Come Join Us On A Visit To Our Favorite Southern California Aquarium

We recently went on a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. Our family lives in Long Beach, and we love, love, LOVE the ocean, so we go there several times a year. Daniel always has a great time exploring and learning about the ocean and the animals that live there.

In this blog post I will give you some good advice on how to maximize your fun and learning while you’re at the aquarium and share some of our favorite things to do at the aquarium. You can read about our favorite animals at the Aquarium of the Pacific here.

Before You Go

Let’s face it, things just aren’t the same as they were before Covid took over our lives. Everything needs to be planned in advance, and it seems like policies change at the blink of an eye. So my first piece of advice is to visit their website before you go. It has all of the current information you need, including Covid-19 policies, operating hours, what you’ll see while you’re there, information on events and educational programs, etc.  The website is well organized and you should be able to find what you need quickly. You can find them at www.aquariumofpacific.org

Pro Tip: As of the publishing of this post, Advance reservations in order to visit the aquarium. You need to have a ticket in order to make reservations. Luckily, you can buy your ticket and make your reservation at the same time by visiting the Tickets and Reservations page on the Aquarium of the Pacific’s website.

Getting There

The Aquarium of the Pacific is located at 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach, California. It sits right on the Long Beach Harbor near the southern end of the 710 Freeway.

Pro Tip: If you are traveling south on the 710 Freeway, be sure to watch for the split when you get close to the end of the freeway. The freeway splits, with the right lanes heading toward the Queen Mary and the Port of Long Beach, and the left lanes going to the Pike and the Aquarium of the Pacific. You will want to take the left lanes which will curve and turn into Shoreline Drive. The Aquarium and its parking structure will be on your right side.

You will definitely want to park in the aquarium’s parking structure. There is street parking, but it is metered. Another parking structure is across the street at the Pike that you could park in, but it is a bit of a walk to get to the aquarium from there. We like to park toward the top of the parking structure. Everyone seems to crowd the bottom levels, so it’s easier to get a parking spot close to the elevator.

Pro Tip: Be sure to take your parking ticket with you into the aquarium. You can have your ticket validated to get the aquarium rate of $8 for the day.

Once you arrive at the aquarium, you can go straight to the main entrance. Since you bought your ticket online, there is no need to go to the ticket booth, but it’s open if you need to talk to them.

After you go through the Covid screening area you will go through one of two doors.  People with general admission tickets use the door to the left and Aquarium Members use the door to the right.

If you live local and think you might want to go a few more times during the year, it might be worth it to buy an annual membership. The family membership includes admission for two adults and all of the children under 18 years old living in the household, discounts on parking and concessions, a magazine mailed to your house several times per year, and access to members-only programming and events. We have been aquarium members for 11 years. We love that we can take the kids for a fun day of learning with no computer screens.

Main Lobby

This is the hub of the aquarium you can get to most of the aquarium exhibits directly from this area. When you enter, Member Services will be to the right (go here if you want to upgrade your daily ticket to an annual membership), and the gift shop will be to your left.

There is also a little snack/coffee stand, The Blue Whale Cafe, in this area. It’s a good place to stop and rest, and the coffee is pretty good too. The restrooms, elevators, and stairs to the upper level are located next to the Blue Whale.

Don’t forget to pick up a guide book from the kiosk just past the entrance doors. It will give you all the information you need to make the most of your visit and tell you more about the different exhibits.

Daniel likes to stamp the pages with the embossers that are located throughout the aquarium. It’s a fun way to get the kids more involved in the aquarium since it’s kind of like a scavenger hunt.  When you leave the aquarium at the end of the day you can keep your guide book as a souvenir or drop it in the recycling bin at the exit.

The aquarium is taking Covid-19 sanitation and safety seriously. There are staff members sanitizing high touch areas, signs throughout the aquarium reminding everyone to wear their masks properly, and there is even a video with puppets explaining to kids how to be safe and why it’s important to wear masks and keep their hands clean.

 

The New Pacific Visions Exhibit

The Pacific Visions area opened in 2019, just before the Covid Pandemic shut down the world. It is a state-of-the-art exhibit with some pretty impressive technology.

The first thing you’ll experience in Pacific Visions is the art gallery.  There are glass plankton models hanging from the ceiling…

…and interactive art installations. You can even design a fish that will swim on the virtual tank that is projected on one of the walls.

If you keep walking you will enter the waiting room for the theater. There is a pre-show video to introduce what Pacific Visions is that is projected on the wall with benches so you can rest while you wait for the theater to open. The other wall has a virtual waterfall projection that reacts with splashes and other reactions as you walk through.

The seats in the theater are very comfortable. As of June 2021, they have every other row closed to allow for social distancing.

The movie screens in the Pacific Visions Theater are pretty incredible. They use the bottom circular screen and the upper curved rectangle screen to show an impressive view of the oceans and what we can do to help preserve them. You should definitely go see a film there.

https://youtu.be/Lj_YriCTY2A
After the film, we exited at the back of the theater and found ourselves in an impressive exhibit about human impact on the oceans and what we can do to help. There are a few tanks with animals, but it is mostly interactive displays. There are several tables with touchscreen surfaces and a wall with a in interactive projection that will show you how people affect the ocean and how we can work together to minimize our impact on the ocean and its inhabitants.

 

Tropical Pacific Gallery

The Tropical Pacific Gallery is full of fish and other animals that can be found in the warm tropical waters found in the Micronesia region of the Pacific Ocean. The colorful fish, coral, and frogs are beautiful and fun to watch.

The best part of the Tropical Pacific Gallery is the Tropical Reef Habitat. This enormous tank holds 350,000 gallons of water and can be viewed from three places. There are over 1,000 creatures living in this exhibit, including coral,  You’ll see many types of colorful fish, sea turtles, coral, rays, and sharks swimming in the water of this exhibit. The best place to view the Tropical Reef Habitat is in the large room at the far end of the Tropical Pacific Gallery. The glass is at least ten feet tall here and you can get a really good view of the fish.  The highlight is when a hammerhead shark or a stingray swims by. Daniel always gets excited when that happens.

 

Northern Pacific Gallery

The Northern Pacific Gallery is home to some amazing animals. When you first walk in, there is an enclosure with puffins and other sea birds. We like to watch them swim and dive.

The touch tank is full of sea anemones, sea stars, and sea urchins that you can reach in and touch.

There are several tanks of jellyfish. SO pretty!

And the octopus is simply amazing. It’s a real treat when he comes out of his little cave.

The highlight of the Pacific Northwest Gallery is the sea otter enclosure.  The otters can often be seen playing on the rocky deck or chasing each other in the water. They are a lot of fun to watch!

Daniel loves to play the interactive sea otter trivia game. Up to three people can play the touchscreen game in which you have to get your virtual otter to the feeding grounds in the Channel Islands. Every time you answer a question correctly your otter advances toward the feeding grounds.

Since the aquarium has reopened, they offer clean styluses to use while playing. You can take one from the “clean” bin and drop it off in the “used” bin when you are done. It’s a great way to keep your  fingers clean while playing a game on a high-touch surface. We have learned a lot about otters since he plays every single time we go to the aquarium. Even though we play a lot, I still learn something new about otters, and I have fun doing it.

 

Taking a Break at the Cafe

There is a cute little cafeteria on the second floor of the aquarium. It overlooks the seal/sea lion enclosure, and if you can get one of the tables next to the window you can watch the animals swim or catch some sun on the deck. The food is pretty good and it’s a great place to stop and take a break from your busy day.

 

Southern California/ Baja Gallery

This section of the aquarium features animals that are found in Southern and Baja California. It begins with the enormous Three Story Tall Blue Cavern Tank at the far end of the Main Lobby. It holds 142,000 gallons of water and has fish and plants that can be found off the coast of Catalina Island.

There are also smaller tanks with fish from both Southern California and Baja California.

The seal and sea lion enclosure can be viewed from the second floor outside the aquarium and from the first floor inside the aquarium. They are noisy and fun to watch.

There is also a touch tank with skates and rays. There is a docent available to answer questions and talk about the animals.

 

Penguin Habitat

The penguin habitat is next to the Ray Touch Tank and is home to 20 Magellanic Penguins. You can watch them waddle on the shore and swim in the water. You can even get inside the crawl space under the water and look up at the penguins like Daniel did a few years ago.

There is also a cute photo op backdrop.

Shark Lagoon

Shark Lagoon is a fun area outside behind the aquarium building, just downstairs from the Seal/Sea Lion Habitat.

Shark Lagoon has three shallow touch tanks where you can touch small epaulette and bamboo sharks. There is a docent there who talks about the sharks, answers questions, and makes sure that everyone is following the rules. It is a great way to learn about these amazing animals.

                                                                                     Photo by Clinton Steeds

There is also a bigger tank with bigger sharks…

…and a cute gift shop stand.

Lorikeet Forest

The Lorikeet Forest is one of the most fun parts of the Aquarium of the Pacific…

You can buy lorikeet food for small fee so you can feed the lorikeets…

And if you’re really lucky, a lorikeet will land on you.

 

Gift Shop

No trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific would be complete without a stop at the gift shop. We usually make it our last stop here or anywhere we go. It’s a reward to the kids for being on their best behavior.  If they are well behaved, they can pick out one small item from the gift shop. If they do not behave appropriately then they don’t get to go to the gift shop. We almost always get to go.

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You can find all kinds of fun and interesting ocean-themed merchandise for sale. Every time we go we find something new.

 

And That’s The End

Hopefully you have as wonderful of a time visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific as we did.  The aquarium is a fun place to go down near the ocean and learn about the ocean and its inhabitants in the cool ocean air. It is consistently one of our favorite places to go as a family.

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to get your parking ticket validated before you leave the aquarium. The aquarium parking rate is $8 for the entire day. You can pay for parking at the machines on the first and second levels of the parking garage. You can pay with either cash or credit/debit card.

If you’re not quite ready to call it a day and head home, you can stay and go see a movie at the Pike, or get dinner at one of the restaurants at Rainbow Harbor or Shoreline Village. All of those places are within walking distance of of the Aquarium of the Pacific.  And if you parked in the aquarium’s parking structure, you won’t have to pay extra for parking since your car is already there. (Just don’t pay for parking until you are ready to leave so you don’t get charged extra.)