Shedd Aquarium Reviews

Wonderful varied exhibits. Don't miss the 4-D shows.

Shedd Aquarium is an amazing place to visit! 100% recommended

Nice aquarium, however the staff needs to have less attitude and be more helpful. It s like no one wants to help or answer questions, they just stand there and try to avoid you if they see you coming their way.
Food very average and no professionalism. Not thrilled with the visit.

They have separate 4D and dolphin show which is lovely and should not be missed.

It was my son and I first time and I enjoyed my self so did he I would love to go again

The whole place is great for anyone, kids and elders. It'll take you at least more than a day to cover everything inside this aquatic wonderland. The King Crabs are scary.

Awesome East Coast aquarium. I like it more than Boston's aquarium.

Always clean and operational. Now that I'm not hours away, I bought a membership. I like seeing how they put habitats together to get ideas for my personal aquariums.

It was very fun! There were different activities for every age! Playground for kids was a hit for sure! We enjoyed all day filled with joy! There is a good court for a lunch with incredible view! Must visit with kids if you happen to be in Chicago!

Top destination for Chicago, the down side is that there can be too many people in the weekends, and the line to get in can be looooooong. Good to see that the dolphin show is more educational than asking dolphins to do difficult tricks.

One of the most famous places for tourists to visit in Chicago. I have visited this place multiple times and every time I enjoy as if I am visiting for the first time. What I liked most here is the dolfin show. I had an opportunity to go and talk to the staff. They were kind enough to to let me touch the dolfin and them from just 2-3 steps. An awesome experience overall. This is a must visit place. Best way to see this place is using divy bikes.

I m sure under normal circumstances, this Aquarium is a great place to visit. However, if you re on the fence on deciding whether to visit or not because of COVID, I would recommend against it. Due to needing to book tickets in advance for a particular time, and based on what I was told on the phone, I thought that they would have reduced capacity (like the Field Museum at 25% capacity) in the facility. We viewed the exhibits from afar because of how packed it was. We were still able to see everything, but we weren t comfortable enough to stay longer than 30 minutes.

Obviously we understand that we re in the middle of a pandemic we were just led to believe that capacity would be much more limited and would make it easier to keep our distance from others. We visited other attractions and felt incredibly safe while following their procedures.

This aquarium is spectacular. So many animals, not just sea life, and delicious food, information, and seemingly-real exhibits! It has sharks, fish, crabs, starfish, turtles, tarantulas, ants, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, frogs, and so much more!

The Shedd Aquarium is one of Chicago's best attractions, by far. A large variety of exhibits, helpful/courteous staff, and a genuine care for the animals in the facility, as well as those still in the wild.

One word of advice, however, is to avoid going on days when admission is free, only because the place (understandably) becomes insanely crowded. So crowded, in fact, that it becomes rather difficult to move around comfortably and look at exhibits.

It was a nice experience, there were lots of exhibits and and good collection of aquatic life. I won't say it the best one i ever say but it's worth visit.

Theres so much to see, it was lovely to see the recycled materials put to good use all around the aquarium. So many extraordinary animals and exotic life to see!

Great place to learn about sea creatures and visit with friends and family, I will recommend to take snacks and drinks if you take your little ones and also a small stroller if its on a busy day...

Love this place! Were members and we bring the kids a couple times a year.

It's a world class aquarium. The experience will just blow your mind. A must visit.

Far superior to the Clearwater aquarium best aquarium I've been too

Fantastic aquarium. Plenty to see but not overwhelming. I would recommend buying the Chicago CityPass and having this experience as one of your options, because my friend and I went on a Saturday and if we hadn't had priority entrance, I doubt we would have braved the long lines. Another point to keep in mind: it was FULL OF CHILDREN. I expected this, but if you're the type of person who really doesn't like the sound of screaming kids when you're trying to observe the animals, I would visit during the middle of the week, if possible. They have beluga whales, and an entertaining dolphin show. There are sharks, and an area where you can pet sting rays. Near the sting rays is a beautiful garden with captions on why they're growing each particular plant, which was really interesting.

Perfect day in Chicago. The aquarium, the park, and the pizza!

I love to be at the Aquarium today the New Year Eve. So much has been changed since the last time i visited the Aquarium. More lights installed with a wonderful Dolphin and Beluga whale show. I am impressed with the Jelly Fish room. So beautiful place to be in and learn. I definitely come back for Summer break.

This was our second time coming here, but the last time we came it was not busy at all. This time there were 3 thousands people funneling through that Saturday morning. Every door had a 20min wait to come in. If you bought your ticket online you were able to walk right in. We were using our military discount so we had to wait in line. It was so packed that there was standing room only. The kids still had fun and enjoyed the whale and dolphins show. We will come back but during the week when it's not packed.

Love the shed! Its always so magical going there every time! A lot of the exhibits are free, with only a few to new exhibits to pay for.

Just wow..those 2 hours spend here is worth the money and experience

Horrible! The animals are very unhappy! The tanks are small and they do not look like the habitats of the animals! Moreover, the space is not well organized, I got lost all the time!

One of best aquariums in midwest. Dolphin show is a must attend.

The only people that had any common curiosity was the lady at the information desk and the gentleman at the shark display. My daughter needed a wheelchair and we brought one to have it incase she needed it. We left it with the information desk and when we went back to get it ( different lady at the desk than in the morning) they told us they didn't have it and we must of taken one of theirs. We ate at the Soundings cafe and sat at a table only to be told we weren't welcome to eat there and we had to eat lunch on the floor. Employees with terrible attitudes, way over priced for not much variety of aquatic animals. We will not return, which is sad since we spend every spring break in Chicago.

A visit to Chicago isn t complete without a visit to Shedd! You ll need at least 2-3 hours to enjoy this place. They ve movies and occasionally shows that you can watch. I love the beluga whales that are here. They were adorable!
The staff were nice and the place was almost full, but not completely on the Sunday morning that I d visited.

Plan to spend 4 hrs with children..... Thoroughly enjoyed it...

Truly an incredible place. However, staff can be aggressive about taking your photos even if you say no and walk by. My other complaint is the lack of paper towels. I realize that they are trying to cut down on the use of disposable products, but it can be difficult to spend time there with kids who inevitably spill, spit-up, or are sticky.

One of Chicago s best attractions. The huge atrium tank is amazing with 360 walk-around viewing

This fabled 89-year-old aquarium is one of Chicago s great museums. It is worth paying attention to the architecture with its many aquatic motifs inside and outside the building. Over two million visitors come each year, and it is often uncomfortably crowded and stuffy inside. Overall, the aquarium is dated when compared to other aquariums around the country. But it is still worth a visit, particularly at an off-hour during the week when there are a bit less visitors.

Fun and amazing place to see different sea creatures.

There is fun for people of all ages although there are lots of little kids! The dolphin and beluga shows are included in the admission price, as well as special exhibits.

It does smell like fish though.

Went on Illinois free resident day. Upgraded to the total experience, and was not disappointed. Both kids (8&10) had a great time. Very informative.

The aquarium smells a bit funky. Other than that, great world class aquarium on the waterfront. The dolphins are especially wonderful. I could sit for hours just watching them swim around. The food is pretty good especially compared to MSI.

Many parts was closed at 4 o'clock and the zone of without lights many choices was on my imagination I travelled since so far (Mexico) to this... :( Good try to have a good Aquarium but awful execution

This place is amazing! I went here with my family and there was so much to see. I especially liked the show with the dolphins and the view to the lake from where the show is. There is a really big variety if sea creatures to explore at this place. This place definitely needs a few visits to be able to experience everything they have to offer.

Shedd offers a great variety of exhibits! The aquarium had several species that I haven t seen in any other aquarium. I particularly enjoyed the Wild Reef & Deep Ocean exhibits. I

Loved the dolphin show and expansive display of aquatic wildlife. Must visit at least once. Seeing a shark swimming through the glass walls was surreal.

The dolphin's show (daily activity) was the highlight of my visit.
This place is huge and well managed.

Had a great time.

10/25/2016
A good time for families to explore creatures of the sea. The dolphin show was a ton of fun for the kids!! We learned a lot about how intelligent they are and about the training they go through. The trainers were very insightful and eager to put on a good show for us. The activities and exhibits are perfect for children. You can catch a 4-D movie to let their little rest and they're guaranteed to love the special effects of any film. The seats shoot water, shake, vibrate, & tilt forward. It's fun for all ages!

The best part about the Shedd Aquarium is how they team up with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) to serve the veterans that have served our great nation!

I waited a hour and a half to buy tickets because the building was near capacity, but other than that it was a great place to be.

It's a great aquarium. The building is beautiful, and there's lots of amazing animals. However, it's also extremely expensive to visit, admission for my family of 3 costed over 100 dollars. It also is always extremely crowded. I've been there four times, and each visit it was so packed it was hard to fully enjoy it.

wonderful location, interesting architecture and layout for the exhibits. in my humble opinion, a 4 out of 5. comparatively, had a couple of misses, but countered with very helpful staff and volunteers

Beautiful aquarium but I expected more. For me, this aquarium did not live up to the hype.

Very popular destination so very busy when we were there.

Absolutely amazing, as always. Friendly, helpful staff and great views of the animals!

The wait line to get in was horrible! The amount of people in the building was disgusting no room to walk at all!! Bumping into sweaty ppl uck

Very pricy even with the teacher discount. Then the parking situation is even more money. The aquarium is great though and the surgeon petting and starfish petting is cool. Great exhibits. LOVE THE OUTSIDE PATIO. You can't beat the views. The dolphin show is sweet but the dolphins do not do that much (compared to the zoo dolphin show which is fantastic)

Loved the whole place. So many awesome exhibits. Make sure to check out the penguins! If you go to Chicago, take a few hours and enjoy!

This was a beautiful experience. They really need to do something about expediting the lines and this is why I am giving it four stars instead of five.

Great family destination. Enough to see and do for all ages. The dolphin show, with the arena looking out at Lake Michigan and the skyline, is amazing. Not ridiculously expensive, so you can go more than once. And you should.

Great museum to spend a few hours. Dolphin show was great. The underwater viewing areas were really cool, nice place grab a snack, rest and watch the dolphins and whales swim around.

Wonderful place to enjoy a day. Be sure to see the lower level too

Great place to take your kids too but an adult will definitely find this place interesting as well.

Ridiculously overpriced and crowded. Kansas City is just as good and half the price.

Not the best aquarium but super modern and good attractions

Great place to visit with family and friends to explore to watch 32000 friends on earth.

First time visiting. We enjoyed it enough we opted for the membership

Loved the place! Great place for fun, expensive as hell though.

Every now and again it helps to get a close up of God's creation and magnificence from every corner of the

Shedd is an icon of Chicago and I was equally impressed by the presentation of wildlife as I was by the conservation efforts shown by Shedd. Not just about animals but about energy as well. Very impressive!

A fun place to take the family. Lots to see and do. I recommend getting there when they open as they tend to get busy and the day goes on

I just love it here!! The new underwater beauty is pretty neat too!!

It was so nice to come back here. I visited the Shedd Aquarium 12 years ago and it was just as fun the second time around. It's a lovely place and definitely kid friendly. It a big aquarium so it takes a while to go through. The 4D theater experience is always super cool!

Great place to visit ONCE. This is a beautiful building in a very prime location next to Navy Pier. The museum next door and Parks all around make this a great place to take family and spend the day. ONLY If you've got about$300 a person to just do the simple basic things. If you want to eat, park, shop? Bring an additional $200 because someone's got to pay for all that and it might as well be YOU all at ONCE!
You see I'm torn it was a great time with my wife and 3 teen girls. What wasn't fun was the $3,500 credit card bill I had when we were done. We could have flown, gone to Disneyland for the weekend and all gone to Sea World for the same price! ALL the museum's there are FREE too!

Shedd Aquarium offers quite a lot of exhibition space for the ticket price, with quite a few exotic types of marine life like Amazonian river fish to complement the impressive oceanic displays. It filled out half a day quite nicely and the kids love it.

I don t think that the cost of the ticket is worth what there actually is inside the aquarium, I didn t see a lot of interesting stuff inside, and I think that the fish-tanks are pretty small

Great place to visit! Definitely can spend a few hours there but kind of pricey for a one-time admission.

Ticket line can be very long (buy tickets online ahead of time). The aquarium is interesting, but it is all in doors, so it can feel crowded easily. Tickets are more expensive than comparable Chicago attractions.

Can be a bit expensive but I highly recommend. Specially doe family

It was a busy place! A little bit of a pain getting a small stroller in and out but I'm sure they had accommodations. Lots of cool interactions for kids. And definitely a lot to see!

Very cool. Great exhibits with enough, but not overwhelming descriptions of each display.

The Shedd Aquarium was a great experience. While the exhibits are not large, they offer a lot of variety. We did not opt for any of their documentaries as we did not have enough time. It took us 2.5 hours to see all the exhibits except the penguins and wait for the white sided dolphin show. Overall a great experience. This would be great for kids but also really fun for those who love fish. You can even grab a Chicago dog outside!

I went here last weekend with my family and my kids loved the place. We especially love the dolphin show because we got to interact with one of the dolphins.

Nice place to hang out with kids . dolphin show was good but for very less time. Thanks to aquarium for free day though it was crowded but we still had fun.

We had a phenomenal experience at the Shedd Aquarium! We got there first thing in the morning, so parking and lines were not an issue. Buy your tickets in advance to skip the lines. Also, book your events for the day when you get there to ensure you time your day right (we only had to book the aquatic presentation and the 4D movie. I recommend in the complimentary email I got the day before with events of the day to add "what to expect" with a map and some instructions to help, I was confused on what the aquatic experience was and the people next to me at kiosk didn't know either. Since it was my first visit I was overwhelmed at first. When we left at 2pm, it was packed with a long line everywhere (it was a holiday weekend). Very glad we got there early. Would definitely do again. Another tip if you have young children, the food court doesnt have lids or straws for kids. I get the reasoning, but had I known I would have brought a cup for my son who likes to spill drinks everywhere.

It's a solid 4-star. Overall, good place to go on a weekend. However, the wait is very long. Very long. The exhibits are nice, however, if you have been to the one in CA, this is not quite the same.

The Shedd Aquarium is an average sea life facility with a variety of exhibits from all over the world, encompassing a diversity of water environments, from flood plains, to oceans, to local lakes.
The variety of environments are impressive as most aquariums only feature local, or ocean sealife. The offer amphibians, limited reptile exhibits, a few mammals, and abundance of fish. They have a few "touch tanks" with rays and starfish, monitored by staff.
The larger exhibits include Beluga whales, dolphins, and sea lions, while the majority of exhibits are smaller tanks arranged by geography ("great lakes", "rivers"' "pacific ocean") the tanks showcase the species in natural environments, but fail to describe the creatures beyond their name.
The exhibits on a specific group (amphibians) offers great detail and learning opportunities as well as live creatures.
We had hoped for more larger mammals, or variety of ocean sea life, as there weren't many sharks, large ocean trophy fish, or crustaceans.
The layout was easy to navigate, and the exhibits were well maintained. Clean restrooms, gift shops, and a small cafe are all available. Staff were helpful.
Coastal aquariums offer larger than life exhibits and more "wow" factor, but the Shedd Aquarium is worth a visit if you're in the city and is great for kids.

A pretty sweet place for families with who have toddlers and young kids. Lots of different types of species from different types of habitats. They also have a dolphin, whale, and seal show. You also get to touch different types of fish.