Adventure Aquarium is in Camden, NJ with a beautiful view of the Philadelphia Skyline across the review. I haven't been to a lot of aquariums, but I would say it's small to average sized. Some exhibits were geared more towards childen with the exhibit design having a cartoon style look, but it's a place that people of all ages can enjoy.
Zone D: When you enter the aquarium, you go up the escalator which leads you to the main food court. You can either go straight ahead to Zone A, B, & C or cut through the food court on your left to go to Zone D. When you first enter this zone, you're brought to African section, featuring Feather Ridge and Hippos. You see the land area of the hippos exhibit when you first walk in and if you veer off to your right to can either climb stairs to a platform to get an overview of the exhibit, or you can stay on the ground level and get multiple views of the hippos. Granted that the hippos do not have outside access, I thought it was a pretty nice exhibit for them. Their pool was larger than I expected as when I went down to the lower level to see them underwater, it was almost impossible as they were far back in the pool. One of them eventually did come over, which was the main reason I went to this aquarium. I have not been to a zoo yet that has a hippo underwater viewing so this was a treat to see these big creatures majestically move underwater. There are set of rocks on the left of the viewing window that are the perfect height to allow a hippo to slightly raise its head to come surface and breathe. An African crested porcupine was on land and some birds in the area were cattle egret, blue bellied rollers, and a few more exotic birds I cannot remember.
When you leave this area you are enter Jules Verne Gallery. This is a dimly lit section that features sea nettles, moon jellies, sea dragons, lobsters, among other sea creatures. The lamps are shaped like jellyfish and there are creatures drawn on the wall playing on the name of some sea creatures. An example would be a sea cow displaying a cow's head on a fish like body. Also in this section is your first window to view the sharks. This goes directly into Shark Realm where you pass another large viewing window before going into their underwater tunnel. This part of the exhibit was dampered for me and my group as school groups were very obnoxious. It's amazing how oblivious chaperones are these days and what these kids get away with. They were screaming, running, climbing off rails and trying to jump off steps. My partner got so fed up he screamed really loud, "Stop running!" That is when their chaperone decided to do her job and told them to knock it off. After this, you can go up a ramp that leads to a second floor where you see closer to the surface. On the way there are some interactive things, such as a cage to go into with a video of a shark bumping into you. This area ends up leads in the aquarium's only gift shop.
Zone C: On the second floor, half of this area (Rainforest Rendezvous) was closed off for a new children's section coming next year. However they still had a touch tank where you could touch starfish, sea cucumbers, and anemones. The aquarium is know for being the most touchable aquarium with many hands on stations.
Zone B: The area at furthest into the aquarium, you have Stingray Beach Club, and outdoor exhibits, Seal Shores and Penguin Island. Stingray Beach Club has the cartoon design I was talking about and a pool area where guests can touch and feed the rays. One nice thing about all the touch stations is that the animals get a 15 minute break each hour where no one is allowed to touch them. Although I would hate to be that employee on a busy summer day who has to repeatedly tell guest, "The rays are on break, you can touch them in 10 minutes..." Outside the seal and penguin exhibits were both small in size for its inhabitants. Six seals in a fairly small pool with a bank area for their trainers to interact with them. The African Black Footed Penguins have a small shore area and multiple holes to access into their indoor area. Also a small pool area, which none of the penguins felt like swimming in on the day I went. The design was similar to that of Columbus Zoo and Seneca Park Zoo (before it's renovation).
Zone A: The area that made me the most relaxed! It was also the last area I went to and all the school groups had left. Ocean Realm has a huge tank that has sea turtles, fish, and a variety of sharks and rays. The first viewing area is a huge window. If you turn the corner then you have circle and pop in bubbles to get a closer look inside the tank. Going around the corner again to the back of the tank, you had a very tall viewing window with small movie theater seating and relaxing music. I could stay there all day. After this was Carribean currents with many small terrariums. I would like to tell you all of the fish I saw, but I honestly don't remember. Ones that stick out are of course the color fish you'd see in Finding Nemo, eels, cowfish, sea horses, lobsters, crabs, etc. The area ended with the viewing area of the newest resident, Mighty Mike. A very huge alligator in a long, shallow pool and opportunities for visitors to get up close to view him.
Despite the noise at the beginning, I had a more pleasant time here then when I went to the National Aquarium. Granted it was also due to going to the National Aquarium in the summer and not being able to view many areas due to the higher traffic of people. I enjoyed Adventure Aquarium with have bigger viewing areas, touch stations, and of course underwater viewing of hippos. If you were ever in Philadelphia for a few days, I would recommend stopping here along with the zoo.
Zone D: When you enter the aquarium, you go up the escalator which leads you to the main food court. You can either go straight ahead to Zone A, B, & C or cut through the food court on your left to go to Zone D. When you first enter this zone, you're brought to African section, featuring Feather Ridge and Hippos. You see the land area of the hippos exhibit when you first walk in and if you veer off to your right to can either climb stairs to a platform to get an overview of the exhibit, or you can stay on the ground level and get multiple views of the hippos. Granted that the hippos do not have outside access, I thought it was a pretty nice exhibit for them. Their pool was larger than I expected as when I went down to the lower level to see them underwater, it was almost impossible as they were far back in the pool. One of them eventually did come over, which was the main reason I went to this aquarium. I have not been to a zoo yet that has a hippo underwater viewing so this was a treat to see these big creatures majestically move underwater. There are set of rocks on the left of the viewing window that are the perfect height to allow a hippo to slightly raise its head to come surface and breathe. An African crested porcupine was on land and some birds in the area were cattle egret, blue bellied rollers, and a few more exotic birds I cannot remember.
When you leave this area you are enter Jules Verne Gallery. This is a dimly lit section that features sea nettles, moon jellies, sea dragons, lobsters, among other sea creatures. The lamps are shaped like jellyfish and there are creatures drawn on the wall playing on the name of some sea creatures. An example would be a sea cow displaying a cow's head on a fish like body. Also in this section is your first window to view the sharks. This goes directly into Shark Realm where you pass another large viewing window before going into their underwater tunnel. This part of the exhibit was dampered for me and my group as school groups were very obnoxious. It's amazing how oblivious chaperones are these days and what these kids get away with. They were screaming, running, climbing off rails and trying to jump off steps. My partner got so fed up he screamed really loud, "Stop running!" That is when their chaperone decided to do her job and told them to knock it off. After this, you can go up a ramp that leads to a second floor where you see closer to the surface. On the way there are some interactive things, such as a cage to go into with a video of a shark bumping into you. This area ends up leads in the aquarium's only gift shop.
Zone C: On the second floor, half of this area (Rainforest Rendezvous) was closed off for a new children's section coming next year. However they still had a touch tank where you could touch starfish, sea cucumbers, and anemones. The aquarium is know for being the most touchable aquarium with many hands on stations.
Zone B: The area at furthest into the aquarium, you have Stingray Beach Club, and outdoor exhibits, Seal Shores and Penguin Island. Stingray Beach Club has the cartoon design I was talking about and a pool area where guests can touch and feed the rays. One nice thing about all the touch stations is that the animals get a 15 minute break each hour where no one is allowed to touch them. Although I would hate to be that employee on a busy summer day who has to repeatedly tell guest, "The rays are on break, you can touch them in 10 minutes..." Outside the seal and penguin exhibits were both small in size for its inhabitants. Six seals in a fairly small pool with a bank area for their trainers to interact with them. The African Black Footed Penguins have a small shore area and multiple holes to access into their indoor area. Also a small pool area, which none of the penguins felt like swimming in on the day I went. The design was similar to that of Columbus Zoo and Seneca Park Zoo (before it's renovation).
Zone A: The area that made me the most relaxed! It was also the last area I went to and all the school groups had left. Ocean Realm has a huge tank that has sea turtles, fish, and a variety of sharks and rays. The first viewing area is a huge window. If you turn the corner then you have circle and pop in bubbles to get a closer look inside the tank. Going around the corner again to the back of the tank, you had a very tall viewing window with small movie theater seating and relaxing music. I could stay there all day. After this was Carribean currents with many small terrariums. I would like to tell you all of the fish I saw, but I honestly don't remember. Ones that stick out are of course the color fish you'd see in Finding Nemo, eels, cowfish, sea horses, lobsters, crabs, etc. The area ended with the viewing area of the newest resident, Mighty Mike. A very huge alligator in a long, shallow pool and opportunities for visitors to get up close to view him.
Despite the noise at the beginning, I had a more pleasant time here then when I went to the National Aquarium. Granted it was also due to going to the National Aquarium in the summer and not being able to view many areas due to the higher traffic of people. I enjoyed Adventure Aquarium with have bigger viewing areas, touch stations, and of course underwater viewing of hippos. If you were ever in Philadelphia for a few days, I would recommend stopping here along with the zoo.
