It was a rainy Sunday in Atlanta and instead of having a couple friends take us on a road trip to Chattanooga to do outdoor activities, we thought it was best to stay close in the city and do something indoors.  There wasn’t too many choices that all 4 of us wanted to do that would take up a good part of the rainy day.

We decided on visiting The Georgia Aquarium as they just recently opened a brand new Shark Exhibit that was a few years in the making.  I have visited this huge aquarium back in 2019 along with our 2 local friends.  I even wrote a great review about it here.  Click on the green text to read more about the history of the aquarium and to see what has changed since 2 years ago.

I remember seeing the construction happening on both my previous Atlanta trips and said I wanted to check out the aquarium again when it was fully finished.  My one buddy never been to this aquarium before so it would be a great choice for us to do during the rainy day.

Getting There

Since we were staying at The Westin Atlanta Airport hotel, our friends came to pick us up in their car.  It was about a half hour drive and we planned on parking at the aquarium parkade.  There are many wheelchair accessible spots but we couldn’t park in one because I didn’t have my handicap parking pass with me.  So we just parked on an end spot that was near an elevator.

Costs for parking are $12 if you are an annual aquarium member or $17 for anyone else.  We had to have already purchased our timed admission tickets online.  This helps with keeping a limited number of people in the aquarium at a time and makes it less contact with agents.  Tickets went up $4 from my 2019 visit and is now $36.95 for adults.  Admission includes all the shows and only animal encounters and private tours are extra charge.

Security is still strict upon entering the aquarium as we are thoroughly searched.  Masks are mandatory throughout the whole aquarium and can only be taken off when they are actively eating or drinking.

Food

Since there is no outside food or drinks allowed, the first thing my buddy did was buy some food at Cafe Aquaria.  Prices were a little bit higher than normal but it was to be expected.  There is a large selection of cold foods like sandwiches, salads and fruit trays, while a hot grill section has burgers, pizza, chicken fingers and fries.  Annual members do get a 10% off discount.

Exhibits

The first exhibit we went to was Ocean Voyager.  I love this exhibit because it has the underground water tunnel with a moving walkway.  Not sure if it was because of covid or if it was having technical issues, but the moving walkway was turned off.  That didn’t hurt the experience at all and all 4 of us had a great time looking at the sharks, stingrays, fish and barrier reefs.

We were about to see the Sea Lion show right next door, but was reminded by staff that all shows now have to have a reservation beforehand.  It was already all gone so we went to the Dolphin show next since there were open spots for us.

Shows

The Dolphin Coast show has such a large seating area, it wasn’t even full when the show started.  We were reminded that no pics or videos are allowed to be taken at any of the shows, and that masks must be kept on.  I remember the show being better in 2019, but am not totally sure what has changed.  It was still a good show and a great excuse for us to rest for the duration of show.

After that, we visited the River Scout exhibit which didn’t really change much since 2019.  This year, we got to see a short movie at the 4D theater about Octopus.  Last time, we missed the last showing and didn’t want to miss it again this year.  I am glad to finally get to experience it this year.

The wheelchair seating was an open spot right in the middle of the theater.  We got our 3D glasses to wear and when the show started, I realized I was missing something that everyone who sat in the theater seats was experiencing.  Their seats rocked and shook with the movie and had something poke them.  I didn’t experience this being in my own wheelchair but could still experience the mist, smoke, and smells when those came on.  It definitely was worth still going.

We then took a few minutes to check out the touch pool and the albino alligators right by the 4D theater before finally heading back to watch the Sea Lion show.  The show was similar to 2019’s show and was just as fun and entertaining as previously.  The only difference I noticed was that the sea lions don’t walk right up to the audience anymore.  This is probably due to social distancing.

New Shark Exhibit

It was finally time to check out the new shark exhibit as it was right beside the sea lion show.  We were all excited to see what a $100 million dollar expansion has to offer.  It opened by the end of 2020 and added a 1 million gallon shark gallery.

It was really interesting to read and see all the displays on the walls and to see the sharks in the giant aquarium.  The whole exhibit was dark and very tranquil and it was amazing seeing all these sharks up close and personal.  The 3 of us who previously visited this aquarium before the addition was expecting the shark exhibit to really wow us but we still enjoyed this new exhibit.

We ended the day by checking out Tropical Diver and Cold Water Quest exhibits.  Nothing has really changed with these 2 exhibits but it was great to see the tropical fish, coral reef, beluga whales, penguins and otters.  The only thing we skipped was the Aquanaut Adventure exhibit.  This was the interactive exhibit where we learn and interact with aquatic life.  I already did this in 2019, and after spending about 7.5 hours at the aquarium we were ready to get dinner somewhere.

Accessibility

I previously wrote that the accessibility at the Georgia Aquarium was great.  There were elevators and ramps everywhere that is needed and there wasn’t any part of the aquarium I could not get to.  The reserved wheelchair mats were not yet placed in the new shark exhibit and there wasn’t as many of them as in 2019.  I guess with less capacity at the aquarium, it wasn’t as crowded and theses reserved viewing spots weren’t needed as much.

It was another great visit to the Georgia Aquarium during a rainy day.  I can’t believe we ended up visiting for 7.5 hours and enjoyed every minute of it.  The new shark exhibit wasn’t as exciting as I hoped it to be but it was still worth seeing it along with the rest of the aquarium again.  Highly recommended.