Now, the thing to know first is that when you look at all the info online, read everything with a skeptic eye. I had expectations of pizza, an obstacle course, a scavenger hunt, and animal stories. And why were those my expectations? Because those were all "possible activities" online. Except for the pizza. They said there was pizza. And to be fair, there was. But more on that later. As for the rest of it, they were nowhere to be found. However, despite all that, we still had an absolutely amazing time! Here's a video we made to remember our trip.
Here's how our evening went:
We arrived a little early (just in case of traffic - we traveled 2.5 hours) and parked ($20).
Then, we walked around and took some pictures. You can get some amazing pictures of the Chicago skyline from the Shedd.
We got our stuff from the car and made our way to the special events entrance and waited with the rest of the people to get in. Definitely try to get toward the front of the line. Or you will be waiting a while. First you wait in a line to get your bags searched. Then you wait in a line to check in. They scan your tickets, give you wristbands, and then give you a paper with a small map and schedule of activities. Someone will escort you to your designated sleeping area so that you can put your bags down and then show you where dinner is.
We were directed to a dining location where we had chicken fingers and mac and cheese or a hot dog and mac and cheese. There was also salad and cookies along with lemonade and water to drink. In my opinion, this was better than pizza. However, we later learned that there WAS pizza in a different dining location. We were never given the choice.
Next, we went to the Polar Play Zone and Underwater Viewing area. I love this part of the Shedd. In fact, it might be one of my favorite areas.
By the time we were finished looking there, it was almost time for the event orientation and aquatic presentation so we went to find a seat. We were only there about 15 minutes early, but there was hardly anyone there yet so we sat in the front row (which has it's positives and negatives) but there are no bad seats here! We really enjoyed the show. It's always fun to watch the dolphins.
After the show was when they had all of their planned activities. I was really hoping they would be like the ones I had listed above, but they were still fine. There was an animal encounter (tortoise), sea sturgeon touch, craft (coloring tote bags), cornhole, matching game, and it said on our schedule that there was something called the penguin waddle but we never did find it. They were also showing all of the movies they had. We saw them all. It was a great way to spend some time sitting down. There was also a DJ having a dance party.
The only time we felt crowded the entire night was during the Caribbean Reef dive presentation. 400 people crowded around a tank is a little much. But it was still fun to watch.
We set up our sleeping bags and changed into our pajamas. Then went to get our late-night snack (goldfish and fruit snacks). They showed the last of the movie choices they had (that one was boring) and we played a game of Connect Four while we waited for bedtime.
Lights out/Quiet time was supposed to start at 11pm, but if you ask my son, people weren't quiet until after midnight (he's right). And for some reason, they all woke-up about 15 minutes before quiet time was supposed to end. Oh well.
We packed all of our stuff up and changed clothes. We brought our bags to the theater (so that they can clean up before they open for the day).
We ate breakfast (cereal, fruit, muffins, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, milk).
We explored the areas of the aquarium we didn't see the night before (and we still missed some stuff).
Before we left, we made sure to stop by the gift shop to get the little guy a t-shirt and a toy.
And then we made our way home. We could have stayed and seen everything because your tickets include admission for the next day, but we were way too exhausted for that.
Now that you've heard all about our time at the Shedd, here are a few of my tips!
1. For dinner, snack, and breakfast, get there early. We arrived early and had no problems getting our food and a table. However, when we were leaving, there was always a huge line and people waiting for tables.
2. Bring headphones. When my son was having so much trouble getting to sleep because everyone was so loud, we connected to the wi-fi (yes, the Shedd has wi-fi), put on some soft music from youtube, and put his headphones in. He was asleep within 5 minutes!
3. Don't go into this with expectations of sleeping. If you know that you're not going to get much sleep, you'll be far less cranky in the morning when you don't.
4. Get a map. One of the first things we did after putting our stuff down was to go to the front entrance of the aquarium (not where you came in) and grab a map. The paper you get that has a map is only the map of the sleeping areas. You'll want a map of the entire aquarium.
5. Pay attention to the times on your schedule. There are a lot of exhibits that are only open during very specific hours. We missed out on one exhibit for this reason. Plan accordingly.
6. And as always, Have Fun! This is first and foremost, a great time to have fun with your kids!
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