[JayCT]

Originally Posted by clutchrider

It's very small in comparison to others. I would rather do Norwalk Maritime than Mystic Aquarium. If your going to go to an aquarium head to Boston to the New England Aquarium, ticket price is $25 for an adult and there is A LOT more to see/do.

New England Aquarium Home

See now I found Norwalk to be less interesting than Mystic. I agree Boston's is better especially if it is less than Mystic. Still if the OP find movies to not be worth the price, I would think they would not find any of these to be worth the money. What something is worth to one person, is different to someone else so given this, I would say they should pass. Jay

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Raider111

Thinking about taking the kids next week for school vacation week. they love aquariums. How does it compare to the Maritime Center? were members, been a thousand times the last couple of years, they have the routine down to a tee, start on 1st floor, work way up to the shark tank, pet the crabs and starfish, etc etc. i'm ready to leave after 5 mins. would it be worth the drive or is it the same crap

It is quite different from the Maritime. Maritime is more interactive with small exhibits. Mystic has less, but larger exhibits.

But again, if you are going to go the distance, you might as well go to Boston for the aquarium. That is, unless you plan to go to the Mystic Seaport Museum also which is fantastic. I absolutely loved that place as a kid.

To me, Mystic is more worth it as a package deal. As a whole it's definitely worth the trip.

[Smooth21]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

AAA has a 10% discount I think.

Sadly they don't offer the AAA coupon anymore even though it's still listed on the Aquarium's web site. I went a few weeks back with the wife expecting to get that discount but the person at the ticket booth said it's no longer active.

As for the experience as a whole, no, it's not worth anywhere near $35. It's a tiny aquarium and the sea lion show that we waited around for lasted about 15 minutes. I'd say it's solely a place to take little kids, other than that it's not worth it.

Thankfully we walked around the stores and harbor for a while and got to eat some great seafood so that put a smile our faces by the end of the day!

[mikelizard860]

Originally Posted by Stylo

I went when it wasn't very crowded at all (rainy day). It was fine but a little dull for adults. I could see kids enjoying it. New England Aquarium is WAY better.

Visit during summer on a nice day. I've seen it where you can't buy anymore tickets until people leave and the line to get in is 2 blocks long. The bronx zoo might have big crowds, but at least there's room to move around. Everyone is packed into a tiny little area at mystic. Busloads of kids.

[andthentherewere3]

You can get admission discounts from your town library. Personally I find Mystic Aquarium has more to see than the Norwalk Maritime aquarium, but clearly others have had different experiences. Mystic has outside exhibits as well as inside exhibits. And I find both aquariums equally crowded. There is also Mystic Seaport you can visit which is near Mystic Aquarium, and again, most libraries have passes for the Seaport as well.

[Stamatia1111]

I know that mystic aquarium is great and mystic seaport is very nice to take kids and enjoy a day of aqua sights . My kids loved the day spent !!

[Raider111]

The Maritime is never crowded, sometimes were the only ones there, I always wonder how it stays in business.

[groove]

We drove to mystic a few weekends ago to go to the aquarium for the first time with our three kids. After a 90 minute drive we it led the parking areas several times, could not find a single spot, saw how many cars were circling, and the line in the rain, and decided to just go home. We live close to and have a membership with the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium and our kids love that. No way did we want to deal with crowds and noise that surely awaited us inside the Mystic Aquarium. [the kids were not happy at first but agreed to some fast food drive through and a movie in the car instead.] I don't think we will drive back to try it again. YMMV.

[Raider111]

Originally Posted by groove

We drove to mystic a few weekends ago to go to the aquarium for the first time with our three kids. After a 90 minute drive we it led the parking areas several times, could not find a single spot, saw how many cars were circling, and the line in the rain, and decided to just go home. We live close to and have a membership with the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium and our kids love that. No way did we want to deal with crowds and noise that surely awaited us inside the Mystic Aquarium. [the kids were not happy at first but agreed to some fast food drive through and a movie in the car instead.] I don't think we will drive back to try it again. YMMV.

Gonna pass then, next week is gonna be a zoo there I imagine. I like Stylos boston aquarium thought though, maybe for the summer.

[Vin100]

Just went to Mystic aquarium 2 weeks ago. There was scheme in march by the Connecticut Science Center that members get free admission to mystic aquarium/ seaport in March. Since I had a corporate discount for Science Center, and we were visiting it on one weekend, this seemed a good deal. Got the family membership for about $ 100 and visited the mystic aquarium and the seaport on 2 different weekends. Definitely worth at this price.
Before this, I have been avoiding the mystic aquarium due to high ticket prices.
After visiting the aquarium...definitely not worth paying the full price ticket. Its very small, slightly disorganized. The 3-D film section had separate ticket..I think 6$..worthless.
We have been to Norwalk aquarium..it was better than the mystic.

At the end, we were happy as we got worth the price we paid..we went to Mystic Seaport aanother weekend..it was good..but again not worht the full price ticket.