Hippo Haven at Adventure Aquarium

We received complimentary tickets for our visit. All opinions are my own.

This is the first and only aquarium we have visited as a family. I had been leery about taking Charlie because any aquarium we choose to visit is about an hour from us and I didn’t want to drive, pay, and then him hate it or get bored/tired after 30 minutes of walking around.

Adventure Aquarium was amazing. This is truly an aquarium catered to children (though I loved everything about it as well). When we walked in, Charlie immediately wanted to run everywhere and see everything. After explaining to him we weren’t in a hurry and had plenty of time, he slowed down a bit so we could enjoy everything.

This week, June 15-22, is Hippo Haven week! Monday through Friday, join in on the search for the “hippo booty” in Hippo Haven Twitter Treasure Hunt for the chance to win your choice of a behind-the-scenes Hippo Experience for four or a Family Explorer Annual Pass. Follow @AdventureAqua on Twitter to find out the daily clue! Saturday and Sunday, June 21 and 22 Backyardigans Pablo, Tyrone and Uniqua get in on the fun with live appearances 11-3 daily in the Rotunda. You can visit Hippo Haven for Talks and Feeds every day at 10:30, 11:30, 1:30 and 2:30.

Follow Adventure Aquarium on Facebook starting June 13 through June 22 for the chance to win cool prizes including 4-packs of Adventure Aquarium tickets and Hippo Prize Packs.

Hippo Haven, home of Button and Genny, 3,000+ pound hippo sisters, is located just off from the café. After a giant makeover, Hippo Haven reopened to the public May 29th. Adventure Aquarium is the ONLY aquarium in the world with hippos on exhibit. When you open the doors to Hippo Haven, you open the door to a whole new world. You hear music, see lights, and projections that take you on “a day in the life on an African river”. This spectacular environment was created by award-winning production company, Mousetrappe. Mousetrappe has worked its magic with Disney, Universal, Harry Potter, and many more.

This is the view from the top deck, kind of a skyline view. It was really pretty awesome.

We went through Hippo Haven for a feeding time, but we couldn’t quite hear what the speaker was saying, though we were standing close to him.  The field trip crowd ran in and it was a bit overwhelming.

The “ewwws” that you hear are not about the hippos in general, but apparently it was potty time while we were there.

In the lower level, there are bench seats and an open wall of glass to sit and enjoy the hippos. Personally, I could have sat there all day.

Nowhere else will you be able to be this close to a hippo!

We stopped back in on our way out too. This time it was so quiet and peaceful, just us and another family in the huge environment.

If you’re in the area, Adventure Aquarium should definitely be on your “to do” list. And while you’re there, make sure to sit down and enjoy the hippos. They put a lot of work into creating a magical home for Button and Genny and it really shows!

Be sure to look out for the post on the rest of our day at Adventure Aquarium. There will be a giveaway!