Shedd Aquarium Reviews

Loved that they have free days for Illinois residents.. The coral reef was my favorite exhibit .

I really enjoy my visit to this aquarium. I love that they encourage you to recycle. They are very informative in their presentation. Staff are really friendly especially Brian.

We were told dolphin show was free at the door, but we almost didn't get into the show because the desk failed to mention it did have tickets and was free if there was space left over after ticketed guests.

I remembered going to the Shedd when I was younger and remembered it as an awesome place,so I wanted to take my kids there. Still very cool but was very disappointed to find out the day we went the dolphin show was all full for the entire day, since we came alll the way from MN to visit that made it just that much more of a disappointment. SO HEADS UP IF U WANT TO SEE THE DOLPHIN SHOW GET YOUR PASSES EARLY!!!

This is apparently one of only attractions in all of Chicago that doesn t take Go City Pass. We have used ours at a variety of other places no problem... until we decided to take a day date trip here from where we live two hours away. Apparently they used to take it, but stopped.

So, we shelled out the extra $80, but it was not worth it at all. Overcrowded, a few [few] neat creatures, but not a whole lot compared to most other aquariums I ve been to that charged a whole lot less. I d definitely recommend the Museum instead.

Stinky place. No good maintenance and it's super expensive

One of the best museums/aquarium in the country. Their shows are always fun and informative as well.

Its fun but for visitors you can do so much more for $40 in chicago

Always a fun time. Large selection of fish and even a few land animals. Lots of informative signs and a few 'petting' fish too. Especially stop in May-Oct for the sting ray touch upgrade.

Awesome aquarium! Great place to intrigue young and old about marine life and there habitat. Dolphin show is very good as well but get to the show early and bring a seat cushion.

Awesome aquarium! Get there early to see everything! Free dolphin show and beluga feeding with price of admission. Stop by the touch pool to pet the stingrays and shark.

Tip: Wear comfortable shoes. Leave pepper spray at home or in your vehicle because it will be confiscated at the entrance. If you are a resident of Illinois, check out their website for "free resident days."

The Shedd also has engagement packages where you can propose to your significant other utilizing the aquarium animals to bring the ring to you. Check website for details.

A great place to take the kids, lots to see. The only problem is that it's incredibly expensive. Taking a family of four will cost you well over $100, not including parking or food.

The Marine fish and mammal collections were awesome. The dolphin show was light on substance.

Loved the beluga show. All the animals here are so great and weird cuz you don t usually see them. This is a great aquarium, no doubt. I expected more sharks and big ones, tho.

Very fun and a good time on a day off. Dont get to see much of Chicago cuase it's such a drive, but visiting this place was definitely worth it especially in the spring time and summer. Lots of walking around amd the informational shows weren't bad.

Would have been great but it was so packed. We could barely move. Everything was very disorganized and people were very rude.

Visited here on my first trip to Chicago a few weeks ago. So many things to see! Beautiful Aquarium. Definitely worth checking out.

I love this place and it was included on my go city pass.

Beautiful facility. So crowded. Poor flow. Signage was inadequate.

It has always been amazing experience visiting here. As a fish lover, this is my most favorite place in the whole city!

Very cool aquarium. Large spaces, neat architecture. Really crowded with school age children when we were there over Christmas holiday.

Loved it. Was packed full which made it hard to get around, but well worth it.

It was such a nice time seeing animals and taking photos! The 4D movie was awesome and I loved the live show.

Best for families or groups with children.

Lots of fun. All kinds of different kinds of sealife to look at. All of the staff we encountered were really nice and helpful

Always fun way to teach the children about the marine life.

The aquarium was nice but our baby stroller was stolen while we were at the dolphin show. Staff wasn't helpful in helping us get it back. I'm under the impression they found it but then gave it away to someone else. Talked to 4 different staff members each with a different story. Long story short: watch your stuff if you go here.

Edit: just want to mention that I messaged at the email below for guest support and have never heard anything back from them. Clearly guest support is just for show as is their response to this review.

It's a total BS ticket price. It's a pretty good Aquarium for kids ages from 2-8 I would say. They also maintained very well. But if you are adult or have kids with age more than 10 then I would not recommend you to spend on here.

Busy on free day. But a nice experience for the kids

Definitely a must stop due to views of the lake. It looks like an ocean!
The aquarium itself isn't too big so you can easily make it a quick stop, good variety.

One can visit newer and larger aquariums, but not one as thoroughly devoted to educating with a global awareness. Our 21 month old learned the word shark and has been using it since.

Nice place but a little pricy for what it is. I think Toronto aquarium is much better and cheaper.

The Shed is one of the best aquariums I've ever been to. A must see while in Chicago. Protip: There is a wheelchair accessible entrance on the south side of the building that they allow everyone through when raining.

I am a member.I started a personal membership as my family donates a great deal to insure educational experiences like Shedd Aquarium continue to grow.All the Executive Staff treat us with kid gloves&make sure our guest are more than welcome

Took my daughter there she had a blast. Valet park my car due to snow. Nice people. Then all the employees were very knowledgable and kind. Answered any questions and guided us. Highly recommend to go through this entire place and check it out.

Very beautiful and wonderful aquarium. Got to see the Beluga whale show which was fantastic.

I love this place great family trip! The only thing I didn't like was waiting in the sun at 95F for 45 min to get in with no shad to protect us. And I was upset to see they took out the walk through glass tube fish all around you that was the best part.

I loved that place it had so many sea creatures in it. My daughter and son really loved that place. We even saw some creatures that we didn't even know they were in the water! I think this is the best place for someone to go and see all the sea creatures!

So much 2 see! If you are on a fiedtrip, ask the information desk where your group should be meeting to eat.

Do you like fish? Of course you do! They have those as well as a lot of other types of sea life. Educational, beautiful, and a fun place to be for sure.

We took a family trip to Shedd on the boys school's parent/teacher conference day. There were a number of school trips there - but aquarium wasn't too crouded. The dolphin show was great. Shedd is easily accessible with a stroller, too.

Love it. However parking cost was so high. Please search for little bit cheaper parking on internet before you go there.

Nike and I went here and it was one of the best aquariums we have been too. When we arrived we went to the wrong entrance and was told we had to go somewhere else. It would have been easier if they made it a bit well known [well maybe for tourists]. When, we got to the correct entrance, the line was ridiculously long. We spent over 45 minutes waiting outside just to be able to get inside to wait on another line.

The aquarium was spacious and clean. Most of the staff members were helpful. The downside is, I wish the price of the tickets included the special exhibits. It was a bit outrageous that each special exhibit had another cost associated with it and the special exhibits were not even that big to warrant the price increase.

Great place to feel the history of a classic aquarium and they had some great specimens too!

A great place for a trip with your kids. Dolphin show was great. The sting ray touch was closed, though, which was quite disappointing.

Gorgeous of course, and informative! Well maintained despite heavy traffic and crowdflow.

The Aquarium is very nice with lots of exhibits to see

Shedd never disappoints! A must-do full-day outing for the family when in Chicago.

Amazing place to go with Kids. It's is one of the best out there

If you go out to the aquarium bring a picnic and enjoy the amazing view of the city and the lake from out back of this location. I included a bunch of pictures of the view so you can see what I am talking about

This place is pretty awesome for the middle of country (usually the good aquariums are in near the ocean in my opinion). If you are a local and have some volunteer time on your hands I highly recommend you reach out to them to volunteer. You get free admission to all the museums in the city and free passes for your friends and family. Not to mention you get to see the cool inner workings of the aquarium. It's really quite cool and you get to give back to the community as well.

Alot if people come here from out of town, it would be great if there were more workers posted in the halls to help.guide us and let us know showtimes and how to get our money's worth. My family was disappointed and didn't have fun

Amazing displays with a wide variety of aquatic life and fauna

I am sure on a non weekend filled with school kids you would be able to move around and enjoy. There were some great exhibits.

It has a big variety of fish and other animals. I had fun

Great place and exhibits. Very clean and family friendly

Love this place ,in a fish oerson aleats brings a smile to my face.ecery tine i come her i feel like a little kid again

Awesome and diverse marine life but a bit too crowded with people when I visited

Great place to spend a few hours. Dolphin show was fantastic. They have an incredible variety in their exhibits and the fish that inhabit them.

Enough activities for children, went on a free day, recommend getting ticket s ahead of time. The corral reef experience is very informative. All around the aquarium are sculptures made out of recycled materials. The fish are extremely active, scavenger hunts are available and different experience packages too. Worth a visit, plus the scenery is the perfect place for a photo. Also, there are now tablets all around where kids can actively read informative by swiping.

Such a wonderful place to take the kids while visiting Chicago. Fabulous! A must see.

I was worried that the $45 ticket price wouldn't be worth it... I couldn't have been more wrong this is truly a gem! My wife and I spent the whole day here and I will never forget what an amazing experience it was!

Amazing, beautiful animals well cared for! So much fun for all ages!

Very nice to see all the varieties of aquatic life.

Beautiful place to hang out with kids and family. Loved the sea life creatures, dolphins show, 4d picture and Amazon forest.

Amazing place to go to! You should probably get the tickets on your phone though. Of you did it can some times give you coupons there. The people there are so nice as well

The aquarium itself is 5 star BUT the parking situation takes it down probably to a 3 star. I would swear they had a garage years ago. We have 2 under 3 one with unique needs, and 2 older kids plus and I'm pregnant...we had to valet for $26 and we were luckily the last car before they filled up...it was raining and freezing still a walk to the building outdoor even from there. The valet was a very nice man and we were grateful for his generous acceptance of us before calling it full! The staff was helpful and friendly. The amount of elevator riding ya do with a stroller is outrageous and honestly ruined the experience for us. The levels are confusing and not marked well inside elevator. The food was EXTREMELY overpriced(4 people $50 for basic burgers n fries) but was quite delicious. They are def not handicap friendly. People are rude and don't make room for small children in strollers to view an area so you have to be agressive to get in and see things. There are zero ramps it's all find an elevator to get where you can access what everyone else easily can get too. The gift shops are everywhere and have nice items for way more than they should be charging! We won't be going back to Shedd for a good 10years it'll take that long to forget some of the crappy things! I will say the kids LOVED the exhibits so overall we were happy to have made the trip.

This review is partially influenced by the fact that we received a family membership as a gift... The kids love this place, and my husband and I enjoy it too... BUT it can get pretty pricey. It is totally understandable that maintaining it must be costly, but if you can find a way to go with a discount or on a free day, it is totally worth it!

Overall I think it's a great aquarium, but there was just too many people there to really enjoy the experience.

Enormous aquarium. The first large tank when you walk in is amazing. The story of their sea turtle Nickel is adorable as it is a warning to all who boat on the water. They have everything for all ages.

An amazing place. Great for children of all ages. Animal shows, 4D movies and you can pet a sting ray!

cute orcas which also seemed to enjoy life, enough for me to give a 5

Very nice Aquarium with unique fish. My 4 year old really enjoyed petting the starfish.

Always a fun. & interesting place every time visited!

Shedd Aquarium is not the best places in Chicago. You get to learn so many things about marine life, different species of marine animals, so on and so forth. Don t forget to see the Dolphin Show. They are so adorable. It s a really exciting place to be and children are gonna love it for sure. Make sure you have ample time to explore it properly. To avoid the queue, get your tickets online and directly head in.

Try to avoid going on a Saturday during spring break. And get there as early as possible to avoid crowds.

The Wild Reef is where you'll find the sharks. The lowest level has a great submarine and penguin play area for kids, plus great views of the dolphins and beluga whales. On the main floor don't miss the giant Japanese spider crab and the giant river fish.

For a great escape from the chaos, the wait for the sit down restaurant is worth it.

Very cool facility. Huge tanks for the dolphins and belugas, and loads of informative material. Had a great time!

Great aquarium to see both freshwater and saltwater species.

I visited on 9/11/20 for the first time ever and I was disappointed , Employees were very rude, as if they hated their job. Not all but most the guy checking bags was very Rude, And also the lady at the computer where you buy tickets. Hopefully next time it ll be different.

What a place! So much to see. Nicely arranged so you can get the most of this wonderful experience. A Chicago jewel

Amazing aquarium, one of the best I have ever been too. Will be coming back in the near future.

Great educational experience! Love the diversity of marine life from animals living in local ponds to those found in the depths of the oceans!

Fun the special exhibit was super interesting but entrance was kind of expensive. And the veteran's "discount" was only 3 dollars

Good educational related experience to feel and for visual..... Kids will enjoy a lot

Awesome experience!!! I really enjoyed the dolphin show. It was a great attraction and would recommend.

Crooks are closing streets and pointing people to the most expensive parking spaces.Every time different stories with parking and higher prices.
They don't have a clue how to manage traffic.The most unorganized police and security that j have ever seen.
Inside the food options are terrible and triple overpriced.There is not even 1 normal food option for kids.

I have been here twice. The first time when my youngest was 5 for a field trip. This was the second time and actually nothing has changed. I believe that the aquarium can use a good overhaul

Great attractions and displays. Educational for kids.