This fine aquarium building is located in Newport, Kentucky, on the bank of the Ohio River just across from Cincinnati, Ohio. It is in its own building, adjoining an ordinary entertainment complex called Newport on the Levee, with a pleasant plaza in front. The aquarium is 10 years old and is in a modern building with a swooping roofline. The variety of freshwater and saltwater exhibits as well as some non-fish ones from around the world make it a fairly comprehensive experience. The building is entered on its upper floor, with a small plain lobby that simply features some animal models and a large gift shop. All the exhibits are downstairs, located along an exhibit path that has little reason to its layout but is a pleasant directed journey that generally builds in excitement and scale. I will describe the exhibit areas as they are encountered along the path.
After descending an escalator, The first small gallery is called World Rivers and features small freshwater wall aquariums from around the world surrounding an open tank of African lake fish. The next gallery is the Shore Gallery, and is an open room which is entered and exited beneath two seperate short tunnel tanks which act as arches to the room, with one featuring California coastal fish and simulated kelp. Several small wall aquariums feature fish from shorelines, and a larger tank features Hawaiian shore fish in a simulated wave pool with rocks. There is also a small rocky touch tidepool exhibit here, staffed from behind its semi-circular counter. The room is the entrance and exit to the Theater, which currently features a looping video about the aquariums shark rays. The theater seating is a series of benches in a large room which simulates a pirate ship and coastal town, and even has a pirate mannequin near the screen. I suspect this was part of a choreographed show originally, but it is strange that if this was an introductory show to the aquarium, that it would be located after the visitor has already seen several galleries. The theming also seems needless now. Behind the screen is a large viewing window into the facilitys largest exhibit, Surrounded by Sharks, but the screen is always down. Again, I suspect that originally the screen would rise at the end of the show for a big wow factor. I only know the window is behind the screen because I could see the window from inside the main tank later in the visit. Up to this point, the facility is only average, but the good stuff starts to emerge in the next galleries.
The next gallery is Bizarre and Beautiful, and is a contrast. It starts with a small interactive walk-in exhibit that simulates a shark cage, with a large video screen showing footage of a great white shark approaching, and when it comes right up to the cage the floor moves and shakes and loud cage rattling sounds fill the room. Fun! Several wall aquariums showcase bizarre animals, including isopods and electric eels and a giant Pacific octopus, the most active one I have ever seen, that shares its habitat with several large sea stars. This is followed by a long narrow tank showcasing beautiful, in this case small tropical colorful fish. The next bend in the room is a seperate gallery called Dangerous and Deadly, which features more small wall aquariums with unusual small sharks and lionfish. Then a row of terrariums and aquariums called Turtle Town features reptiles, including a large alligator snapping turtle. This gallery then suddenly opens up into a large dimly lit simulated forest room, which features two areas. The first area, Ohio Riverbank, features glazed habitats emerging from a rocky wall with a waterfall, filled with native animals including owls and reptiles, across from the first of the facilitys more impressive exhibits, the open-topped river exhibit filled with larger native fish that is along a rocky riverbank. The room then evolves into Gator Bayou, with a cypress swamp painted backdrop and a shack and shore which border an open exhibit with numerous American alligators and turtles which can swim beneath the bridge which visitors cross. The bridge has a glazed floor cutout where several of the alligators are often floating, inches below. It is a nice exhibit, but would benefit from a larger size and more realistically painted backdrop.
Upon exiting the bayou, a large fairly featureless space is the directional downfall of the exhibit path. There are several options to go from here, and if the visitor chooses the wrong one, he will miss several exhibits. One of the exhibits is a space for temporary exhibits, currently filled by Frog Bog. This bright cartoony exhibit features several small exhibits of frogs and toads, as well as frog themed play equipment, and is certainly geared for the younger set. The other exhibit that the visitor might miss is a permanent one, and is the only naturally lit area of the facility. It is the Hidden Treasures Rainforest, an atrium exhibit area that is short on aquariums but features nice rockwork topped with tropical plants and two main exhibits. The first large exhibit is an excellent Asian otter exhibit with waterfalls and underwater viewing windows with a generous amphitheater viewing area. The other main exhibit is the Aviary, a walkthrough lorikeet area that also features a temple-like glazed exhibit of a python with a nice small aquarium filled with several fish that is open to the python.
The third option of the confusing space is to proceed to the best part of the facility. It is a series of 4 exhibits, 3 of which feature great tunnels. The first of the spaces is the Amazon Flooded Forest, which could be viewed as a thematic extension of the rainforest exhibit just encountered. It is a long tunnel exhibit through freshwater, with some dimly lit temple wall theming as its backdrop and filled with pacu and rays swimming amongst dangling branches. This tunnel angles at its end to immediatly lead to the Coral Reef, a similarly sized tunnel exhibit of tropical reef fish amongst simulated reef. This exhibit is not the finest of its kind but still pleasant, and features a juvenile shark ray currently. The next exhibit is the Jellyfish Gallery, an architectural room of framed abstract jelly exhibits along the walls similar to Monterey Bay Aquarium's temporary Art of Jellies exhibit which I think just closed. It also has several columns of jellies, and the room is lit by soffit lighting which slowly changes color and provides a sophisticated presentation. Next is the largest of the tanks, Surrounded by Sharks, the one into which the Theater had a view window. This large tank is first viewed through several tunnels which traverse its length, and then several flat and round gallery windows. I really appreciate large tanks that have both, since the viewing oppurtunities are extremely different...tanks in other facilities that only have a tunnel annoy me, such as SeaWorld Orlando and its Shark Encounter, unless you go to the restaurant that has a normal view. This aquarium features several adult shark rays which are a delight to watch, as well as sand tiger, sandbar, whitetip reef, blacktip reef, nurse, and zebra sharks and some large rays and a loggerhead turtle. They claim that their shark ray breeding program is the only one in the world.
After exiting Surrounded by Sharks, there are two adjoining areas that are marginal. One is Sharkys Cafe, a low-ceilinged vaguely nautical themed restaurant that has little reason to exist other than feeding the employees and docents. Visitors have many more pleasant dining options just outside the building, and not in basement conditions. Adjacent is Shark Central, another vaguely nautical themed area with a rather ugly shallow shark touch tank. However, plentiful docents make the experience nice.
The grand finale of the exhibit path before ascending an escalator is Kingdom of the Penguins, a nice glazed exhibit with underwater viewing of Antarctic penguins and a nice stepped viewing area in front. The size is perhaps a fifth of the length of SeaWorlds Penguin Encounter, but still larger than quite a few similar exhibits I have seen.
I visited on a blissfully uncrowded September weekday but could see that the facility could handle a more crowded day with ease. At 20 dollars, general adult admission is still priced a few dollars too high but is not a ripoff for this above average experience. I have now visited 32 aquarium facilities and I rank Newport Aquarium at number 11, just below National Aquarium in Baltimore and just above Adventure Aquarium in Camden. In my list of top 25 individual fish exhibits, Surrounded by Sharks is now my number 11, just below Downtown Aquarium Denvers Sunken Shipwreck and just above Sydney Aquariums Open Ocean Oceanarium. I have posted plenty of pictures in the gallery!
After descending an escalator, The first small gallery is called World Rivers and features small freshwater wall aquariums from around the world surrounding an open tank of African lake fish. The next gallery is the Shore Gallery, and is an open room which is entered and exited beneath two seperate short tunnel tanks which act as arches to the room, with one featuring California coastal fish and simulated kelp. Several small wall aquariums feature fish from shorelines, and a larger tank features Hawaiian shore fish in a simulated wave pool with rocks. There is also a small rocky touch tidepool exhibit here, staffed from behind its semi-circular counter. The room is the entrance and exit to the Theater, which currently features a looping video about the aquariums shark rays. The theater seating is a series of benches in a large room which simulates a pirate ship and coastal town, and even has a pirate mannequin near the screen. I suspect this was part of a choreographed show originally, but it is strange that if this was an introductory show to the aquarium, that it would be located after the visitor has already seen several galleries. The theming also seems needless now. Behind the screen is a large viewing window into the facilitys largest exhibit, Surrounded by Sharks, but the screen is always down. Again, I suspect that originally the screen would rise at the end of the show for a big wow factor. I only know the window is behind the screen because I could see the window from inside the main tank later in the visit. Up to this point, the facility is only average, but the good stuff starts to emerge in the next galleries.
The next gallery is Bizarre and Beautiful, and is a contrast. It starts with a small interactive walk-in exhibit that simulates a shark cage, with a large video screen showing footage of a great white shark approaching, and when it comes right up to the cage the floor moves and shakes and loud cage rattling sounds fill the room. Fun! Several wall aquariums showcase bizarre animals, including isopods and electric eels and a giant Pacific octopus, the most active one I have ever seen, that shares its habitat with several large sea stars. This is followed by a long narrow tank showcasing beautiful, in this case small tropical colorful fish. The next bend in the room is a seperate gallery called Dangerous and Deadly, which features more small wall aquariums with unusual small sharks and lionfish. Then a row of terrariums and aquariums called Turtle Town features reptiles, including a large alligator snapping turtle. This gallery then suddenly opens up into a large dimly lit simulated forest room, which features two areas. The first area, Ohio Riverbank, features glazed habitats emerging from a rocky wall with a waterfall, filled with native animals including owls and reptiles, across from the first of the facilitys more impressive exhibits, the open-topped river exhibit filled with larger native fish that is along a rocky riverbank. The room then evolves into Gator Bayou, with a cypress swamp painted backdrop and a shack and shore which border an open exhibit with numerous American alligators and turtles which can swim beneath the bridge which visitors cross. The bridge has a glazed floor cutout where several of the alligators are often floating, inches below. It is a nice exhibit, but would benefit from a larger size and more realistically painted backdrop.
Upon exiting the bayou, a large fairly featureless space is the directional downfall of the exhibit path. There are several options to go from here, and if the visitor chooses the wrong one, he will miss several exhibits. One of the exhibits is a space for temporary exhibits, currently filled by Frog Bog. This bright cartoony exhibit features several small exhibits of frogs and toads, as well as frog themed play equipment, and is certainly geared for the younger set. The other exhibit that the visitor might miss is a permanent one, and is the only naturally lit area of the facility. It is the Hidden Treasures Rainforest, an atrium exhibit area that is short on aquariums but features nice rockwork topped with tropical plants and two main exhibits. The first large exhibit is an excellent Asian otter exhibit with waterfalls and underwater viewing windows with a generous amphitheater viewing area. The other main exhibit is the Aviary, a walkthrough lorikeet area that also features a temple-like glazed exhibit of a python with a nice small aquarium filled with several fish that is open to the python.
The third option of the confusing space is to proceed to the best part of the facility. It is a series of 4 exhibits, 3 of which feature great tunnels. The first of the spaces is the Amazon Flooded Forest, which could be viewed as a thematic extension of the rainforest exhibit just encountered. It is a long tunnel exhibit through freshwater, with some dimly lit temple wall theming as its backdrop and filled with pacu and rays swimming amongst dangling branches. This tunnel angles at its end to immediatly lead to the Coral Reef, a similarly sized tunnel exhibit of tropical reef fish amongst simulated reef. This exhibit is not the finest of its kind but still pleasant, and features a juvenile shark ray currently. The next exhibit is the Jellyfish Gallery, an architectural room of framed abstract jelly exhibits along the walls similar to Monterey Bay Aquarium's temporary Art of Jellies exhibit which I think just closed. It also has several columns of jellies, and the room is lit by soffit lighting which slowly changes color and provides a sophisticated presentation. Next is the largest of the tanks, Surrounded by Sharks, the one into which the Theater had a view window. This large tank is first viewed through several tunnels which traverse its length, and then several flat and round gallery windows. I really appreciate large tanks that have both, since the viewing oppurtunities are extremely different...tanks in other facilities that only have a tunnel annoy me, such as SeaWorld Orlando and its Shark Encounter, unless you go to the restaurant that has a normal view. This aquarium features several adult shark rays which are a delight to watch, as well as sand tiger, sandbar, whitetip reef, blacktip reef, nurse, and zebra sharks and some large rays and a loggerhead turtle. They claim that their shark ray breeding program is the only one in the world.
After exiting Surrounded by Sharks, there are two adjoining areas that are marginal. One is Sharkys Cafe, a low-ceilinged vaguely nautical themed restaurant that has little reason to exist other than feeding the employees and docents. Visitors have many more pleasant dining options just outside the building, and not in basement conditions. Adjacent is Shark Central, another vaguely nautical themed area with a rather ugly shallow shark touch tank. However, plentiful docents make the experience nice.
The grand finale of the exhibit path before ascending an escalator is Kingdom of the Penguins, a nice glazed exhibit with underwater viewing of Antarctic penguins and a nice stepped viewing area in front. The size is perhaps a fifth of the length of SeaWorlds Penguin Encounter, but still larger than quite a few similar exhibits I have seen.
I visited on a blissfully uncrowded September weekday but could see that the facility could handle a more crowded day with ease. At 20 dollars, general adult admission is still priced a few dollars too high but is not a ripoff for this above average experience. I have now visited 32 aquarium facilities and I rank Newport Aquarium at number 11, just below National Aquarium in Baltimore and just above Adventure Aquarium in Camden. In my list of top 25 individual fish exhibits, Surrounded by Sharks is now my number 11, just below Downtown Aquarium Denvers Sunken Shipwreck and just above Sydney Aquariums Open Ocean Oceanarium. I have posted plenty of pictures in the gallery!
