Our most recent trip to the Shedd Aquarium on March 1st was nothing short of disappointing.
Despite having checked to make sure no events were taking place in the nearby area, Solidarity Drive was closed for parking, I’m guessing in preparation for that evening’s Blackhawks game. Not only that, but we weren’t allowed to park in the Adler Planetarium lot even though the Shedd’s site says you can. This required us to park in the Soldier Field parking garage which cost $22 and was a much lengthier walk in 20-degree temperatures.
Because we arrived early, we had to stand outside in the cold to wait for them to open their doors even though there’s plenty of space to wait inside. Since it was a Bank of America weekend, our general admission was free, but it still cost $42 for the three of us to visit the Oceanarium and Jellies exhibit. I kept questioning the guy who rang us up why three $8.95 tickets cost so much and he blamed taxes. I just wasn’t buying it, though, so before we left I spoke to a woman at the information desk who explained it to me. They don’t charge taxes at all. However, in addition to raising the ticket prices for the Oceanarium from $6.95 to $8.95 since our last visit, the tickets to see the Jellyfish went up from $3 to $5 despite not having added anything new. In fact, the exhibit is looking neglected and some tanks were even empty.
On top of that, I had read they expanded the Oceanarium since our last visit but I was hard pressed to notice any difference whatsoever. And our timing must have been poor because even though it was cool to see the beluga whales interacting with staff, the dolphins were nowhere to be found.
Needless to say, for a “free” weekend it sure was expensive! Plus it got so crowded that by noon we were more than ready to leave.
As much as I love checking out all the cool animals the Shedd has to offer, I felt like the visit was a rip-off and don’t plan on visiting again anytime soon. It sucks, too, because I had been looking forward to it for many months.