what's your favorite aquarium to visit. Penguin exhibit is a must

[lynn]

We are getting ready to travel and would love to find an aquarium to stop at a long the way.

Edited September 16, 2021 by lynn

[Jean in Newcastle]

In the US?  Canada? Australia? Europe?  It's a big world out there. . . .

[Arcadia]

In my area,

Monterey Bay Aquarium penguin page and penguin cam https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/penguin-cam

California Academy of Sciences penguin page and penguin cam https://www.calacademy.org/learn-explore/animal-webcams/live-penguin-cams

The admission tickets are pricey though 

[athena1277]

We went to the Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg recently.  It was fun and the penguins were adorable.  They had tags with their names on them and you could buy art made by the penguins (each said which penguin made it) in the gift shop.  There’s a couple different deals you can get that include the aquarium and one or more other attractions if you have time.  I highly recommend the Skylift Park.

[PeterPan]

Might be out of your way, but there's a really good one in Seward, Alaska. Worth the drive, hahaha. https://www.alaska.org/detail/alaska-sealife-center

[Junie]

55 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

...

California Academy of Sciences penguin page and penguin cam https://www.calacademy.org/learn-explore/animal-webcams/live-penguin-cams

The admission tickets are pricey though 

We went to the California Academy of Sciences a few years ago with dd11 and dd13.  (I think they were 9 and 11 at the time.)  They loved the penguins and still occasionally ask to look at the live penguin cam.

The food was horrendously expensive and we would have eaten elsewhere if we had known.

However, we loved this museum because it was everything in one building -- a science museum, an aquarium, a rainforest exhibit.  (ETA: and a planetarium!) It was a great stop for us because we were able to do quite a few things all in one stop.  (We also visited a nearby carousel which was a lot of fun.)

Edited September 16, 2021 by Junie

[GoodGrief3]

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Might be out of your way, but there's a really good one in Seward, Alaska. Worth the drive, hahaha. https://www.alaska.org/detail/alaska-sealife-center

Alaskan here...I like the SeaLife Center but it is fairly small. Worth a visit if one is in Alaska for other reasons 🙂 And definitely no penguins.

I think the aquarium in Atlanta has penguins. It's a good one. I like Baltimore too, but have not been there in years.

[katilac]

Audubon Aquarium is rated in the top ten in the states. It has a penguin exhibit with two posted feeding times each day, and you can pay extra (a lot of extra) to get a backstage Penguin Pass. 

Anyone who loves the penguins will probably also love the otters! The seahorses are fascinating, and the jellyfish are pretty cool as well. 

[Idalou]

New England Aquarium in Boston. We've been going there for over 20 years. How I never knew  they had a penguin cam is a mystery

https://www.neaq.org/visit/at-home-events-and-activities/webcams/penguin-colony-webcam/

[whitestavern]

Mystic Aquarium in CT. If you feel like splurging you can pay for a penguin encounter. https://www.mysticaquarium.org/experiences/penguin-encounter/

[MercyA]

Any aquarium without captive marine mammals. Whales and dolphins shouldn't be forced to live in concrete cells. (I'm looking at you, Shedd Aquarium. Boo!)

[ScoutTN]

The Chattanooga Aquarium has penguins.

[KungFuPanda]

My first aquarium visit was in Monterey, so I was a bit spoiled.  It's very nice.  The National Aquarium in Baltimore is pretty great too, but no penguins.  The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has a wonderful African penguin exhibit.  You could hit both in a day, if you do the aquarium from 9-12, have lunch for 30 minutes, drive to the zoo, and stay there from 1-4.

ETA:  You do NOT have to do the whole Penguin Encounters thing to get a really good look at the penguins.  You can do that with a regular zoo admission.  Also, since it's a conservation program is seems more ethical than some penguin exhibits.

Edited September 16, 2021 by KungFuPanda

[crazyforlatin]

SF Zoo has penguins, not an aquarium. It’s located outside with a metal gate surrounding the entire “exhibit” and hordes of people watch as they are fed pails of fish. 

[Arcadia]

8 hours ago, Junie said:

We went to the California Academy of Sciences a few years ago with dd11 and dd13.  (I think they were 9 and 11 at the time.)  They loved the penguins and still occasionally ask to look at the live penguin cam.

The food was horrendously expensive and we would have eaten elsewhere if we had known.

… (We also visited a nearby carousel which was a lot of fun.)

Near the carousel was where we would park for free parking. We were aware of how expensive the food was going to be, besides my picky eaters rather have Panda Express. We first went when they opened at their current location in 2008.  DS15 is a penguin lover. 

[KungFuPanda]

I didn't think to add the Penguin Cam.  Enjoy!

[Laura Corin]

I spent my honeymoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Idyllic. I can't remember the penguins but otters! Otters!

Edited September 17, 2021 by Laura Corin

[Meriwether]

The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb.

[TravelingChris]

12 hours ago, katilac said:

Audubon Aquarium is rated in the top ten in the states. It has a penguin exhibit with two posted feeding times each day, and you can pay extra (a lot of extra) to get a backstage Penguin Pass. 

Anyone who loves the penguins will probably also love the otters! The seahorses are fascinating, and the jellyfish are pretty cool as well. 

Are we supposed to be visiting New Orleans now?

[TravelingChris]

9 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

The Chattanooga Aquarium has penguins.

I love that one because it's originally building actually has a great theme- Tennessee River- from its start as a small streams to a big river with lakes, to part of the Mississippi to part of  the Gulf.  I also love the aquarium in Albuquerque because it also has this theme mainly- except with the Rio Grande.   If there are any other similar aquariums anywhere- I would love to know about them.

[Starr]

There are penguins in the Central Park Zoo in NYC.

[Dmmetler]

Not an aquarium exactly, but Sea World in Orlando has a nice penguin exhibit with multiple species. 

 

We also saw some in the wild in New Zealand, but that's out of reach right now. 

[BlsdMama]

We went to Shedd’s recently but I have to admit I was not impressed by the penguins. I love watching them too, so it was disappointing. 

[pinball]

7 hours ago, Meriwether said:

The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb.

Seconded

[Beth S]

St. Louis Zoo has a nice penguin exhibit within Penguin Cove.

[plansrme]

Between Atlanta and Chattanooga, I much prefer Chattanooga's penguins. Penguins are the best.

If any penguin fans reading this have littles, I cannot recommend highly enough the Tacky the Penguin series. My youngest is 17, and we all still regularly quote lines from the Tacky series.

[Zoo Keeper]

We're very fond of the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium...

They have a penguin cam, too.   https://www.pittsburghzoo.org/penguin-webcam/

[Farrar]

17 hours ago, MercyA said:

Any aquarium without captive marine mammals. Whales and dolphins shouldn't be forced to live in concrete cells. (I'm looking at you, Shedd Aquarium. Boo!)

The Smokies one mentioned in this thread has mermaids. I'm pretty sure they're free range, though, lol.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Monterey is the best one I've ever seen, and definitely worth a bit of drive if you're out west.  I've heard fantastic things about the Atlanta aquarium too, but haven't seen it myself.  

If you're in the vicinity of Salt Lake City, Living Planet is worth going to see.  It's really more museum than aquarium, but they do have a sweet little penguin exhibit in the basement.

[aug17girl]

Montreal Biodome. Not really an aquarium, but It has a great penguin exhibit. No marine mammals.

[katilac]

8 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Are we supposed to be visiting New Orleans now?

You can't actually get a hotel room right now - I didn't think the OP was talking about this week or anything, but more of a long-ish road trip. They didn't really say, though. 

 

[BeachGal]

Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo - free admission - has a small penguin exhibit with viewing windows that allow visitors to watch them above and below water. They also offer a penguin encounter for a fee.