Field Trip: The Living Planet Aquarium

I recently visited the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, Utah with my son and his best friend to celebrate his birthday.  My son loves animals, and since it was still a little cold for the zoo, it was his decision to visit the Aquarium over all of the other children's museums and attractions in the area.  Confession: He really wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese but we already had plans to go there for a school fundraiser a few days later, so this was his second choice.  We have been to the Living Planet Aquarium three or four times in the past few years and we think that the exhibits are of increasingly good quality.  We and our kids have had fun there together.  We have also been to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon and the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.  You can spend a full day at either of those places.  You will be hard pressed to spend more than a couple of hours at the Living Planet.  It is currently housed in an old grocery store building.  As soon as you walk in, you will see plans for a beautiful larger facility in the works, but that is still a few years away.

With a Trout

When we arrived in the mid-morning on a Thursday, I was dismayed to find a nearly-full parking lot and two school buses.  But, there was no line at the counter and while the Living Planet was crowded, it was not so crowded that we couldn't see what we wanted to see and have a good time.  We started with the section dedicated to local animals.  There are a number of tanks filled with trout and bass - which may not seem that exciting to adults, but seeing fish that large so close up usually fascinates my kids for a few minutes.  A little farther down is the new otter exhibit.  It features endangered local river otters and it looks like it has a lot of potential, but all the otters were asleep in a pile.  Fortunately, that pile was near the window, so we still got a good look at at the cute little guys, but it would have been a lot more fun to see them frolicking.  We came back later to see if they were more active, but no luck.

A Pile of Otters

Next, we went to my son's favorite section, which is dedicated to the ocean.  There are some phosphorescent jellyfish displays and an octopus, which was unusually active when we were watching it.  Maybe he trades off with the otters.  Around the bend is the stingray pond where the public is welcome to touch the rays.  Nearby, there is a touch pond with starfish and urchins and such that can be touched as well.  This is the section that my daughter loves and last time we visited, she stayed there a long time while my husband and son explored the rest of the Aquarium.  The boys didn't dare touch anything, but there is a large tank nearby with three types of sharks and a large sea turtle and some other fun sea creatures and they stood in front of it for a long time yelling with delight every time a shark passed by.  There is a little "coral reef" play area nearby, but it's not for climbing, so they didn't stay there long.  My kids liked it better when they were toddlers, and that's probably the point of it.

At the shark tank.  That's an eel to the right of
his head

The last major section is South America.  This is perhaps my favorite part of the Aquarium.  Here you can see penguins, piranha, electric eels, a python, and other such exotic creatures.  I was surprised that the boys didn't want to spend more time here, but this time they wanted to cruise through it pretty quickly.  Just before the exit is a small exhibit dedicated to animal "superpowers".  Here you will find small water creatures and insects who do cool things, like glow in the dark.  There is a mudskipper fish that can "walk" on land and a transparent fish and such.  It doesn't take long to go through, but it might help you to see remarkable things about otherwise small and unglamorous animals.  The displays have a comic book theme that my husband appreciated on his last visit there.

There is a cafe and a gift shop at the Aquarium, but we haven't tried them.   To get to the Living Planet Aquarium from I-15, take the 10600 South Exit and go east until you get there.  The Living Planet is on the north (left) side of the street.  Admission is $9.00 for adults and $7.00 for children (ages 3-17).   Students, military and seniors pay $8.00.  Hours are 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Salt Lake City