When you begin planning a trip to the Tennessee Aquarium, you should plan to spend about two hours exploring the exhibits and visiting the gift shop. The attraction is located right along the riverfront of the downtown area. The area offers numerous restaurants to visit for a meal either before or after visiting the aquarium as well as other attractions that you can visit later in the day. When you arrive at the aquarium, you are greeted with images of various animals that live in both fresh and salt water. You can smell the aroma of the animals as they swim in the water that their habitats are made from as well as some of the plants in the buildings.
As you walk from one exhibit to another in the Chattanooga TN attraction, you will see otters as they climb over rocks and play in the water as well as all types of fish. There are also alligators sitting quietly on logs and turtles that are happy just swimming around all day. There is a second building to explore called Ocean Journey. This is the building where all of the saltwater animals live. It is designed to look like an ocean with waves painted along the walls and even flooring that looks like the sand. A fun exhibit is the penguins. They play on their rocks that are painted to look like snow, and you can even see a bit of snow in the exhibit as it’s kept cold to mimic their natural habitat. There is a stingray touch tank where you can touch the stingrays and learn about how they interact with each other.
Aside from fish and marine life, you can see butterflies of a variety of species and coral reef. Sharks and schools of fish swim by as you’re walking through certain areas of the Chattanooga TN attraction. Your admission ticket allows you to explore both buildings of the aquarium at any time of the day. This allows you to enjoy the exhibits while taking a break at times to enjoy some of the other areas that are nearby. You can easily download your tickets through a variety of online sources. All you have to do is present the ticket on the screen of your phone to enter the aquarium. The IMAX 3D Theater inside the aquarium gives you a feeling of being in the water while swimming with the animals. There are even a few surprises in store while in the theater. You’ll also learn about some of the animals that can be seen at the aquarium as well as the different types of plants that can be found in the water.
Add a backstage pass to your ticket so that you can go behind the scenes to see what it’s like to work as a caretaker. You can help feed the animals and learn more about what it takes to care for them at the aquarium. There are several packages available if you want to include other attractions in with your visit.