Aquarium of Niagara

My family loves the aquarium of Niagara. Yes it is small but the animals are well loved and cared for. Admission price is minimal and yearly memberships are very reasonable. I expect great things from this aquarium in the future as they are currently undergoing renovations.

Only three stars for the conditions of the penguins, they look in very bad shape even for an untrained eye. Their area is very small and they show signs of psychological distress. Otherwise a good place to learn about aquatic freshwater life. This is in my opinion the area in which they should focus. I can understand that fresh water fishes are not as colorful as the coral reefs, but sea fishes look in pretty bad shape.

I have difficulty giving this place one star but sadly that’s what it deserves. This is the most depressing place I have been to. The tanks are so empty and small except for the fish, and the animals are just going in circles endlessly. I heard this place does some great work helping hurt animals and they were building new exhibits during our visit but the animals looked bored, sad, and sometimes in rough shape. Maybe the admission fee is worth it to help them out? Your call.

The penguins didn’t look like they were too healthy. A lot smaller than I expected but the displays were nice. No sting rays or bigger sharks. The sea lion show was the best part. They were renovating some areas.

This aquarium was extremely small and not worth the $ 11 admission. The place was very understaffed (one person was covering both the admissions and the gift shop register).
The aquarium has two floors and a very small amount of tanks/​exhibits. I highly doubt anyone can spend more than an hour in this place (I was in and out in 30 minutes but was able to cover all exhibits in 15). I could go through the entire aquarium in the time I’m writing this review.
Not only is the place small, its is old and outdates. The only real attractions this aquarium has to offer are the sea lion show and the penguins.
The gift shop has an extremely poor layout. Besides the understaffing, there is just product laying on the ground, or very awkwardly placed. The shop is very disorganized, messy and rundown. It is by far the worst gift shop I have been in.
Please save your money and do not go to this aquarium. Hit up the Buffalo Zoo if you want to have a quality experience that is well worth it.

$ 11 admission for 30 minutes, not worth it. Only cool thing they had was the sea lion show and a small amount of penguins. 2 floors with small exhibitions and a small verity of fish, including a few empty tanks and no octopus.
Gift shop was small and poorly laid out and messy, and they had one employee working both gift shop register and admissions register.
If you’re looking for something animal-​orientated and worth the money around here, I’d suggest the Buffalo Zoo

Small tanks, outdated, not enough space for sea lions. Not worth the price but if you’ve got nothing better to do you might as well. Some interesting species of fish as well.

Wow, it was so small! For costing $ 11 a ticket to get in, it only took me about 11 minutes to walk around the entire aquarium. If I hadn’t caught the sea lion show (which wasn’t great) I would have said the entire thing was a rip-​off. Also, the seal exhibit is so tiny, it seems almost inhumane. I really felt bad for the 3 or 4 of them swimming around in that little pool.

I’ve been to a lot of aquariums and this one ranks pretty low on the list. It is small and run down. On the bright side, it is less expensive than most aquariums.

This place is very sad. So few attractions, not much to see. Hope it gets a lot better with the refurbishment. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to see the sea lion show that only lasted 15 minutes. Touch tank is only open to school groups, this was a big disappointment. Their are more stuffed animal fish in the gift shop then real fish in the actual aquarium. Upstairs has more photographs then real aquatic animals. You know your aquarium has gone downhill when one fourth of it is pictures of guessing animals. To top it off the bathroom smelled absolutely atrocious. Unless of course you like the smell of cinnamon mixed with feces. The upside was each tank was labeled with the scientific name of the animal as well as there every day name. Overall this trip to the aquarium was a disappointment. We hope that the refurbishment make this place a much better establishment to visit.

I don’t know why anyone would give this aquarium less than three stars relative to other aquariums in the country. To me, a one star aquarium is dirty, overpriced and unsafe with little regard for patrons or the inhabitants. None of that applies to the Aquarium of Niagara.
I found this aquarium to be as visually appealing as aquariums in Oregon and Washington if smaller — and it is small, but priced accordingly ($ 10.50 for adults relative to $ 19.95 at Oregon Coast Aquarium, as an example.) In terms of value, this aquarium is as good as it gets. You’d be hard pressed to find a nicer aquarium at this price point without it coming at the expense of the animals’ well being. There isn’t a touch tank, which may be disappointing to some but reassuring to those who disapprove of that practice.
For as small as the aquarium is and as busy as it was today, it never felt crowded. It’s laid out really well. The highlights include the shark exhibit with an assortment of jaws, the sea horse exhibit, and multiple views of the harbor seals and sea lions. We were there in time for the penguin feeding, but they also have other demonstrations we’ll have to catch another time. Most importantly, the kids enjoyed themselves and didn’t want to leave.
We purchased an annual family pass for two adults and three children at $ 60, or the equivalent of less than two visits at regular price. We also get half price admission to the Buffalo Zoo as well discounts to other local attractions and a handful of other zoos and aquariums around the country.
Update:
We’ve been back a couple times and caught a couple showings of the weekend sea lion show. It’s strangely affecting, or maybe I’m just a sap in my old age. Regardless, it’s fun to watch the sea lions interact with each other and the trainers. The viewing area fills up fast for special events.

We arrived at 4:20PM and I paid $ 21.50 for two adults to see this aquarium as I was showing my partner around the Niagara Falls area! We begin exploring this small animal exhibit and I liked seeing the penguins however, they just stood and laid there without much moment. In addition, lot of the creatures they have are fish with their main attraction, and show (4:30PM), being three seals who were still learning tricks. I appreciated the seals but overall I don’t believe that this show or the exhibit was worth my $ 21.50 to get in and see them. Apparently, I was not the only one who felt this way because there were maybe 15 other people there to see this show.

So I have to say these sea dwelling animals were some of the saddest looking animals I’ve seen in a while. You’re asking yourself how does a fish look sad right now. I’m not sure but they sure seemed to have tears in their eyes. I’m pretty sure one of the seals managed to utter help me on my way out but when I turned back all I saw was a splash. Seriously though. I don’t know how many animals are happy to be held captive but I don’t typically leave feeling like I should have left a file next to their enclosure. All in all it was no Sea World and while some of the visitors might have thought the animals were pressed against the glass in affection I strongly feel they were trying to get notes to the outside world. I feel even worse have left after finding out two of the sea lions that performed were kidnapped… I mean rescued from California.

It’s small but very clean. They take good care of their animals and the tanks aren’t overcrowded. Nice signage to tell you what you’re looking at. I wish more of the exhibits were open and there were fewer giant plastic sharks. I can see those on the Internet.

Am zweiten Tag unseres Besuches der Niagara Falls führte uns gleich morgens in das Aquarium of Niagara, das im Niagara Falls State Park liegt. Leider hatten sich die schlechten Wetterprognosen für den Tag als richtig erwiesen.
Direkt am Aquarium befindet sich ein Parklatz für die Besucher mit einer begrenzten Parkzeit, die aber bei unserem Besuch nicht kontrolliert wurde. Mit unserem Kombiticket war der Eintritt hier kostenlos. Mit mehr als 1.500 Wassertieren wird hier geworben, die im Niagara Falls Aquarium leben sollen. Ich habe sie nicht nachgezählt.
Ein weiteres Highlight sind die über 40 Exponate mit Seelöwen, Pinguinen, Seepferdchen, Stör und vielen mehr. Bei unserer Ankunft kamen wir gleich pünktlich zur Pinguin Fütterung, die von 10.00 und 15.00 Uhr stattfinden und von unseren Kindern begeistert verfolgt wurde.
Es finden auch weitere spannende Aktionen im Aquarium statt, wo man dem Personal über die Schulter schauen kann, aber auch ernste Themen der Erhaltung der Tierwelt im Meer wird vermittelt. Die vielen schönen Aquarien mit den vielen Fischen fanden guten Anklang bei den Kindern.
Natürlich darf man die Sea Lion Show — «Spirit of the Sea» nicht verpassen. Einfach unglaublich, was den Tieren für tolle Kunststücke beigebracht wurden. Untermalt wurde die Show mit einem extra passenden Soundtrack.
Wir waren wirklich positiv überrascht, da wir nicht so viel erwartet haben.

Small aquarium comparatively speaking, but the exhibits are clean and staff is remarkably friendly. We took two younger children a few days ago, they loved the sea lion shows, and the staff even conducted an interactive «touch-​tank» exhibit where the audience got a chance to play with some common aquatic organisms. Cheap, only cost $ 25 for five of us to go when using the membership

Fun place to go with the family. If you are a member of the zoo or museum bring your card you get a discount. For two kids and three adults with thr discount it came to 22 $! Cant beat that price. We went on a random tuesday that the kids didnt have school and it was not busy at all. We have been there on weekends and during the summer and it has been very busy. The sea lion show is the best exhibit by far. they shows run for about 20 minutes and are two hours apart. Plan your trip so you are there during that. The staff is friendly and able to amswer questions. The place is very clean. Since it was dead on the day we were there (20 total people in the building) they took all of us to a basement room that had a touch tank! The worker explained all the animals and how to handle them safely. Then we got to check it out! They have clams, oysters, lobsters, sea urchins, mussels, and a variety of crabs!

Pros:
— Inexpensive: In addition to the already low cost of admission, we used our CAA/​AAA card for an additional $ 1 discount per person.
— Good displays: Not great, but the displays of some small sharks and octopus were interesting and kept the kids interested.
— Nice sea lion show: It’s pretty entertaining — you won’t get a SeaWorld-​esque pomp and lights, but the close proximity you can get to the show will keep you and your kids’ attentions.
Cons:
— Small: Don’t expect a whole-​day outing. You’ll get probably two hours tops out of the place.
— Not as up-​to-​date: Displays are clearly years old.
Overall: Nice, relatively inexpensive outing for a family.

It’s a decent diversion if you’re done looking at the falls and are looking to kill a couple hours. The admission price isn’t too bad if you get a discount or have a pass. Is it the Shedd Aquarium? No. But kids will enjoy it. They have plenty of displays to look at, and demos every half hour or so. As a plus, the animals all look healthy and they have done a good job putting together appropriate habitats.
You are also supporting local conservation efforts by visiting this aquarium! A lot of people don’t realize where their admission dollars are actually going.
One tip: If you see more than one tour bus parked outside, I would recommend waiting a bit. The facility is not that big, and is easily flooded with people. As we were leaving, about 100 tourists from three buses were flooding in and about to make the place miserable.

This is a very small and outdated aquarium. If I were to compare it to other aquariums in the country I would give it 1 star. My rating of 3 is based on this being an affordable local attraction your kids will enjoy. There are sea lions, penguins, and a ton of fish to see. The aquarium also offers demos/​shows every hour. My son particularly enjoyed the sea lion show and penguin feeding. Other positives include relatively cheap admission and free parking. Good for about a two hour visit, but not much more. Just go with the right expectations and don’t try to compare to other aquariums.
Tip — Keep an eye out for discounts and coupons. Also, Buffalo Zoo members get a discount. Hard to justify full admission but if you can go for a reduced price it’s worth it.

My husband and I visited the Aquarium of Niagara as part of our «Discovery Pass» package we purchased during our trip to the Falls. The aquarium is small, but quaint. The coolest exhibit was the penguins. We were lucky enough to get to watch a feeding. One thing that was particularly cool about the penguins is that above the exhibit was a picture of each penguin with his/​her name, and when he/​she was either hatched or found in the wild. Some of those penguins were older than me, which I though was really cool. I had no idea penguins lived that long.
The outdoor sea lion exhibit was cool. There was also a sea lion show that occurred while we were there. We watched through the window below in the gift shop. The show was cute — lots of swimming laps, jumping on command, clapping of flippers, and eating of fish.
You can get through the entire aquarium in about 45 minutes. Certainly not a large place, but a nice stop on our tour of the Falls.