My sons enjoyed the Austin Aquarium which acts a bit like the zoo for us, as the Austin Aquarium has various non-aquatic animals.
The aquarium is set up in a circular walking path. There are various areas throughout the Aquarium. They had a box with the chickens which you can watch, but you do need to purchase an extra token to feed them.
Besides the chicken box there is an indoor area for the kids to crawl and then go down a slide. They also have tortoise, a parrot, and a python at the end.
There are approximately 3 big rooms with lots of fish going around the aquarium. This experience is quite unique as you can feed and touch the sting rays (you need extra tokens to feed these). The kids had a lot of fun, but it smelled quite fishy for me (more than I would expect) and I do wish there had been more supervision around the big tanks. I only saw people at the entrance, at some experience areas, but not as many inside or near the tanks.
For that reason, I put the safety at 3.
I would bring the kids again, specially if it's a rainy day and in need of an activity :-)
Map: Austin Aquarium
Overall: 3.75/5
Factor | Description | Rating (Out of 5) 5 Being best |
Uniqueness | Did it have that keep Austin Weird unique vibe? Was it new and interesting or same old neighborhood park? (Nothing wrong with your neighborhood park...but if we took the effort to travel...we want something different and unique!) A value of 1 means it was not very unique, a value of 5 means it was crazy unique and different. | 4 |
Variety | Refers to the different areas or different activities that were available. A value of 1, means there was not much variety. A value of 5 means it had a lot of different things for the kids! | 4 |
Safety | How safe was my toddler without me having to intervene much? Did he fall multiple times? Did he hurt himself? A value of 1 is not very safe and probably would not bring the kid back. A value of 5 means safety was in the mind of the designer and pretty much kid proof. | 3 |
Kid Friendly | Was it Intentionally design for kids? Or mostly for adults? A value of 1 would mean that it was fun enough for kids, but not really designed for kids. A value of 5 would be it is designed for kids. | 4 |
Overall |
| 3.75 |
Cost: As of 1/7/22 is $19.95 for adults and $14.95 for kids plus additional $ for the tokens to be able to do extra experiences. I believe we paid extra 15$ for 5 tokens.
Note: There is a yearly pass which is 60$ per person or 42.95$ if you purchase 3 of them. Do the math...I was upset because they tried to sell me this pass, and were including my 1 yo on the deal, and charging me 150$. I think the lady trying to charge me was new. But still.
Stroller friendly? Yes! Wide areas all around.
Restroom? Yes, to the left of the entrance.
