Georgia Aquarium

We are once again at the time when we review an animal attraction. We visited two new animal attractions this summer, starting with the Georgia Aquarium. That is what will be discussed today.

Georgia Aquarium

Atlanta, GA

Website

Hours: 9AM-9PM

Admission: $36.95 (Included w/ CityPass)

Date of Visit: Fathers Day 2016

Highlights: Numerous highlights at this aquarium as it was the best one we have seen so far. The highlights started with the fact that it was included with CityPass. Once we were inside there were a lot of fun areas to go to. Each area was filled with awesome sea creatures. The big tank with 4 whale sharks, giant manta rays, and countless other fish is the big reason people go to this place. That big tank did not disappoint, especially the tunnel portion of it when you walk under the sealife. My favorite thing to swim over us was the Giant Manta just because it was so huge. Outside of the big tank though, this place also had beluga whales, penguins, an electric eel, and so much more. Another big highlight is the best dolphin show imaginable. I thought the National Aquarium in Baltimore used to have a great dolphin show, but it turns out I didn't know what a real amazing dolphin show was until I visited the GA Aquarium. Everything was just amazing.

Disappointments: There were not a whole lot of disappointments for this trip like I said. The food was not spectacular, but it wasn't like it was bad. It is a tad disappointing that the aquarium is far enough that we can't go often. I also wish we had better pictures of the Beluga Whale, the electric eel, and the Dolphin show. That last one is on us though and not on the Georgia Aquarium in any way.

Additional Tips: Get there early! It got much more crowded throughout the day, I recommend going early. It was a good plan for us to go to mass Saturday night so we could go Sunday morning to the aquarium at opening. There was very little crowd until after the dolphin show and we really got to enjoy each exhibit. Do as many shows as possible too, especially the dolphin show! The shows are free, so make sure you get the most out of your experience!

Pictures

Jenna and the boys in front of the big tank

The whale shark

Eli sitting in front of the big tank

Family with the whale shark mascot

Big whale shark

Giant manta and a whale shark overhead. My favorite part!

Crawling through a tunnel with Jr and looking at fishies

Walking through the tunnel with my buddy

Holding my boys about to go into the aquarium for Fathers Day!

Eli staring at the fishies

Jenna and her mom in the tunnel with Eli

Jenna and Noland in the tunnel looking at the penguins

Final Rating
We gave this aquarium 5 out of 5 Elephants
The Georgia Aquarium is by far the best aquarium we have been to. It is twice the price of most aquariums, but it is so worth it. This place is worth every single penny. For comparison purposes it is less than half the price of Sea World Orlando and so much cooler. I wish that we lived closer so we could go every year. The aquarium should be on everyone's bucket list. We will certainly come back to the Georgia Aquarium at some point. It was a thrilling visit to the Georgia Aquarium and the visit here made our trip to Atlanta a success all on its own.

Next week, we will discuss the wonderful citypass and further talk about our trip to Atlanta!

-Noland

Naples Zoo

This week, ZooZoo Review, gives you a look at one of the zoos at the southern end of our great state.
Naples Zoo

Naples, FL

Date of Visit: March 5, 2016

Highlights: So many highlights at this awesome zoo! The top one was certainly the honey badgers! The Naples Zoo was 1 of only 4 accredited zoos in the United States to have honey badgers and I had never seen them before this visit. Unfortunately, the pictures against the glass were not so great, but they were awesome. There were also awesome hyena, sweet cheetah, tiger, leopard, and lion exhibits and so much more. There was an incredible variety of exhibits and each exhibit was well planned out.

Disappointments: No big theme to the zoo, everything was just kind of there. Cool exhibits, but I kept feeling like I missed something because the overall park had no plan as far as organized areas. Also the lack of pictures of the honey badger.

Additional Tips: If you plan on going on the primate cruise, get there early. The line was too long and we ended up passing because we did not wish to wait for the cruise.

Pictures

Picture with an inflatable giraffe toy of NoNo

Lots of Alligators

Best friend and son with giraffe

Best friend and his mom @ zoo

Anteater!

Giraffe!

He loved that giraffe!

Giraffe toy and giraffe in background

My family + my best friend in front of the giraffe!

Bestie and son in front of giraffes

Jenna and the baby holding a stuffed honey badger!

Overall Rating: 
4.5 out of 5 elephants

The only thing keeping this from a 5 was the lack of theming at the zoo. The exhibits and variety of animals were excellent. Major bonus points for being one of only 4 zoos in the country with honey badgers. Those things were so cool! I was super glad we got to go here and we will be back at some point to go back to this tremendous zoo.

-Noland

Brevard Zoo

We are back with another zoo review for our zoo lovers. Sorry for the long hiatus, but we will try to post weekly again! This one is for the wonderful Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida. Brevard is one of our favorite zoos and one of the premier attractions in all of Florida.

Brevard Zoo

Melbourne, FL

Website

Hours: 9:30-5

Admission: $16.95

Date of Visit: Feb. 2015

Highlights: So many highlights, but most of them come from the zoos African section. The meerkat exhibit and the cheetah exhibit are as cool as they come. They have my favorite animal (the rhino). They have an awesome giraffe feeding experience and they even have an anteater. This zoo also had incredibly well done themes and animals from every continent except for Antarctica. There are a lot more highlights than this.

Disappointments: Not a lot of disappointments other than our kids being too little to do the extra experiences like kayaking past Rhinos! How cool must that be? I guess the Europe, Asia, Australia section could be a little bigger.

Additional Tips: Go and have fun at this zoo. This zoo has the best concession stand I have seen at a zoo, but everything is made to order there. Arrive at the stand by 11am and eat an early lunch. :)

Pictures!!!

Our team leader was excited to tell us animals to see first!

Anteater

Bald Eagle

Giraffe

Cheetah

Black Swan

Condor

Cool Bird I had never seen before called a Crested Caracara.

Emu Egg

Kangaroos and an Emu

Foxes

Cool Bird

Cool Feeding Experience that this zoo and Lowry Park do.

One of our favorite Rhino exhibits!

The highlight of this trip was this meerkat experience. They had an underground tunnel system for the kids to experience the exhibit. Those pictures didn't turn out well, but it was probably the coolest exhibit I have seen so far at a zoo. The meerkats could travel in tunnels right over the kids heads. So cool!

Final Rating: 

5/5 Elephants

This zoo is one of the best in the state and possibly the country. The meerkat exhibit and the cheetah exhibits are the best of their kind. This zoo would be even better with the special experience add-ons that we didn't get to do. It is so great that we took another track across state recently for a 2nd trip. This zoo comes highly recommended by the Robinsons.

-Noland

Central Florida Zoo

Hello again zoo lovers! We have a few more zoos to review this year and thought we would get started with the Central Florida Zoo.

Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens

Sanford, FL

Website

Hours: 9 AM-5 PM

Admission: $16.50

Date of Visit: March 2015

Highlights: The Indian Rhino exhibit was awesome and even better than the one at Lowry Park. You were able to get closer and view them quite well. The black leopard exhibit was something I had never seen before which is always awesome. It was a special part of the zoo. Likewise, the crocodile monitor was something I had never seen before and really neat. I just wish we got a better picture of it for you, but it was difficult with the glass. They had a neat butterfly garden for the kids to look at and a cool playground for them as well.

Disappointments: Outside of the highlights and the cool animals in the pictures below, this zoo really lacked something. I was surprisingly underwhelmed. The zoo also didn't have the animals separated by continent like most zoos and just had a confusing layout in general.

Additional Tips: This zoo is actually about 45 minutes outside of Orlando. It is not actually in Orlando, do not be confused by Central Florida Zoo. It is in Sanford and not Orlando. 

Pictures

Gila Monster

Cool Iguana

Indian Rhino

Another Indian Rhino

Snake

Butterfly from the Butterfly Garden

Not the best quality because of the glass, but a cool caiman swimming towards us.

Really cool bird by the entrance

Camel

Porcupine

Crocodile Monitor

And the highlight of the visit, this beautiful black leopard. This zoo is also where we learned about why some leopards are black (similar to albino alligators) and that there is no such thing as a black panther.

Final Rating: 

3 out of 5 elephants

This zoo had it's highlights, but a confusing layout and a surprising lack of cool animals would have had this at a below average zoo. The Indian Rhino exhibit (which is the best of its kind) and the black leopard exhibit (which is incredibly rare) really saved this zoos rating. If you have never seen these animals, it is worth it just for them, but we will be spending our time at other zoos/attractions. There is so much to do in Florida, and you can do much better than this place. It disappointed me overall, but had some 1 of a kind cool stuff also.

Stay tuned for our next review on a much more pleasant zoo experience in a few weeks.

-Noland