Miami Seaquarium birthday a good ticket, overall
One factor it pays to remember when planning that fabulous one-on-one day with your child where you're going to spend all day bonding, just the two of you: Children are crazy. .
Really. If I took an adult friend to Miami Seaquarium, paid for an annual pass, bought her a slushy and practically knocked people over to get her second row seats to the killer whale show, and then she got splashed by the whale in the first 15 seconds of the show, and burst into tears and said she wanted to go home, we would all conclude that my friend was nuts.
But this is what happened last week when I took my daughter there to celebrate her 7th birthday. And this kind of behavior is just normal for a little girl turning 7. You just can't plan for it. If you don't believe me, go to Disney World and look at all the crying kids, and their parents, who spent $700 for that experience.
Anyway, at the Seaquarium, as we wiped salt water out of our eyes (Thanks, Lolita the killer whale!), no one even noticed that one of us was sobbing. I got out a packet of Yogos and handed them to her one by one. I recognized the outburst as a cry of hunger. And the day was all uphill from there.
I'd been warned by friends that I might not be impressed by the Seaquarium. But it was a great afternoon, except those few crazy minutes at the whale show. Click here for the Miami Seaquarium website.
My son would say that anyone who keeps a giant sea-being captive is a "monster.'' But the exhibits and shows promote appreciation for nature, and for sea life. If a few sea creatures spend their days bonding with fun humans, for this purpose, that is OK by me.
It takes about four hours to see all the shows and have a good time.
And a bonus at Miami Seaquarium: They still have those machines that make a wax model of a dolphin or a shark, for only $2.
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