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

Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

It is time for another Zoo Review!
Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

Saint Augustine, FL

Date of Visit: December 29, 2015

As we get ready to take Eli to our favorite zoo so far in Atlanta, I figured it was a good time to review the last new zoo attraction pre-Eli.

Highlights: The saltwater crocodile exhibit and getting to see that massive crocodile underwater. My 3 year old loved that! The komodo dragons are always a fun animal. Those guys are so cool. There is a reason the komodo dragon is my 2nd favorite animal and they are always cool to look at. Seeing every species of crocodile in the world was neat.

Disappointments: Same with our gatorland review, once you see one alligator, you have seen them all. Too many regular alligators, would have liked more variety. The nile crocodile was kind of small and that is typically our favorite.

Additional Tips: Try to catch a feeding or a show, they are neat.

Pictures
The coolest animal there was the komodo dragon, but for some reason, pictures all turned out rough. Here are some good pictures though.

 Baby Albino Alligators

Big Albino Alligator

Maximus the Saltwater Crocodile

Jr. with his aunt KJ

 The Big Salty next to the little Salty

Tortoise

Bull Alligator

Overall Rating:
3.5 out of 5 elephants
This was cooler than Gatorland simply because of the saltwater crocodile exhibit being cooler and the added komodo dragons. The park was very similar to that park though. I am sure all alligator farms are incredibly similar. This one did get bonus points for the dragons and the salty. Those were very cool. We will be back at some point, because Saint Augustine is an awesome town filled with history and this place was cool.

Stay tuned for reviews of the Naples Zoo, our return trip to Atlanta, our trip to the Georgia Aquarium and much, much, more.

-Noland

ZooWorld

Happy Friday the 13th everybody! Here is another Zoo Review for our Zoo Readers! 

ZooWorld

Panama City Beach, Florida

Website

Hours: 9:30-5

Admission: $16.95

Date of Visit: March 2015

Highlights: Large variety of animals. Species from all over the world. Get to see the animals up close. Prairie Dog exhibit was epic and one of the best I have seen.

Disappointments: Almost every enclosure looked to small and you felt bad for the animals. It was sad at several of the cages, especially the Jaguars and Giraffes.

Additional Tips: If you do end up going, purchase the feeding experiences. I am not sure those animals get fed outside of those experiences and they are cool. Jr. loved feeding the camels.
The walked a timberwolf around the zoo for kids to pet just like it was a dog. I decided to pass on letting my kid pet it, because at the end of the day its a friggen wolf. They said it was safe, but that was just one of the sketch things about this place.

Pictures

Entrance Sign

Awesome White Lion Cub

Fun Feeding Experience, Not A Lot of Space For The Giraffes

A cat this majestic needs a bigger habit. Still cool to look at, but felt bad.

Awesome Mandrill that was fat and happy

Peacock

Jr.'s favorite part, the prairie dog tunnel

Serval

Funky Snake

Another Snake

We had a good time just hanging around

Turkey

Tiger

Final Rating:
This zoo was the hardest to rate out of any we had seen so far. The variety of animals should lend itself to a 5 rating. However, the exhibits have to knock it down some. That being said, the Reston Zoo got a 4.5 from us early and they had charges of animal cruelty brought against them (we didn't know about at the time). The species of animal at this zoo were about as cool as can be. There have never been any charges against them, but I still feel bad for the animals. We are unsure if we are willing to give them a second chance and unsure of the rating. It just is what it is at this place. It will appeal to many, but disgust many as well. It is an interesting phenomenon. This zoo will remain unrated due to the complexities involved with it.

-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