NJ Aquarium is good, but other nearby ones are better
Written: May 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Ocean Base Atlantic is impressive
Cons: Not that much else is
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| wgrace's Full Review: New Jersey State Aquarium |
My wife and I love visiting zoos, botanical parks, and aquariums. We've been to a number, both in and out of this area. We felt our visit to the NJ aquarium was fine, but when you build an aquarium within 75 miles of two other excellent facilities (New York Aquarium and National Aquarium in Baltimore), it had better be several steps above fine to compete.
The Ocean Base Atlantic / coral exhibit is certainly worth seeing and the key exhibit of the entire visit. This tank is 760,000 gallons in size, with all variety of ocean plants and animals, including some sharks. I remember looking on for what must have been a half hour, studying the schools of fish, the sharks, and even the plant activity on site.
My problem comes in with the fact that there wasn't another exhibit in the aquarium that made me say "wow". There was a seal exhibit, but I found it dull and less interesting than the seals I've seen at the Bronx Zoo and other places. I don't recall seeing the African penguins during my visit, but most places featuring them and other aquatic birds have several species, not just the one. New York Aquarium has a nice flock that interact socially among themselves, making for a fine show. There were other exhibits here too, but there are two many choices for seeing wildlife in this area for them to compete.
Admission to the NJ aquarium is towards the top of the range, at $12 for adults and $9 for children 3-11. This also includes the use of the Camden Children's Garden, which may make this trip more worthwhile (but is beyond the scope of this review). For comparison, National Aquarium runs $14 / $7.50 and NY Aquarium runs $10 / $6. The Philadelphia CityPass, at $27.50 adults / $20 children, can make this a better bargain if you have time to visit other local attractions over a nine day period. I did not sample the food or gift shops, as I always feel they run up my expenses too much.
If there were no other aquariums in this area, I might be inclined to rate this one a little higher. However, there are just too many places nearby for me to feel excited about the NJ aquarium. Therefore, I'm awarding two stars and giving a recommendation to go to the National Aquarium (my favorite), or the New York Aquarium (especially during the summer - you're right at Coney Island).
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
wgrace
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Member: Bill
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 22 members
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