It’s our favorite place, and I feel like we haven’t gone in so long! The Georgia Aquarium is one of Red’s happy spots, and we like to go as often as we can, but our busy schedule this year is leaving us wanting more! Fortunately, we got wind of the aquarium’s new offerings for 2016, so we packed up the car and headed to see their newest residents; the Sea Lions!
While we are on our second year of buying annual passes, the Georgia Aquarium did present us with free parking so we could check out the Sea Lions as well as the Dolphin show at our leisure. We happened to go on “Grand Opening” day, and I haven’t seen the place that crowded since they first opened ten years ago!
We hit the Dolphin show first, and while I missed the original presentation complete with human actors and some great music, the new presentation truly celebrates the strong, intelligent animals themselves and lets the audience get to know the program a little better. There is even a little audience interaction, and the “splash zone” seats are REALLY splash zones now… the dolphins flick their flukes at you. Prepare to be SOAKED if you sit in the first few rows! We took our favorite seats a little higher up and watched all the fantastic action. Listen carefully throughout the show: you’ll hear your favorite family-friendly tunes pop up now and then!
Directly after the Dolphin Celebration, we made a bee line for the new Sea Lion presentation. The old Georgia Explorer area was refurbished and completely revamped into the new area stage, sea lion habitat as well as pre-show area. While I couldn’t take any photos during the show or pre-show, I guarantee you a new experience complete with animatronics, fabulous scenery, and the sweetest rescused Sea Lion pups you’ve ever seen!
The Georgia Aquarium’s new residents are all rescues, actually, and Nav, a 440 pound male is the largest Sea Lion in the state. Red was WOWED when they walked him around the audience path. When the audience said, “Ooooooh”, Nav replied with an, “Ahhhhwwwwhhhh!” in Sea Lion talk.
Even Scarlett loved the new show – she watched the closest pups to our seating section with glee. Speaking of which, there are some unavoidable columns in the new arena. I expect that’s because the Sea Lion stage was put in an existing area that needed support. Sit in the “middle” of either of the three sections and you will have a good view. Get stuck near a column, and you’ll be watching some of the speakers and Sea Lions on the television screens above.
If you have some extra time outside of the new shows and the resident galleries, be sure to check out the new 4D theatre. We’re going to do that on our next trip – it was so packed we didn’t have time to sneak in! What show would you see first?
Leave a Reply