Georgia Aquarium worth it?

EdSnyder

EdSnyder

New member
Taking a little vacation up to north Georgia. We were thinking of visiting the aquarium. If anyone has any info I would appreciate it. I wasn't very impressed with Sea World as they dont really have much coral reef stuff. Sea world was ok just not worth the money imo.
Thanks, Ed
 
I haven't had a chance to go there in person but our club had Bruce Carlson do a talk about the Georgia Aquarium and from what he presented it was very impressive!
 
scapes said:
i've been to both the GA and TN aquarium and TN won it for me hands down.
Click to expand...

Ive heard the TN is awesome. How far is the TN aquarium from N Georgia, Helen? Maybe I will go there instead.
Is the GA aquarium worth an hr drive?
Thanks everone!
 
The Tn is on the GA-TN border in Chattanooga, the Ga aquarium is great for saltwater fish and the Tn aquarium has a good saltwater and a huge freshwater display along with a lot of native species. Both are worth the money and time. Neither have an extensive coral display, just enough to leave you wanting more.
 
The Georgia does have quite a large reef tank- I believe its 100,000 gallons. It is young, as they are using all captive-grown coral, but impressive all the same.
I've been to aquariums all over the US, and I think the Ocean Voyager exhibit alone is worth the trip and price. The other exhibits are nice, though not spectacular, but the Voyager really is phenomenal.
 
Who could pass up the chance to go see whale sharks? :) Also, after having been to aquariums in south africa, hong kong, london, and now all over the US (I've not been to the TN one, yet) my absolute favorite was the georgia aquarium (we really made the trip to atlanta just for that), and we'll definitely go again.

Hormigaquatica is right, their reef is pretty, but young. Quite the flurry of tangs ;) On another subject, the Steinhart had the best selection of clams, and antheas I've ever seen!
 
GA Aquarium has big things like whale sharks but tends to be very crowded. The TN Aquarium had a huge freshwater display and a decent saltwater display also. If I could only pick one to go to I would pick the TN Aquarium. Chattanooga TN is about an hours drive north of Atlanta.
 
Worlds Largest Aquarium.
You wouldn't want to miss that.
Also, if you are a diver, schedule a dive
in the main tank.
Awesome experience.....
 
We went to the GA last Tuesday as part of a school trip. My daughter and I did our own thing.
I liked the aquarium quite a bit but will wait until next year to head back. We were there from 3 – 5 and we “saw” everything. If you wanted to take your time add maybe 2 more hours.
The coral exhibits were pretty good and will be great in a few years.
The whale sharks are the big draw for everyone. They also have beluga whales (2 new ones), a penguin exhibit, sea otters and a few touch tanks.
There is a cold water one from the CA coast and the typical shark and ray one. The shark one was my daughter’s favorite thing to do.
They have a freshwater area that is good too with a few smaller tanks.
There is also a kid’s zone that was just ok.

Downsides: do not do the 3d movie. It was a rip off of finding nemo and costs extra.
There was also a sharks planet exhibit that was extra and that was terrible.

It was not very crowded being a Tuesday afternoon but I could see how some areas are sort of bottlenecks.

Again I would go back and I live several hours from there.

Right next to it are the Children’s Museum which is good but you need 1 adult per child to keep track as well as the World of Coke.

I have been to the TN Aquarium probably 5 times including a behind the scenes tour.

It is divided into two buildings: fresh and salt.

The freshwater is really good and there are fish from all over the world.

The saltwater is in a new building. You start at the top in a butterfly exhibit and move downward. It is smaller than GA but it is pretty good the way it is laid out.

The biggest differences in design are the GA is designed like Disney World and the wheel design vs. TN that is more starting point to finish line. You can easily go back to anywhere though.
There is also an IMAX theater across the street and a Children’s Museum maybe 4 blocks away.
There are several places to eat right there too.

So which one? Kind of a toss up but both are an enjoyable way to spend a day.
 
Ga aquarium takes the cake for me. Ocean Voyager is incredible and I spent hours just fascinated. I'm going down again in march and it'll be my 4th time. I'd say go for it
 
I've been to the GA aquarium a few years back, their huge reef display was great. Not the dense coral outcrops you might see in the ocean but it still takes time to let things grow in, The corals they did have when I was there were huge, Some between one and three feet tall and wide. They had a RBTA that was an easy 24 inches across. Its well worth the money to go and its great if you have kids. You cant beat having whale sharks swimming over you either.
 
I thought the GA Aquarium was great and I paid a little extra for the guided tour behind the scene. They take you all through out the aquarium in places you can't go alone and even into the filtration floor. Definitely worth it in my opinion and if you can make it there during the week early you can avoid the crowed. That's when I went and the group giuded tour ended up being just me, my wife, and the tour giude.
 
We drove about a 1200 mile round trip down to ALT just to go to the GA right after christmas last year. Personally I loved it, I thought the reef was my favorite, I just sat on the benches staring for ever. The longer you look the more you will see, very cool. I agree you really need to go when it's slow and not alot of people are around. One the way home we stopped at the Aquarium resturant in the Nashville Mall. Wholy Crap! that place is amazing! I think it was 200K gallons with no coral, but black tip sharks, 8 foot long wolf eels, schools of naso and achilles tangs, we loved the GA, but the Aquarium resturant really blew us away. I often thought of moving to Nashville, nothing like that in our Malls.

Anyway if you care at all about saltwater fish, you need to make the trip to ATL.
 
I hear great things about the GA aquarium. A few friends say it's a must see if you're in the area. Although, I'm never in that neck of the woods...

The Kuroshio Sea in Japan does it for me. Not so much a reef, but just the wow factor that got me.

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