It is a large enclosure, with fake rocks placed around it for kids to stand on and see in. They also have glass walls around so the kids can look in that way as well. You continue around the enclosure and down into a room with an floor to ceiling window so you can see large groups of tropical fish. As we walked into the room, people were sitting down to watch a dive show so we joined in and watched a bit of the feeding time. There are several dive shows throughout the day, in various tanks.
We watched the diver for a few minutes, then moved on into what is by far the best feature of the whole aquarium. It is a moving sidewalk that runs through a tunnel under Shark Lagoon. You can stand on the sidewalk and look up as fish swim above and around you. Not only do you see the fish, you also see sharks
who will swim right up in your face. There is actually a place on the tunnel that is scratched and a plaque indicating that it is from an irritated shark who attacked the glass! I'm glad I wasn't the person standing there when that happened! You also see sawnoses, that aren't sharks but are beasts in their own right.
This one is draped across the top of the tunnel and measured nearly seven feet long!
After you leave the tunnel, you can play in the discovery center, which has horseshoe crabs you can touch, tanks you can climb into the middle of and a small aquatic themed play space. Then you move on to the weapons of the water, where they talk about sting rays, jelly fish, etc. Anything that has some kind of defense. Beyond those displays, you get to Stingray Bay, which is a 12 foot deep stingray enclosure. The viewing window is directly in front of the eating area for the Feeding Frenzy restaurant, that way, you can have your lunch or snack and still get to see the stingrays play.
We stopped and ate a snack at Feeding Frenzy, just as the stingray dive show was starting. My brother ate an actual meal, while the rest of us had snacks. The fair was pretty standard with soft pretzels, pizza, burgers, chicken fingers and pop. The cost was about average for typical tourist attractions, which runs about $7 for a meal and $4 for the pretzel
We continued past, at which point as you follow the hallway, you can see into various points of Stingray Bay. At the top of the hall, you reach Touch a Ray Bay, where the water is shallow and you can lean over the rocks and touch the rays. That was were we found the option to upgrade our tickets to "splash with the stingrays". We opted to pay the 16 extra dollars to actually get in the water with the rays. We started by meeting with our dive instructor (although we weren't actually diving, merely kneeling) who took us to a classroom so we could learn more about the rays before we got in the water. We learned that the rays there do not have stingers. They either surgically remove them or clip them every few months. Then we were taken back up, where we were fitted with wetsuits and booties and got in the water. It was a little cool (the tank is kept about 70 degrees) but it was really fun. My brother, TB and I really liked it but MT got freaked. There was one ray that was probably 3 feet across and had a tail almost as long. It kept bumping her and trailing its tail on her and she didn't like it. Several of the rays were really attracted to my brother who let them suck on his hands!
After that, it was trip through the gift shop, then on to other destinations for the day.
Overall, I give this attraction 4.5 stars. It was super fun, it offered food, there were hands on things to do, and plenty to keep everyone entertained.
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