New York Aquarium Parking Lot

I was really excited to visit the aquarium, especially since the last time I went was 14 years ago, and this would be my kids' first visit. Unfortunately, the experience was disappointing. There weren't many animals to see, and the focus seemed to be more on "saving the planet" than on the animals themselves and their habitats. Additionally, the seal show was underwhelming and not worth the ticket price, especially considering we had to sit in the scorching sun for 15 minutes. If ticket prices were lower, it might not have felt like such a letdown, but the overall experience did not match the cost. This is coming from someone who truly loves the oceans and its creatures.

Love love this acquarium. There's so much to see, large and small. There are sharks, stingrays, colorful tropical fishes, jelly fish, crabs... They added a Sea Change exhibit that explains climate change and you can watch the sea lions from underwater. Previously sea lions are only visible on land. Sadly during our visit (Dec) sea lions feeding is not available due to construction, sea otters are missing and penguins refused to go in the water lol. Up side is that there is no crowd in the winter!

Great aquarium with a nice set up and a lot to see. The one thing the aquarium needs to adjust is the sea lion show however. When we entered the aquarium, we were told by staff of a sea lion show starting a 1:30 pm. They were telling every patron coming in about it. We visited the exhibits over a 2 hour period and then made our way to the sea lion show as we didn't want to miss the hype. Well, it took longer to shuffle in to the show seating area, and the longer to shuffle out of it, than the show actually lasted. This sounds like an exaggeration but it truly isn't - the show lasted all of 9 minutes! Absolutely ridiculous in my view and the view of many other who grumbled on their way out of the seating area. Other than that, however, it's a nice place and it backs onto the Coney Island boardwalk which gives you something to check out before or after your visit.

Not bad, but it’s a small aquarium -for the price point I was hoping for a bit more here. I would not go personally unless you are in Coney Island on a rainy day and need an indoor activity particularly with young kids. For reference, I am comparing this aquarium to the Baltimore aquarium, which while it is more expensive is definitely more worth it for the price point. The shark exhibit and the sea lions/otters outside are the best exhibits. There were parts I didn’t picture, that were clearly run down (some are documented in other reviews). DO NOT walk down to the underwater part of the sea lion exhibit -it smelled like dead fish and they were trying to dry out the carpet like there was a tank leak. The tanks definitely needed cleaning down there - there was algae obscuring the view for all the tanks. I tried to walk out as fast as possible. The spineless exhibit basically only had jellyfish -there were tanks for octopi but they were all empty!! Very disappointing.

This is the 4th best rated place on my NY Zoo Tour for several reasons I will name within this review despite the many exhibits it has to offer.

Upon entering the space, you’re able to walk through and see many fish on display in the conservation hall which features a large display. Perhaps my favourite area after was walking past and realizing you could go below to see the seal in the pools below. There were also crustaceans within this space. The shark tank left much to be desired - I expected grander displays for the amount of fish was shown on the website. I also enjoyed the spineless area, however, I expected to see larger jellyfish and more octopus on display. I was happy to see the crustaceans on display though.

Another highlight of my trip here was the sea lion and harbour seal training. I appreciate the steps being taken by the aquarium to preserve the lives of these animals and raise their IQ to recognize different touches, sense and sounds and respond to them. I can tell that this is really a passion of the trainers.

My trip ended at the sturgeon and other sharks which had to be viewed from outside.

The aquarium is quite limited in what it offers for the price to me so I recommend coming here on a WCS membership ID which provides timed tickets to the aquarium.

It’s one train to get here from anywhere and that’s the Coney Island - Q.