all together now..." ;-)
This was a neat submarine you could step inside. It was part of an underwater glacier room where you could also search for hidden fish statues hiding in the crevices of the ice.
Onward to the Icy South area of the Polar Play Zone where the penguins work, play and perform feats of cuteness. I had lots of fun filming these guys swim around and such. You can catch them in the movie at the end of this article. Yes there is a movie at the end of this article.
Speaking of cute, they had little penguin suits that you could put on your kid and photograph them sliding down an ice shoot. I smell a photo opp!
Feel like the penquin. Be the penquin.
Gotta love this sign.
Well after we saw pretty much all there was to see we headed back to the lobby. A guy was barking at us about pictures. Oh yea they did take our picture as we came in. So we just had to see how we looked. You give them back the card the photographer gives you and a few seconds later they hand you a packet of about 7 pictures of varied sizes all for $25. The picture was taken on a green screen so they place you and your party on different pre-rendered backgrounds.
Here is the sample image we got. It shows us standing in front of the Caribbean Reef tank. Both my sister and my niece are so pretty! Yes Hollywood, my niece is ready to audition for your best films! Check out how perfect the background image they give you is. There's a diver feeding an eel, a shark perfectly placed and tons of fish right where they need to be. It's almost as magical as something from Disney World. Kudos Shedd Aquarium. ;-)
After not buying the full picture package we headed toward the exit seeing as they were closing the joint up for the day. But before we left we had to check out our favorite part of any museum, park or zoo...the gift shop!
Yes Shedd has several nice shops strategically placed throughout the building. We went in what must have been the main gift shop since they had just about everything from toys and souvenirs to glassware and clothing.
I had to take a shot of this display for my Lego blog. Fitting that they have the Lego Atlantis theme sets on sale at the aquarium.
Also you gotta love this shirt. Sea Wars! I was totally geeking out over this one. Any shirt that depicts Darth Vader as an octopus and the Death Star as a puffer fish is totally aces with me. I wonder if George Lucas knows about this shirt?
Okay, so you may be thinking, "For a review about an aquarium there aren't a lot of pictures of fish!" Well mister cranky pants, need I remind you of the poor fishies and their lidless eyes? No flash pictures allowed. Even though I may not have mentioned this previously, I have a movie with tons of video clips. I should have brought this up earlier I know. Okay now's the moment. Enjoy the movie below for the total Chicago, Shedd Aquarium experience...x-tropia.com style!
PS. If you know where any of the music comes from you get 5 extra cool points. ;-)
