It’s a rainy day in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) but I’m on this obsessive quest to play a tourist at home. (For those who have followed me, yes, I moved to DFW and couldn’t be happier about it.) What to do on a rainy day? Museums? Sure, and there are a few that I’ve written about in previous posts but today, I’m thinking turtles. Yeah, that’s it, turtles. We humans have just survived the Arctic Blast of 2021 but the turtles in the region have had a time of it, this thought leads me to visiting aquariums in the area and there are two. A smaller aquarium in the Grapevine area of DFW, Sea Life, and a larger one downtown, the Dallas World Aquarium.
Let’s start with Sea Life. Sea Life is an aquarium in the truest sense of the word, in that all of their exhibits are aquatic in nature. It’s a truly immersive experience in terms of how the tanks are laid out in the facility inclusive of a 360 tunnel loaded with marine life. They host interactive stations that allow for touching starfish, sting rays and other sea life. This place is designed with adults and kids in mind but it has some special kid features throughout. Like the ability to go through little tunnels and pop up into the exhibits. This is not a huge aquarium like the one I visited in Atlanta, no whales, but it was great!
As I mentioned, this aquarium is noted for its turtle rescue program and yes, they were rehabbing turtles from the freeze and preparing them to be released on San Padre Island, Texas. My visit to Sea Life actually made me think it was time to take scuba lessons.
Up Next, The Dallas World Aquarium. I was really excited to visit because I knew the collection of species was going to be larger and I was eager to see flamingos. The DWA is designed to create an experience that is more than just marine life but that of life surrounding the water, the canopy if you will, and it is a cool concept. You walk through “jungle” displays over multiple stories with a view to the water below. Birds, small mammals, reptiles and aquatic life are positioned in the display by region and this is both interesting and helpful. That said, I reached to door much sooner than I thought. I actually said to the attendant, “Is that it? Am I finished?”
While the diversity of animals is an interesting concept the actual under-water portion of the display is lacking. The aquariums where small, and where they were big, they had hardly and fish in them. I was disappointed. If the name of the DWA where the Dallas Reptile and Bird Park, my expectations would have been very different. And if you go with that frame of mind, you won’t be disappointed. But if you go to see thousands of fish, as I did, you’ll be left wanting.
It goes without saying that I loved Sea Life in Grapevine. A reasonably priced, immersive aquatic experience that grown-ups and kids alike will enjoy. The Dallas World Aquarium IS a nice experience but make sure your expectations are more along the lines of a small jungle zoo vs that of an aquarium and you won’t be disappointed.
Speaking of Zoos…yeah, that’s where I’ll go next. The DFW area zoos. More to come!