Sea Life Aquarium at Crown Center

I am so glad to finally have an aquarium in Kansas City! Originally from central Florida we never lacked for seeing sea creatures with so many local attractions. We first visited Sea Life about a year ago not long after it opened and we just visited again last week. The girls and I used one of the BOGO coupons off the kcparent.com website and since Princess Tiger Lily is not yet 3 yrs old I only had to pay for my ticket, score! I love when you first enter there's this neat room with all these small silver fish in lighted aquariums so the fish look like they are glowing. Then you walk through and view fresh water creatures native to Missouri. Picasso loved seeing the catfish. There's more ocean life and then you get to a touch tank. The first time we went it took forever to get Picasso to touch anything, she's a little nervous when it comes to doing something she's not used to but Princess TL showed no fear and loved touching the starfish, crabs, and the like. This time around both girls had fun touching the small sea animals. We travelled down the path and saw many more interesting fish and then the girls got an underwater view with this dome shaped aquarium that you can crawl underneath and stick your head up under it. Don't worry, you don't have to hold your breath, it's completely enclosed. They have a new turtle room with several different turtle friends to look at. They have this awesome ray tank that the kids can crawl underneath and peer into port holes to see them up close or you can climb the stairs and step onto a see through platform to see them swimming right below your feet. The grand finale is walking through an underwater tunnel with rays, sharks, and all kinds of fish to "ooohhh" and "aahhhh" over. There's a few benches so of course we had to sit down and imagine we were scuba diving in some tropical locale. The girls loved seeing the sharks and rays swimming overhead. I have to admit, I loved it too. There's something magical about seeing a world you don't normally see in your everyday life. That is unless you are a marine biologist, a snorkeling instructor in the Caribbean, or a Killer Whale Trainer at Sea World (which I used to want to be). I was a bad mommy and forgot their socks so they couldn't play in the play area right before the gift store. To my credit I did get them out and set them on the table which is exactly where I found them when we came back home. During the tour we filled out this scratch card scavenger hunt and turned it in for a prize at the end. The girls each received a gold medal necklace and were so excited about their treasures. We shopped around the combined Sea Life and Legoland gift store and then went home. Overall it's a smaller aquarium that only takes about 45min-1hr to walk through but it's so well done that I think makes it worth the trip maybe once or twice a year.
visitsealife.com
http://www.kcparent.com/Coupons/