Mote Marine Laboratory Review

Absolutely a great experience. Worth every penny. Wide variety of animals. To the best of my knowledge they are all exceptionally cared for.

Really fun place for an afternoon. Go see fish find sharks teeth.

The exhibits are phenomenal and the volunteers make it a truly awesome experience. You will leave with an appreciation for sea life that has remained largely mysterious to the average person. If for no other reason go to see the preserved giant squid. Be sure to spend time in the first exhibit which is how the Mote Aquarium came into existence ...it is quite a story.

Wonderful aquarium and learni g experience! The Manetee and shark tank are amazing!

This place is amazing. We had some much fun and there was enough for the kids in our group to stay busy the whole day.

One of the most informative and fun aquariums I've visited.

Fun, interactive day of learning, highly recommended!

Extremely high quality aquarium, had some really neat displays that you don't see every day

I love this aquarium! You can tell the animals are well cared for, and the volunteers are so passionate and we'll informed when you speak to them. I come every time I'm in the area and I'm never disappointed.

A very well done aquarium. Don't forget their 2 buildings separated by about a block

So many changes since our last visit so many years ago when my children were young.

Did the boat tour with my 10yr old daughter 2day and it was great!! Chuck & Tonya do a great job and was very happy to see how helpful and paitent they are with all the kids on board. A must for any aquarium visitor! Thnx guys!!

Top notch experience and mission to save the oceans.

Great aquarium but the aquariums on the west coast seem a little fuller.

Wonderful place. Lots of exhibits, volunteers everywhere to help you with the fish and point things out for you. Very much enjoyed our visit

An awesome place, i just wish it wasn't so crowded and one could actually see and enjoy every fish tank. Hopefully weekdays are better that way.

Small but very nice aquarium. Has all the big things you'd want to see.

Great place, we have gone there at least 5 times and the staff is amazing. I defiantly recommend Mote Marine.

Great Florida aquarium- especially loved the new otter display!

We took our daughter here. She is only 2 and had such a good time. The staff is excellent. We took a boat tour as well. That was well worth it!

Is a research aquarium very good place to bring the famliy

Mote Marine is awesome! My son, his second grade class and I had an amazing day. Very educational and fun!

Greatly enjoyed this aquarium. I liked the openness of it, the ability to wonder at our own pace.

Unexpectedly interesting It is not a zoo-style aquarium. It is a center for research and animal care.
You will see manatees, crocodiles, etc.
Price: $ 24

Fun place for a day out with the kids, remember coming here when I was a kid also. They do a lot to help the sea life and gulf waters.

Not good at honoring reciprocal memberships. Were very rude...went to Clearwater instead...wonderful experience. The only place in Sarasota that was a bad experience.

My family and I had a great experience here. We visited the aquarium, the bird sanctuary, and did the boat tour. The boat tour was the best of all and would highly recommend it to anyone considering going. The aquarium was great and my daughter loved it. Wished we could have saw the manatee but it wasn t viewable at the time. The only disappointment was the bird sanctuary. It was a very sad place to visit. Most birds were in tiny enclosures and looked depressed. Overall I would still give a five stars as we still had a great time.

Our kids loved it here. And we saved half of the admission cost with our reciprocal membership from our zoo at home.

This is an amazing place to learn and enjoy with the family. There are several well maintained displays, and even touch tanks. I definitely recommend this aquarium, and can't wait to return.

Everyone houses in FLorida should definitely go see the movie in Amazing Animals a wonderful afternoon to spend enjoying nature and life in the state of Florida

great place to visit and very educational for the kids.

Awesome sea life! Make sure you have time to spend and not rush!!

We went at 10 am when they opened and glad we did; there was a decent crowd but with so much to see there was never any difficulty moving my son's stroller around. My children were in awe. All of the staff was so sweet with them and full of fun facts that kept their attention.

We really enjoyed our visit. The types of fish they have are amazing!

Always love aquariums. The staff was very nice and knowledgeable. Their turtle, otter and manatee exhibits are awesome!

Absolutely wonderful to go and see and touch. Never seen a sea turtle so close up. They have a wonderful boat tour that I couldn't go on because of time but it's worth it from the words of people coming back

Lots of neat information and animals. We loved the manatees. Some of the waters were pretty foggy, but we still saw everything. Some areas are outdoors (covered) so it was warm, plenty of areas with a/c and bathrooms, there is also a little places for drinks/snacks and two gift shops.

Enjoy the exhibits and atmosphere and all the creatures

Pretty neat place and not overly commercialized so you can actually ask questions, read and learn!

Not a very big aquarium but they pack a lot in. Staff was very friendly. My son thoroughly enjoyed it.

Really great for the family. Bigger than I remembered. My 9 year old was engaged the whole time!

Visited with a group in July. Heat was not overbearing in outside exhibits. Adequate shade and openings for breeze helped. Diner inside main building was amazing! Great service!

My family and I really enjoyed this aquarium. It was a nice thing to do on a rainy day in Florida. It wasn't expensive at all and the exhibits were very interesting. Very friendly staff as well. (May 2018)

UPDATE - We took our one year old this year (September 2019). We went on a Friday afternoon in early September. It wasn't busy at all. The staff was friendly and informative as usual. We stopped to eat lunch at the diner on site. It was great! We even got discounted tickets because of being members of our local zoo back home. Our son loved our trip here just as much as we did. We will make this a regular place to visit.

Great place. Rained though so we couldn't interact with stingrays

Absolutely beautiful wildlife and an amazing place to do on vacation!

Fantastic aquarium that double functions as a marine research lab. Exhibits were well laid out and staff were friendly. Parking can be a bit difficult in the area since there are a lot of different places nearby.

The interactive exhibits and all but one gift shop are currently closed. However, it's still a very enjoyable experience. Plus, most of the exhibits are inside so you can stay cool until you have to go from the first building to the second.

This was my first visit, but I know I'll go again.

Had a wonderful day with the family here. Has hands on areas with touching marine life that the kids loved. Will come again!

Cozy aquarium with sharks, turtles, alligators and manateers.

This aquarium was awesome. Entry was $24 when we went, and it's totally worth the price and more. When we got there, they were doing a lesson on the manatees. They have a separate mammal exhibit you walk to that's nearby. There was also sea otters in that area, along with other exhibits. Really cool to watch the manatees eat, and the sea otters swim around. They also had sea turtles you could look closely at. The volunteers and staff were knowledgeable and friendly. There's a ton of different fish to look at, as well. On that side, you're able to get a high vantage view of the sharks, you can pet star fish and helmet crabs, and you can pet the sting rays, too. There's also a little diner in there that you can eat at - we didn't, but it looked fine. There's also really cute gift shops located throughout the aquarium, and everything seemed reasonably priced and quality. I would definitely recommend checking this place out - it is totally worth it and such a great time!

The mote will always deserve 5 stars. They take care of our animals and treat them with respect

Awesome place, was a pleasure to be there. Volunteers do an amazing job and are very knowledgeable. Clear that scientist are doing good work as well.

Interesting place with local marine life. Good marine research facility.

Mote Marine is a great way to spend the day. Lots to see and the cafe' has good food.

Get place for all ages to learn about varies sea creatures.

A great experience, wonderful boat excursion, really fascinating sea life exhibits an all around enjoyable family outing. Highly recommend!

This place is such a great place to get an understanding of local animal specie's. Don't miss the seabird rescue directly across from more aquarium.

Absolutely phenomenal experience. Great knowledgeable staff that is friendly and fill of joy. Definitely recommend!

Very good the walk by the bay, sighting of pink spatula and educational fishing.

Absolutely gorgeous creatures, all with pristine habitats. There is so much to look at! We loved it.

I guess this place is no longer doing weddings. We had our wedding canceled twice by Mote, each time with late notice. Think about the inconvenience that causes just not to us, but all of the guests as well. I understand the first time because of covid, but you gave us the reschedule date. We thought we were guaranteed safe, especially after 5 months have gone by... but they cancelled again and this time with no option to reschedule. I love this place, but what the owner did to us isn't right.

Unaware today was seven dollar Saturday we arrived fairly early.
Somethings have changed however, still a nice place. Today there wasn't a great amount of sea life available, it appeared smaller in range.
We took our two year old granddaughter and even for her, she had a blast especially for the amount of walking you do while there.

What they have is really cool, but you can get through it all in 2 or 3 hours. At $82 for a family of four, that's an expensive little morning foray. The volunteer staff was well informed and helpful.

Love this place. Visit every time we are in a Florida.