Earlier this year we had the chance to visit Cleveland, Ohio and the folks at Positively Cleveland helped us make our way around the city and we checked out the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. This is a great family thing to do in Cleveland, but is best enjoyed by everyone. It is an old powerhouse with smoke stacks, and has recently been converted into this unique aquarium. It is a great old building with the Nautica Entertainment Complex that includes great foods including Windows on the River, Nautica Cafe (right above the aquarium), Shooters on the Water, and Jacobs Pavilion which host concerts and special events, and more. It is a neat area and building and it’s great to see how they used the old structure to bring in Ohio’s only free-standing aquarium.
The aquarium starts from the main entrance and ends after making a big loop in the powerhouse. The aquarium houses everything from fresh water Ohioan species, to saltwater sharks and everything in between. They have an area where kids and adults can touch the different marine creatures in their massive tanks. Towards the end of the aquarium, an 11,000 gallon tank is filled with sharks, rays and other ocean marine life.
They have some packages and one I saw that looked interesting was feeding the Shark and Ray’s package which includes feeding the sharks by pole and rays by hand. It also includes taking a back of the house tour and checking out the food preparation area, a green screen group photo and general admission.
For families: On weekends, strollers are ONLY allowed from 3pm-6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Special needs strollers are always acceptable. Kid’s parties are available through certain times on the weekends only, but a great idea for those marine life and ocean lovers.
Visiting hours for the Greater Cleveland Aquarium:
Monday – Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.
Last admission time is at 5:00pm.
Also in the same parking lot as the aquarium is the Nautica Queen cruise dining ship of Cleveland, Ohio. It is a cruise ship that will take you on a tour of Cleveland, while providing a buffet lunch or dinner and coffee, tea, or iced tea and it is reasonably priced. Check them out on Facebook. They have a deal for the aquarium and Nautica Queen experiences.
Looks like Cleveland also has a good aquarium park to offer. It’s not as big as the in the other states but is still worth the visit. I’ll certainly put it on my schedule and bring along the kids next time.