The New Living Planet Aquarium

We loved the old aquarium and have been waiting for months for the new location to open so of course we had to visit opening week.

Apparently that's how the rest of the Wasatch Front felt because the line was out the door and the place was packed.

It's huge!  Two stories of amazing and it's obvious they planned in space to grow.  Everything is stroller accessible by ramps and/or elevators as well as short cut stairs for those without wheels.  They are still in the process of moving fish so there were lots of vacant tanks.  Nevertheless we spent two and a half hours exploring everything that was there and it did NOT disappoint.  The highlights:

• We've always loved watching the otters.  At the new location they have indoor and outdoor areas to frolick in.  Chiquita ran back and forth as the otters swam around their much bigger tank.
• The penguins have separate under and above water viewing areas. The below water area is curved so you get a little bit of a look under the penguins.
• The Journey to South America is warm (dress in layers on cold days or you'll boil) and very cool!  Chiquita didn't try out the suspended rope bridge this time (there was a long line) but we loved seeing all the frogs and I'm excited to go back when they populate all the touch tanks that snake around the bottom level.
• My personal favorite was the shark tunnel.  Surrounded by the tank we not only saw sharks but turtles, stingrays and lots of fish.  The wavy blue light that filtered through made it absolutely magical.  I could have hung out there the whole time.