Odysea Aquarium in Scottsdale!

 

If you are looking for a fun family activity to do that will keep you in doors and out of the bad weather outside, an aquarium is always a great option to visit together. My family & I recently paid a visit to the Odysea Aquarium located at the Arizona Boardwalk in Scottsdale to explore & watch the fish. What sets this aquarium apart from others I've visited? This located is two stories tall, it has a room that rotates 360 degrees stopping at different tanks along the way, they have a downstairs bathroom that has Sharks on display & more. I have a video up over on my IG of their shark bathroom if you want to check it out for yourself. To make the day even more of an adventure they have several experiences you can purchase in addition to your aquarium entry ticket such as a penguin experience or scuba diving into one of their tanks. 

Depending on how much time you spend at each tank or if you stop to do one of the add ons they have available you should expect to spend about one and a half to three hours at the aquarium. This time around we didn't do any of the extras & we spent about an hour and a half here before making our way to our next adventure. Everything is set up to make the aquarium easy to navigate on your own, it was structured to create a nice flow in visitors from start to finish while still being able to see everything they have to offer. It is very wheelchair friendly & also stroller friendly so don't be afraid to bring them with you if you need to. 

I like the assortment of animals they have at the aquarium; it isn't just fish you'll be seeing. They also have a sloth, birds, otters, and penguins to see on your trip through the aquarium. My personal favorite spot aside from seeing the adorable otters and the sloth, is the touching pool. They have a small assortment of creatures you are able to touch after washing your hands. It is fun feeling the differences between them all & being able to touch SeaLife you may not have an opportunity to otherwise such as starfish. They also have a sting ray touching area, however in that section we generally find they mostly like to swim around as they aren't being fed there isn't a huge reason for them to want to come up to be touched. If they added in a feeding option, I would 100% pay to feed them as an additional cost. 

There are a lot of fantastic fish & tanks to see when you are visiting. It is crazy just how large some of the tanks are, it is astounding to see all of the fish & the size of some of the sharks and other marine life that lives at this aquarium. All of the fish & animals we seen while on our trip looked healthy & well taken care of and the tanks were quite clean. We had a great time on our visit, it was a nice stroll looking at all of the fish. Some of the spots you could sit & watch for hours, such as the clown fish tank shown below. I love the assortment of colors the clown fish come in & there are dozens of them in this tank together swimming around. 

What do you think would be your favorite part of visiting this aquarium?

Tickets for the aquarium are $44.95 per adult & $34.95 for children, they have an option where you can save 30% if you visit after 4:30pm. There are also bundle options with the other attractions at the boardwalk which can help you save on your tickets. The experiences all range in price. Food wise they have a Starbucks near the touching pools which is usually a pretty popular spot for visitors to stop and take a break. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Disclaimer- Tickets to the center + exhibit mentioned above were provided by The Arizona Boardwalk + Odysea Aquarium for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

A must see destination in Arizona, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum!

I recently found my favorite museum that I've ever visited & I wish I lived closer so I could buy a yearly membership to it because I would visit all the time. My family & I wanted to go on a small vacation for the holidays instead of doing a bunch of gifts so I planned a mini vacation to a city in our state that had several attractions we'd never been to before, one of those spots is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It is so much more than just a museum it is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum & art gallery. It is located at 2021 N Kinney Rd Tucson, AZ 85743.

It is a popular tourist type spot so I highly recommend getting there early to get a parking spot closer to the entrance, or if you don't mind a short hike there are parking lots a bit further back. We arrived shortly after they opened & the parking lot was already pretty full with a decent line at the ticket window. The line moved quickly & the staff were all very friendly, the place is big enough that even with the number of people visiting you didn't feel crowded or overwhelmed which is nice. It also helps in spots like this when everyone takes their turn to look at exhibits, etc. without cutting in front of others so that made everything run smoothly. The website states it takes about 2-3 hours to see everything & it is quite true, depending on how much time you spend at each stop you might be there for even longer. A large majority of the museum is outdoors so if you aren't a fan of the heat the best time to visit is in the winter/spring months to avoid the Arizona summer heat. We visited on a beautiful slightly cloudy winter morning & the weather was perfect for visiting. 

The aquarium didn't open for another ten minutes after we arrived so our first stop was to the reptile house where we were able to see a large assortment of snakes, scorpions, frog/toads and more. We even had a chance to see one of the staff members feeding the toads which is always neat. My favorite enclosure in the reptile house were the walking sticks (or stick bugs), I haven't seen one out in the wild since I was a kid & I love how they look so getting to see a bunch of them up close was fantastic. After exiting we went straight for the aquarium & got lucky because the only other person in it was a staff member doing a bit of maintenance on one of the tanks so we had the whole place to ourselves. There was an assortment of fish both native to Arizona & non-native species such as seahorses to watch swim. No matter what aquarium I visit, I always enjoy spending a few minutes in front of the seahorses, it is so cute to watch them float around & grab onto the seaweed/plants with their tails. 

Shortly after we left the aquarium it was about time for the birds of prey show they host almost daily, but we decided to use that time to check out a few of the other exhibits since could see that 90% of the visitors there that day were headed to the show. We walked around the cactus botanical garden a little bit & I snapped some photos of the wild birds along with the cactus on display. They have multiple gardens around the museum, you can grab a map before heading into the museum that will show you where everything is & label it so you know where you are. Next I wanted to visit the hummingbird aviary, you actually get to go inside & be in an indoor garden with the hummingbirds flying right next to your head. I've been in bird aviaries before, none of which have had hummingbirds and I love them so I was overly excited. We spent quite a bit of time inside of it watching the hummingbirds, relaxing on the benches talking a little & of course I was snapping photos the whole time. 

Right next to the hummingbird aviary is an art galley, the art work was gorgeous & most of it featured native wildlife or scenery and everything is available for purchase. There was also a small section with trinkets like postcards, 3D printed items & more. The restaurant they had there smelled amazing, so if you get hungry while there stop in for a bite to eat or visit their café for a snack + coffee. They have an underground animal area where you actually head underground to check out a few small enclosures to see critters that you don't typically get to see. Then we explored a bit more of the gardens & went to the bird aviary that has bigger birds such as cardinals, quail & more which of course I loved and we spent time at some of the benches just watching the different birds. 

In total you will go on a hike that is about two miles long, while viewing wildlife habitats set up along the way with animals such as javelina, bobcats, bears, wolves and more. They also have another underground section that takes you into a cave area & a mine where they have minerals on display. Just writing about the Sonora desert museum makes me want to go back again! There was so much to do & so much to see, it was quite the adventure. If we lived closer I would get a membership as mentioned, because it would be a great place to go for a mini hike for exercise while getting to see some neat stuff. They had some other great things to do, but if I talk about it anymore this post is going to be gigantic so if you are ever in the area you need to check this place out & enjoy it for yourself, you won't regret it. Admission is $29.95 per adult & $19.95 for kids - If you live in AZ & are a bit short on cash but still want to visit this museum they are part of the Culture Pass program through the Arizona public library system, you can visit your local libraries website to see which location has a culture pass for this zoo - the library allows you to "check out" 2 passes per family per month through their program (1 pass at a time) for free & each pass gets you two free admissions into where ever the pass is for. 

If you are looking for more adventures in Tucson type in "Things to do in Tucson" or "Things to do in Arizona" in the search bar of my blog, I have several more fantastic animal attractions and more in Tucson to share with you & when all done within a few days it makes for a action packed vacation. 

Which part of this museum do you think you would be most interested in? What would you want to see first? 

**This is not a sponsored post, my family & I decided to visit the museum while we were in the area and paid to visit the museum. I enjoy sharing some of the fun places we've been & things we've seen with my readers so they can enjoy it too if they get a chance.**

Kids Fest at the Odysea Aquarium!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received four tickets to the Kids Fest + a gift card to Sugar Drop from the Odysea Aquarium in exchange for the promotional post below featuring the event.**

My family loves to get out of the house so I am constantly on the search for events and activities in our area that are family friendly. At the moment the OdySea Aquarium out in Scottsdale is hosting a Kids Fest event which started on March 10th and runs until March 25th. The event is included in the cost of admission into the aquarium (note that Butterfly Wonderland, etc are separate experiences and are not included with the aquarium ticket). My family and I had the chance to go see not only the Kids Fest but the aquarium as well yesterday morning and it was quite a fun experience. 

When we went we had a few family members meet up with us that wanted to check out the aquarium as well. We ran into a tiny problem at the ticket booth but the employees were very helpful and resolved everything quickly so we headed into the aquarium. The kids got a big kick out of the bathrooms when you first come in on the bottom floor because there was a view into the shark tank! (sorry no photos, I was at the ticket booth and didn't know about the sharks until after we left, but the kids went with their grandma to see them). From the time you enter the front lobby of the aquarium until the time you leave there are fish to look at and things to do along with plenty of space to view everything without feeling crowded or uncomfortable. 

The scavenger hunt for the Kids Fest began in the first aquarium room with clue #1 being shown on a projector screen near the Sturgeon touching tank. Speaking of touching tanks they also had opportunities for the kids to touch other sea creatures as well and they provided both hand sanitizer and hand washing stations. There were other activities as well along the aquarium tour for all the kids to interact with including a big projector showing touch ap games on the floor that the kids could run/walk across to pop bubbles and such. One of the things I was excited about was being able to see a penguin paint a picture! It was very adorable and a unique experience that everyone should try out at least once. They also had Elsa come visit the kids to take photos and do meet and greets.

Along with different touching stations and activities they had not only a wide range of wish to see but they also offered bugs, otters, tropical birds and there is a toe-toed sloth (for a limited time as part of their ambassador animal program). We sadly didn't get to see the otters this time as they were all in the back corner of the enclosure but we hope to see them next time. I've already gone over quite a bit, but there couldn't be more could there? Oh yes there is! Everything I just described was on the second floor of the facility, you eventually reach and end point where you have to take an escalator or an elevator back down to the first floor. If you have the escalator you'll be taken through part of a over head tunnel where the fish swim above you. 

Moving along the tour you'll walk through a second tunnel of fish where you can stop and watch them swim from one side to the other directly above your head. Towards the end of when the aquarium walk through comes to a finish you'll end up at the OdySea Voyager! If it currently is on a sea adventure you'll have to stand in line for a short trip before boarding the ship. What is the OdySea Voyager? It is a neat auditorium room that is stationed on a track and it rotates a full 360 degrees stopping at different "stations" along the way, the entire experience takes about twenty two minutes and you'll see four different aquarium tanks with different sea creatures such as sharks and sea turtles. Following the voyage there will be another short walking distance of tanks before reaching the end where you'll go back up to the second floor and pop out in the gift shop. 

We were all amazed at how many shops & restaurants were on this property along with all of the experiences offered. The newest addition to their shopping area is a candy shop called Sugar Drop and they have a lovely selection of sweets and other fun trinkets for purchase, even I saw several things I wanted to get. My kids both ended up picking a large rainbow lollipop with a stuffed animal attached and I grabbed a cow tail and a few circus candy canes. All in all the entire experience was a lot of fun and it wasn't even everything they have to offer there! They also sell tickets for behind the scenes tours of the Shark bay, Penguin feeding/meetings, and more which we hope to check out in the future. If you are in Arizona you should come check out this event and aquarium it is well worth the trip!