Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Toronto, ON

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada opened in October and Gord and I have wanted to check it out.

But we've been hearing about crazy long line-ups, etc. so decided we'd wait and go today when we figured most people would be home celebrating Christmas with their families.

It's downtown, next door to the CN Tower

Admittance is $30/adult.  We drove and underground parking across the street was $20 for 2.5 hours ($22 max after that).

We got there about 11:30am and it was fairly crowded already.  This is looking down at the children's play area with a small restaurant attached.

We left just after 1:30pm and there were line-ups outside to get in.

More than 13,500 underwater creatures from around the globe are on display. Exhibits include Tropical Reefs, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Habitats, Jellyfish, Seahorses, Stingrays, and Great Lakes exhibits and much more. The aquarium holds 5.7 million litres (1.5 million gallons) of water.

From the majestic Kelp forests of Canada’s Pacific Northwest to the spectacular colour and abundant life of a Tropical Indo-Pacific reef, to the frigid Baffin Sea to the flooding waters of the Amazon, the aquarium covers all waters of the world.

There were lots of informational signs along the way.

There are lots of small and big tanks.  Here is some of what we saw ...

There is a 96 metre (315 foot) long moving walkway through a tunnel deep below the 2.84 million litre (750,000 gallon) Shark Lagoon. In the lagoon was a shark collection including 3 to 3.7 metre (10 to 12 feet) long sand tiger sharks, largetooth sawfish and dozens of other species.  It was really cool because the fish swam next to you and also above you!

Gord

Me

There were cool things kids could go into

What keeps everything going is on display.

Upstairs is the lagoon which the tunnel goes through.

Me on the glass floor

Gord on the glass floor

There were lots of Christmas trees scattered all over the place ... this one was at the exit.

When you leave, you go through the gift shop.

The aquarium was really cool and I'd go back.  What wasn't cool was the amount of people ... I imagine that will die down once the novelty wears off.