This is a fantastic city aquarium. Lots of charism...

This is a fantastic city aquarium. Lots of charismatic creatures (sea turtle, seal, sea lion, sharks, rays, penguins). The main central tank is incredible and you get to see it from bottom to top winding up a spiral ramp around it.

My only gripe with the place was that we were there on the Sunday of a 3-day weekend and it was packed. We didn't buy tickets in advance so spent 28min in line. Then with 3 adults and 4 kids (ages 3-12), we tried to wiggle our way to the front of the glass to see things. The crowd was unpleasant, and we made the mistake of not checking our coats into a locker at the front (though we were able to leave a couple carry on suitcases in the stroller parking! So handy! ). Overall it was hard to move around the central tank and the tanks lining the walls in the main hall (and keep track of the kids in some of the semidarkened areas). After half our party left around noon, we found the Ray touch tank (worth it!) and the sea lions, which were in a much more open area on the ground floor.

I think this aquarium may need to think about timed tickets to manage the crowds.