Went for the Frogs, Got a Lot More
Written: Oct 04 '01 (Updated Oct 04 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: various tanks give you interesting perspectives and camera shots
Cons: some areas too small and cramped, goofy ticket-buying set-up
The Bottom Line: It's a nice place to spend a couple of hours on day you don't want to be outside, and a nice addition to a trip to New Orleans.
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| grumpifrog's Full Review: Audubon Institute Aquarium of the Americas |
When we were planning our trip to New Orleans, I looked at various web sites and found an advertisment for FROGS in big bold letters. Now whenever I see that lovely word, my heart skips a beat. I investigated, discovering that there was now a frog exhibit at the Aquarium of the Americas. Normally, I'm not an aquarium/zoo kind of person, but a whole frog exhibit? I turned to my husband and said, "Okay dear, I found something that goes into our Must Do category, and this one ranks right up there with eating and drinking on Bourbon Street." Dear Husband rolled his eyes.
We decided to visit the aquarium on our second day there, a Sunday. The weather was awful -- heavy thunderstorms all day. The line at the ticket window was horrendously long. We walked past the line, found a security guard and asked if it was truly the ticket line or (a worse thought) the line to get in. We were told it was the line for tickets, but there was another ticket area by the Imax theater. We went there, found a line of five people, bought tickets to the aquarium, and waltzed right in.
The aquarium is broken into regions. We visited the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi River, among other places. When we first entered the aquarium, we walked through a tunnel that was actually a large tank of various fish swimming next to us and above us. (We stood there for quite some time, trying to get a picture of the stingray's belly because it looked like a smiley face.)
Some of the tanks and information cards were difficult to read because the place was packed and people weren't very willing to step aside.
I'll admit that I went through a good deal of the aquarium with a "yeah, yeah, this is nice, let's get going" attitude because I was on a mission. Find the frogs (that were so well advertised on street signs around the city and within the aquarium itself). I was more than willing to slow down, however, when we got to the seahorse tank. What a nice surprise because I like seahorses. There was a tank filled with babies; I'd never seen them in development stages before. There were also exotic versions that looked like dragons or seaweed.
The sea otters came next and were also cute. But it was hard to see them because so many parents allowed their children to stand on the ledge next to the otters' tank.
After the otters, we came to a little store that sold otter and frog goodies. We stopped there and bought some reasonably priced souveniers. Then the moment came. The Frogs!!
The exhibit was both wonderful and disappointing. I especially liked the frog wall of fame (famous frogs in literature and film) and how a couple of tanks allowed you to crawl inside to get a closer look. But other tanks were too dark to see the frogs well, even with the lights, and the exhibit was surprisingly small for all of the fuss. I loved seeing them though, and we spent a good deal of time and took a lot of pictures.
The other highlight of the aquarium is the white alligator. It is not an albino alligator (it doesn't have pink eyes) but one of a family of white alligators that were found as babies and were rescued. White alligators rarely survive in the wild because the babies can't blend in with their environment and end up as some other animal's lunch. It's a beautiful creature. People who saw our picture thought a flash washed out the gator's color and couldn't believe that it was actually white.
The lowlight of the aquarium is a hawk that is tethered to its perch. Several times we saw it try to fly but could only go a few feet before it was yanked back. I thought that was cruel. There was no reason to have the bird in there, especially under that circumstance.
It took us about 2.5 hours to wander about the aquarium. It made for a nice diversion on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
grumpifrog
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Member: Sue P
Reviews written: 74
Trusted by: 13 members
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