Shedd Aquarium Reviews

I was expecting something unique like a tunnel going through an aquarium or something like in the Mall of America, but it was just a standard experience with regular tanks. They have multiple 'touch zones' to pet creatures, which was cool. Their signage for the creatures in each tank are pretty poor in some areas. The animal variety didn't seem terribly better than the water section of a zoo; looking at others' reviews though, maybe my local Milwaukee county zoo is better than I thought.

Brought the family here on a free day because it is a bit pricey for regular admission. My kid loved it. They have every kind of sea creature you can think of. If you do go on a free day get there early and get tickets online. Do everything your kids really want to do as early as possible because come 11 or 12 o'clock that place turns into a real zoo. DO NOT GET THERE LATE if you want to enjoy yourself.

Great sea world exhibit, rich sea and water life creatures.
Unfortunately, very expansive place to go: parking $26, adult admission $39.96 that not included the shows that require additional payment.
For a family with 2 to 3 kids it may cost over $500 for few hours.

We waited in line for about an hour but it was worth it. The exhibits are great & the staff members are very helpful & nice. A great family place. A bit over crowded but that would be expected on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Not as well put together as I anticipated, but it's a decent place. Feel the pricing of tickets is out of wack, in comparison to aquariums of similar offerings and size - But that's Chicago.

Love looking at the fish, exotic and otherwise. Bonus info on fauna indigenous to water areas like otters or turtles. Just a tad overpriced for out of state folks. Parking is the pits.

Great place to stay for a while. It has a ton of exhibits to look at and the 4D theater was better than expected. I hadn't even heard of a large number of the fish they had there. A great place that does great work, would recommend to anyone.

Really good place to visit in Chicago, it's big and a lot of fun. It's better if you buy your tickets online if you don't wanna wait 25 minutes in line.

LOVED it! We spent all day here and could have stayed longer. So much to see and do

This place has every sherpical corner of ocean life covered.

This was a pretty beautiful place ''but'' I honestly have to say for the price I'm thinking they could add some more features because a lot of the tanks are very small. I mean if you're charging $4 for a small 8 oz box of water, hopefully they're spending that money on updating the place. It is worth a first-time trip I don't know if I would go a second time.

Staff is very friendly. Everything was great. Should work on the cleaning for the eating areas. And even though we went to get our aquatic show tickets 40 mins before it started, they weren't any left.

The Shedd is a great experience, as long as you have the money to enjoy it. Once you get past the steep entry price and over priced food, there is nothing else to complain about.

During my 16+ years in the military I was lucky enough to travel around the world twice, and visited a lot of aquariums along the way. Next to the aquarium in Okinawa, the Shedd is the best.

There are so many different sections to visit, some additional exhibits that are free, (as well as some that you have to pay for), and seasonal events if you are lucky enough to be there when one is taking place. If you choose, you can easily spend a bulk of the day there, and then wander out and take in another site, or jump a short cab ride to the Pier and enjoy the rest of your night.

Overall, the Shedd has always been, and will always be one of my favorite parts of getting to go home.

Overall a good aquarium and museum! Just a little dirty, especially when busy.

Great place for family fun. Fantastic displays of fish from all over. A little pricey but look for free days for Illinois residents. Must have valid I.D.

It's a great place to visit with little kids. They have belugas, fish from places around the world as well as Dolphin shows.

Exhibits and the animals are absolutely fantastic at this Aquarium! In fact overall it's a nice place to go with the family. Typically that would be worth five stars for me. I had to go down in star count for two reasons. First it's a bit on the expensive side for out-of-towners at $40. Second they really need to do something with their crowd control plan. They should move will call away from general admission. It's discouraging to watch 20 will call customers go for everyone general admission. They also could better explain that most of the shows are an extra free ticket that you have to get on Entry to the aquarium.

An impressive dolphin show. Also have penguins and sea lions perform. The actual aquarium has a great collection. And can go biking around the area by quickly renting a bike.

Great and beautiful aquarium! So many different creatures and places to explore.
The dolphin and sea lion show was so much fun.
We spent half the day here and were able to see everything.

So much to see and do here. I enjoyed the displays from the different parts of the world. The 4D movie was good and was free with a Chicago CityPASS.

This aquarium is so amazing! I came here on a band trip back in March and I fell in love with this place. I loved looking at all the different kind of fish and other sea creatures. The dolphin show they had was so cute and entertaining too! I will definitely come here again sometime in the future.

Loved the aquarium. It was pretty crowded when we went because it was a free day for Chicago residents but we still had a blast. Very nice aquarium. We spent about 3 hours here

Perfect attraction for kids and so much to see. This place is a gem.

Don't go during the school break. There is too many families and it's too crowded. Besides that it is cool aquarium.

Lots of AMAZING creatures. Really exciting for kids.

Waited a bit long to get inside due to the line but in the end it was worth it. The aquariums feature everything from local fish, to monkeys, sea otters, and beluga whales. You won't leave disappointed.

This place is definitely not just for kids. I had a lot of fun visiting Chicago and making a stop at the Shedd Aquarium!

Amazing experience. Pretty easy to know where ur going with a map. I got to see a bunch of sharks and a bird eating spider.

Huge aquarium with awesome animals including sharks, jellyfish, and seahorses. We spent all day there... expensive but worth it!

Great family place to visit. My daughter really enjoyed all the different fish and especially the chance to touch things.

A great alternative to go with babies even beer that the zoo for babies under 5 months they really get engage with the movement and color of the fishes and always fun to watch the otters playing

Excellent lay out, very clean and well maintained and staffed. Highly recommend going in the morning! We were leaving at 12 and there was a crazy line to get in! Beautiful displays and awesome, varried exhibits!

Hadn't been here in years; took an out of town visitor here last week. All in all, not a pleasant experience. First, $22.00 TO PARK? Unbelievable. Stood outside for 1/2 hour (pretty chilly) waiting to get inside just to buy a ticket, and the lobby wasn't even that crowded once we got in. Can't they come up with a better way to queue the visitors? Then, as for tickets, if you want to see anything except what's on the main floor (which takes about 1 1/2 hours and costs $8), the tickets are at least $40. The staff on the whole was rude but the absolute worst was the lunch. I spent $28 for 2 bottles of Coke, a taco salad with maybe 3 oz of filling, and a salad with a few romaine leaves and a chicken "skewer" with maybe 2 oz of chicken. I think the cashier was embarrassed to tell me the total. The only reason I didn't give it 1 star was that that what you got for $8 was worth it. Overall, a big rip-off that I am sure does not leave visitors to Chicago with a good impression. Would never go back.

This aquarium is like most, halls filled with tanks full of fish arranged by region, which are nothing special except for the Amazon. The special talks are fun but require you to reserve a time to view them in the lower.levek oceanarium, so do this upon arriving. Overall, a fun albeit expensive excursion for the family and perhaps not worth going out of your way to making it a top priority if you have limited time in Chicago.

So much to see and do. The dolphin show was the highlight of my daughter's vacation. There were so many hands-on activities: sting ray touch pool, sturgeon touch pool, little tablets all around the facility where you could find more information on all the species that were in the tank. Really, a cool place!

For $40/adult, we expected quite a bit more. Not at all stroller friendly. The folks working in the accessible entrance were completely unhelpful, even laughed when we asked for help. The baby changing station in the bathroom was held up by a trash can. There were not enough high chairs in the restaurant for all the children present. No straws at all. I could go on... this place used to be wonderful. I'm not sure what happened.

Great place to spend the day. Plenty to see and do.

Lovely aquarium, friendly staff, tanks were clean, and the animals were awesome. Huge number of species, and although their main tank is smaller than aquarium of the Pacific, it was still lovely to see all the rescues that the aquarium fosters.

So much to see and do! From beautiful sea creatures to owls, sea lions, river otters, fun for the whole family. Great staff that are super helpful.

Perfect when it s a rainy day or cold outside! Kids will have a lot of fun and gets entertained with the fishes & everything! Though, it s a little pricey if you re not a member..

Delightful day at the aquarium! Was a free day for residents, not too busy. Staff was informative, and courteous. Love it there. The current exhibit about trash found in our waters turned art, is truely eye opening! Leave no garbage in our waters, or on beaches please.. :)

Took my 8, 4, and 3 year old for the very first time today they loved and enjoyed it, but after about 15 min of being there I could tell my kids were so overwhelmed with it. It's so jammed packed and literally elbow to elbow. Their favorite part was the 4D sea monster movie and the aquatic show.

Beautiful facility overlooking Lake Michigan. Waited in line for a long, long time before entering. I felt sorry for the fish as most would be more happy swimming in the lake. The place itself is beautiful. They need some type of quick screening zip through will call. It is worth the wait if the weather is nice.

Watch the dolphin show!
Very nice aquarium
Wouldve enjoyed being able to see the belugas closer

I loved this place, they had so many cool fish and I would recommend to visit this place every vacation or weekend!

Big variety of fish. Special exhibits. Dolphin shows available. Beluga whales are there too. Very spacious. Kids love it. In the summer time you can touch stingrays. Big cafeteria. There are Illinois residents free days too. Places to park your strollers. Wheelchair entrance available. Separate place to touch fish.

Had a wonderful time with our almost-3 year old and 4 year old. So much to see, we spent about 6 hours here and had a great time!

Visited this place upon the recommendation of many people I know. The tickets are pricey 40$ per person which I felt is too expensive compared to the experience what you get. Be careful while buying the Chicago explorer pass, it DOES NOT include this particular attraction. But the City pass does include it which comes at 99$ per person for 5 attractions. The dolphin show was great but it's for a very short duration. It's great to see coral reefs and have a sting ray touch experience. Overall, it's a one time visit. Don't expect a WOW moment for the price you paid.

Amazing really adults its a fun place to go without children

We had a blast here. The children ages 3 to 8 absolutely loved it. Wonderful place for all ages.

Such an amazing and iconic place for children and families. Love love love it

Awesome aquarium. Great exhibits with all the aquatic life you could want to see.

Always a great outing for my 2.5 and 4yo. Especially on free days!! (There are a ton, keep an eye out)

Really cool aquarium with plenty of interesting exhibits. Enjoyed the fantastic lake and skyline views before/after the main shows.

One of my favorite things to do in Chicago. Stunning exhibits and a great educational experience for the kiddos. An absolute must-do if visiting Chicago.

Amazing visit this time. Not too crowded, friendly staff, and the kids loved it!

Really loved the beluga whale show.... the rest of the aquarium itself seemed small. Pretty expensive, too. Parking is non-existent and really expensive, too.

Fantastic Aquarium. I highly recommend doing the behind the scenes tour. I took the 11am tour today and our guide was really informative!

It is a great place to go with kids to explore the sea and ocean creatures. The only thing that motivated me to give only two stars is the fact that the ticket price includes the price of the dolphin show (you can't buy a general admission ticket without the show) and when you want to enter the show you have to print a special entry ticket at the entrance. We came a little bit later and we were not able to print the entry passes because the show at 11 am was already fully booked. The next show was at 3 pm, so we missed the show, although we paid for the show. I think the administration should take into account that if the ticket already includes the show fee, why people need to print an additional show pass at the entrance and can't pass without it.

They have a lot of different species but other than that is pretty much all the same there belugas were pretty cool and the children's area underneath that was awesome but the Shedd Aquarium is definitely Superior

Excellent place for kids and adults. It was a very busy weekday, yet did not feel overcrowded.

This is an amazing complex that we all enjoyed and will enjoy again in the future. It s not five stars because it is really really expensive....

One good collection of sea life. You get to see a huge collection of all sea living from sea urchins to sharks and whales.. the white whales, dolphins, penguins were the major attractions to these place.. and the show's were really amazing. One place where children could have a great leisure timing to get done with their weekend.

Really great day. Save your money and dont go to the 9 minute 4D movie

Wonderful aquarium, big, clean, the free show was super entertaining.

Good place, similar to any aquarium in Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne or Kuala Lumpur

This is my favorite spot in my city. I can spend hours and get lost among all the exhibits and can stare endlessly at all the tropical fish and anemones and the giant fish my favorite fish is the giant eel and the cute little puffer fish.

Love the Shedd Aquarium it's a great place to go get out the house have a good time while learning about Aquatic Life.

From our 3 days in Chicago this was the unanimous favorite part of the trip. We had priority seating for the aquatic show and were able to get right up front which was fantastic. Loved the sea lion and owl portions of the show since they were so close to us. The 4D movie sharks was fun, with the obligatory water sprays and bubble scenes. Just wandering and seeing the various exhibits would have been fine but once you factor everything else in its such a great way to spend a few hours. My kids will be talking about this place for a long time.

Excellent experience with 8 and 5 year old. Worth the money that was paid. Friendly and helpful staff!

They have lots of displays that are frequently changing. The kids loved the live animal show. My daughter has been talking about the dolphins for a couple weeks straight. I'd recommend finding discounted tickets as paying at the door is expensive if you have a family. Be sure to do plenty of exploring outside the aquarium too. The adjoining parks are fun and make for a great walk.

This place is huge. It s gotten so much bigger over the years. Big hint here. Buy your tickets ahead of time online. Then you won t be waiting in line to get in. I was floored how many people were waiting in a long line to get in. We just walked in with our passes. I would allow at least 4-6 hours here to see almost everything.

Very disorganized. Came here with a city pass on a Tuesday, made to wait outside in the freezing cold while "confused" tourists came around and budded the line. Still waiting in line now. At least I had time to post this.... This place needs better organization, clear signs and better-informed staff.

It was a cool aquarium. I may be a little bit spoiled because of some of the others that I've been to. Probably not something I would want to do it again, but it was a good experience.

Lots to see, lots to do, great for all types of families. Great selection of restaurants, but what impressed me most is the display, each tells a story on its own. A very educational and fun trip. Not to mention that the free show is a must watch.

I thought it was a bit pricey ($30 per person), but in the end it does support the animals living there, so I can deal with it. The dolphin show was fantastic, though a bit shorter than I thought it would be. The penguin exhibit was under construction, so we missed out on those little guys, but overall it was a lot of fun. Plan on being there for 3-4 hours to see everything.

Very nice place had a great time the 4D movie was great. A very fun place for the whole family.

Very friendly and helpful staff! The Dolphinshow was so exciting and absolutely a must see! We had a lot fun and enjoyed the experiences!