Ripleys Aquarium
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Ripleys Aquarium
Ripleys Aquarium is rated one of the top attractions for families visiting Gatlinburg, Tennessee - and it’s no surprise. We honestly did not even have the aquarium on our to do list. We overheard another family talking about how great the Aquarium visit was, so we decided to go the next day. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Admission is relatively inexpensive - around twenty dollars for adults, and about ten for kids, with AAA members getting a discount.  |
Some people prefer to wait and see specific shows, however - the coral exhibit and Stingray Bay both have shows where you can see the animals being fed by divers, both are awesome. The exhibits were generally big enough that you don’t feel too crowded. This might not be the case on a day when there’s a convention in town, or when Gatlinburg is really crowded, however. Over ten thousand different sea creatures make their home here, making up more than three hundred and fifty species. There are all kinds of different displays and lots to learn.
The attractions at Ripleys Aquarium include the Rainforest, with freshwater stingrays, poison dart frogs, armored catfish, zebra cichlids, iguanas and even piranhas. The Ocean Realm, offers some of the most colorful fish, including angelfish, damselfish, parrotfish and more. Dive shows can be seen in the Coral Reef display, and even more beautiful fish are found here.
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We found the most exciting exhibit at Ripleys Aquarium to be Shark Lagoon. The three hundred and fifty foot long glide path has an acrylic tunnel, where you’ll run into all kinds of sea life, including stingrays and sawfish, sea turtles of several kinds, and some really big sharks. These are extremely impressive animals, and the exhibit isn’t just one wall, like a lot of other aquariums. You are actually surrounded by fish on all sides, plus overhead, too. That means you are up close and personal with hammerheads, turtle, eels, and lots of other impressive sea life. We had no problem taking pictures, even with a flash.
There’s also an exhibit that features all the ocean’s most strange and beautiful animals, including jellyfish, corals and seahorses. Our kids absolutely loved the incubators area exhibit where you could see microscopic baby jellyfish and seahorses. After we finished in this area, we moved on to Stingray Bay, where we watched the stingrays eating out of the divers’ hands. Then, we even got to reach out and feel some
The gift shop afterwards was a real hit with the kids, too. There were lots of the usual things for sale there, but a few really interesting ones that we didn’t expect, such as the unique mermaid dolls. There’s also a restaurant and a snack bar that are reasonably priced for food at an attraction like this.
The displays were beautiful and brightly lit, and it doesn’t take too long to go through the whole place. Ripleys Aquarium was a really pleasant surprise - not over crowded and a lot of fun for us and the kids. All the exhibits and the other areas, like the bathrooms, kids’ area, and eating area are clean and well designed, so you feel really comfortable there. We’ll definitely be back in the future to see what’s changed at the aquarium and see some more of their beautiful exhibits.
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Location and Contact Information
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies88 River Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
865-430-8808
www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com
Map Location
Online Ticket & Reservation Window
To help with your vacation planning we have access to hundreds of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg area discounts for attractions, lodging and shows. We understand that traveling or vacationing in popular tourist areas can be slightly more expensive. We hope you find this to be helpful with your vacation budgeting.For convenience, we offer these travel services to give our readers the option to pre purchase Instant Reservation Tickets before ever leaving home. It’s now so easy to buy your tickets online & simply print them on your home computer. And when you purchase in advance, you will frequently receive additional price discounts. Plus, you can skip the reservation desk and go straight to the front of the line with your reservation voucher.
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- How to reserve Pigeon Forge area fun attractions online.
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When you arrive at your destination, your E-Ticket reservation vouchers will be exchanged for your selected theater show, attraction or lodging preference. It’s similar to how the major airlines handle online ticketing. The benefit of using E-Ticket reservation vouchers is that you can always reprint them from this website if they are misplaced by a simple login to your account - click on orders - and reprint.
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