Solid three stars. Chaotic, poor markings for opportune “path”. Don’t bother with purchasing tickets in advance as you’re going to stand in the long line (37 minutes) to get in. Whale “exhibit” was severely disappointing; it was 4 whale balloons and 4 signs explaining a little info. Audio within the area had very VERY poor acoustics, I could only understand about 40% of what they were saying. Staff was extremely friendly, however, the volunteer/interns (also VERY nice and knowledgeable) were pulled away quickly from the staff (in one instance to wipe a scale and railings).Food/cafeteria: was good. Cleaning staff was very efficient and quick to turn over the table which allowed for faster seating.Gift shop: small, minimal stuff, they had some nice jewelry I was very interested in (likely would have purchased at least 2 items) however, after standing at the jewelry case for over 15 minutes, with no help, we left.Zero social distancing, but they harped on “safety”.Boat tour was nice. Got to see a couple baby dolphins with their mamas (honestly the highlight).“Shark” exhibit contained ONE nurse shark. That’s is…one shark, a nurse shark. Mind you with extremely dirty glass (see last pic).

Loved this visit. I wish I had more time there. Everyone I spoke to was very knowledgeable and the animals are well cared for.

Was lovely to see Hope and Winter in person. The aquarium was a fun and educational experience. There is plenty of room for everyone to look around without invading each others space.The staff is all very friendly and knowledgeable. Any questions I had they answered. There is a nice cafe to eat at if you get hungry.

What an amazing experience for the family. Lots of education information. Added on and ECO Experience and was the perfect day for the family.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a great family fun trip. Not only do you get to see fun animals, you learn a lot about them. Their new addition is beautiful and spacious. It is great knowing the money you spend there goes right back to the animals. We highly recommend the wildlife boat tour for an additional cost. It is a great way to see Clearwater Bay and you may even spot a few dolphins!

Visited Clearwater Marine Aquarium, it was nice but small. Not much to do unless you pay separately to do the other activities they offer for a separate fee for activities. The presentations are informative. I would add the sea tour if you can swing it. Entrance is $32 for adults and parking is $12. Would recommend if you have not visited Winter, but not do annual pass due to how small it is. Enjoy visiting!

Went as a group of 3 adults and enjoyed it. Its not a big flashy aquarium full of exotic fish and touristy displays, but an active working aquarium focusing on the rehabilitation of local marine life. The dolphins are the main focus but They also have some stingrays and sea turtles and a few smaller fish. The neat part is seeing the more behind the scenes stuff like the rehabilitation rooms the surgery room and where they prep the food. Make sure to get photos of the map before you start walking around at first we got a bit confused and thought it ended after the first exhibit we saw and we were like theres no way this whole aquarium is just that 10 minutes haha. But then we found a map and found you actually to step outside and go to another area and they were more rooms and places at branches off of it and once we knew all the areas we could explore it definitely seemed larger. We spent more time here than we did at the Florida aquarium which we really did finish in about 30 to 40 minutes. The food here is pretty good too They have a nice menu with some good items. I enjoyed my salmon spread with crackers and definitely whatever you do try their banana pudding pie it was so good. We had another activity after this but it was also a rainy day on and off storms so it was nice being inside and waiting for that thunderstorm to pass.We got our tickets through the city go pass which made it a great deal We got this plus the Florida aquarium plus Busch Gardens plus the zoo plus a sunset cruise tour for only 120 a person.

Totally worth the drive. We watched the movie and wanted to support the cause. I recommend you go early and do the backstage tour. Winter was amazing to watch and see her success. Watch the movie and go!! Highly recommend it. Lots to learn and lots to see. Great for kids

We had a great time visiting the Clearwater Aquarium / sealife hospital. Take the VIP tour Kathie was fun to listen too. All in all was a fun 2 hour visit. Loved the tanks. Very well taken care of facility

We been wanting to visit Clearwater Aquarium like most after the Dolphin Tale movie came out. It was nice to see how they care for the animals and being able to see into the hospital area. My son, who is 11, really enjoyed that. When we were there, they were bringing a sea turtle out from a surgery and the crew talked with my son some telling him what they had to do to the turtle. He really liked that being he and I both love marine life. You get to see and learn about the animals that they care for and of course see Winter. The place is spread out but that was not a big issue. Their prices are a little high but to me that was ok because the money goes back into the aquarium. We spent roughly 2.5-3 hours. If you looking for some fun educational ideas for vacation this is one for sure.

This place was the best place I have ever been to because winter is my idol and I got to see her. Totally worth it. Merchandise is so cool. I would come back. Shout out to all the amazing staff

I would not consider this an aquarium. More like a wildlife rehabilitation center. I took my family and we were through the whole thing in an hour. While I love the cause, it was not my expectation. 80% of the facility is a combination of inflatable whales and the dolphin exhibit centered around the movie “dolphin tail2” the rest was a few river otters some stingray and redfish in a tank and one nurse shark. You do get to touch a stingray so that was cool. For the money it was not worth it. The New Orleans aquarium is cheaper and much better. I have seen more species of fish in a restaurant aquarium. It was also very disorganized. Touting 4 floors of exhibits when floor one is the underwater tank view floor 2 is the same animals viewed above water (which you can barely see the dolphins because they are so far away.) floor 3 is employees only floor 4 was wales and food court.

Love that the Clearwater Aquarium is so involved with rescues, and helping to educate visitors. You HAVE to watch the story of Winter the dolphin who has no tail and sometimes uses a prosthetic in the theater - very moving and inspiring! Great views above and below in the aquarium, interactive learning stations, and educational shows. Even a touch tank of rays. Perfect for kids and adults. Make sure to get your parking ticket for the garage validated to get the discounted price.

This is not a zoo people. Its a marine RESCUE habitat that has adorable dolphins..the most famous being Winter, and a select few other animals. The dolphin habitat is really the only attraction so its a quick in and out experience but really beautiful. The caretakers are walking around and happy to answer any questions you have. Best time to go is the mornings before it gets super busy.

Great experience! Hadnt been in years and took my grandkids, one whose studying to be a vet tech and the behind the scenes tour was great! Mitch was informative, high spirited, excited about the work he does. We watched a rescued Green Sea Turtle have surgery, and come through recovery. It was awesome! Then the dolphin watch boat ride was really fun and relaxing.

Very good experience, watched dolphin feedings and very informative. We also got to pet stingrays and see all the exhibits. Do wish there was a bit more but overall a great thing to do with our kids!

Great experience! The VR swimming with the whales was amazing. We also purchased the behind the scenes tour and our guide was amazing. We were very pleased to see how well animals are cared for. Staff was amazing!

Not as big as expected but understandable since it is a rescue facility. Staff is great, good attitude and very knowledgeable. We took the ECO Boat tour, it was okay, but is a basic boat ride. We did see dolphins which was nice and the Marine Biologist and crew was entertaining.

Fun place to enjoy with family and friendsThe sea safari is highly recommended.

Excellent experience! We, like most people, came to see winter. There was surprisingly so much more to see! All of the dolphins were great! They would come to the windows and do occasional flips. We did the touch and feed package which is something I know the kids and I will cherish forever.The staff was overwhelming friendly and helpful. Its obvious they care about all of the animals, the mission, and the visitors.

Our 2nd visit to this place. Highly recommend visiting with children. My kids truly enjoy seeing all the animals, especially Winter. We also got to play Family Feud which was fun 😀

This place is good for smaller kids, especially if they are wanting to see Winter the dolphin known from the dolphin tale movies. My son has wanted to see her for over a year. The place is kind of small and a lot was closed due to bad weather. It was informative for my son and he enjoyed the sting ray touch tank most of all.

Staff and volunteers are very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. Facility is clean, spacious and impressive. CMA and what it represents are heartwarming. The animals truly come first and receive first rate care. Definitely worth a visit.

My family and I had such a great time! Everything was great from the boat ride to the food in the cafe (we really appreciated you using real dishes) to the virtual reality show. The women running the sting Ray feeding did a great job and my family and I agree that was our favorite part of our visit. Definitely recommend making this an entry on your bucket list.

We had an amazing visit. Staff was was wonderful and friendly. If your in the area and have seen dolphin tale I recommend you stopping in. You wont be disappointed

Was a really neat place. Loved seeing the dolphins and touching a stingray. The staff was very friendly.

My family and I visited The Clearwater Marine Aquarium as part of our Fathers Day vacation this year(2021) and it was an awesome experience! My wife, kids and I have fallen in love with this place and we plan on coming back next year as well! The exhibits and marine life on display here make it truly a magical experience for any age! Also, the staff here are super friendly and very knowledgeable as well as helpful and make visiting here such a memorable exprience!!

This is the most basic aquarium Ive ever experienced. There is no way they should be charging anything over $10 per adult.There was limited dolphin action, and thats the main attraction. It felt like I was on a scavenger hunt to find any other sea creatures. After finding them, it was still disappointing. When I went to the whale exhibit, all they had were three huge inflatable whales. They had a theater, and that costs an extra $10 for only TEN minutes! This was a waste of time.

What a great educational place. So wonderful the work they are doing there. Staff were informative and super helpful

It was a bigger aquarium than I expected. Had a really good time with the family. Staff was helpful and engaging. Would definitely recommend.

We would have liked to have seen the Dolphin use her attachment. But we did absolutely love the stingrays!

Wonderful experience my family love seeing all the live sea life. The staff were very helpful. The kids experience the 3d movie ( would recommend spending extra 10.00) if you need something to eat go to the Cafe Food was fresh

Absolutely amazing aquarium! Special thank you to Gabby the marine biologist on our boat tour! She helped me find out about colleges to help me follow in her footsteps and she was so great and educative on our dolphin wildlife tour! I highly recommend visiting this aquarium if you are interested in marine biology, it helped me find my passion ever since I saw the first dolphin tale movie. All staff here were very helpful and a much more friendly than seaworld staff. Always support places like these where their intentions are to help our oceans and wildlife and not to make money.

This is far more a rescue and rehabilitation center than an aquarium. Winter, the star of the movie Dolphins Tale is still there but now lives in a much larger facility that was completed in the past year.Dont expect to see many tanks of fish like other aquariums. The facility is almost entirely dedicated to its mission. They rescue, heal, rehabilitate and then return marine animals to the wild. Those that cannot survive in the wild stay at this aquarium or are found permanent homes elsewhere.The available encounters are educational and entertaining. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and recommend this aquarium.

This place is beyond amazing. Everyone is so very nice, they will answer any questions you may have. They do so much for these animals, and the environment. You can tell that they really care about what they are doing and that they really do care about the animals. They help by rescuing sick or injured animals, and do all they can to help the animals get better and released back into the wild. I love this place, I would rather go here than to Disney. Tori and Sam gave us a great tour and were so knowledgeable and kind and answered all of our questions. Thank you to this wonderful organization for being here and all you do to help the animals.

As others have mentioned, this is more geared towards rescue and rehab. Not much to see but if you love dolphins otters turtles and sting rays youll enjoy the aquarium. Great for kids as well due to a large number of information boards.

I had a great time here and it would be five stars if it was less confusing to find your way around. My son read about Winter and we watched the movie a couple years ago. He also had a blast! Crowd control was much better than the aquarium the day before.

The work they do is awesome. Dont expect your visit to be a day long adventure. Realistically about an hour or two at the most. Winter and her friends are the best part, not much else to see.

A little pricey; however, the money goes to a really good cause. Most of the residents are released back into the wild once they are healed unless the injuries are extensive.The staff are super knowledgeable and friendly. The new exhibits make the experience even better to view the dolphins under water.

6TH year we visited Clearwater Marina and are amazed at the expansion! Hope and Winter are there with the 3 other dolfins in 5 huge tanks now. We paid extra for a behind the scenes tour but admission was covered by our Tampa City Pass . Great family experience!

Absolutely love this it was awesome do the back stage tour if you can its great and you learn so much!! This is a Must do if you come to Clearwater you wont regret it!!

It was fun. Unfortunately they didnt have the dolphin show that day. Loved the underwater viewing. If you have kids they would enjoy it!

A must see in Clearwater! We did the behind the scenes tour and it was very interesting but would not recommend it for younger children, probably would not hold their attention for the entire tour. Very cool for older children and adults though. The parking garage is not free but its convenient and fairly easy to find a spot. Food and gift shop prices are reasonable but on the higher side, which is to be expected and goes to a great cause. As of July 2021, they sell tickets online and you choose your arrival time. We were there for over 3 hours because there is so much to see and experience and my kids were entertained the entire time.

Coming to visit has been a life long dream of my oldest son- we saw everything we could and it was wonderful! We were able to do a boat tour and the crew were great at making sure we got to see some dolphins on the bay. Seeing a mother and baby jumping in the waves together just sealed the deal! Absolutely wonderful. Everyone we met, staff and volunteer, were very kind and knowledgeable. Our tour guide from the boat, Nicole (I believe that was her name), personally showed us the turtle ICU area, she went out of her way to talk to my kids and show us and educate us on that area of the Aquarium.

Laura, the sweet employee who was working near the underwater viewing tank, did EVERYTHING she could to ensure we had an INCREDIBLE experience!! Ask her for information and tips on the dolphin, Nicholas! Her advice TRULY made my life complete... I cannot compare looking into a dolphins eye as it followed me back and forth along the glass. I feel like my soul has been refreshed!

My kids and I love the movie Dolphin Tail. We were in the area and decided to go check it out ourselves!! Wow!!

LOVE THIS AQUARIUM. The obvious draw is Winter the dolphin, featured in Dolphin Tale, but honestly the whole facility is amazing.Theyre a rescue and rehab aquarium with the primary goal of releasing animals back into their wild habitats. The only animals they keep are those who arent fit to be released, and so they stay with the aquarium for the lifelong care they need in order to thrive.Such an amazing place, and a great educational experience for people of all ages!(I would rather come here than go to Sea World any day)

Such a great place. Helping all the animals..my daughter had an amazing time. She met a real life mermaid!!

Glad I read the reviews that this was more of a rehab center and not a true aquarium with tons of marine species. It was very interesting and entertaining. We enjoyed the visit.

Really good place to check out. We did a couple of animal talks, got to see Winter and the others in the tanks. The whale exhibit was good to check out.

Very good place to visit. My granddaughter loved it. We got to see winter and hope the dolpins.

Great sea life rehab facility. They gave otters, sea turtles, dolphins (including Winter, star of Dolphin Tale), a whale exhibit. There are many virtual tours as well as live viewing areas here. You can get a variety of photos taken including one with a live dolphin. Highly recommend!

Dont expect to see a ton of fish. But if you like dolphins this is the place to be. I would suggest Shelling out the cash to feed the dolphins and get your photo taken. This was the highlight of our trip there. They also offer a great military discount for active service members. 👍🇺🇲

Nice place to spend a few hours. Help support sea rescue. New facilities and thanks. Very nice.

Loved seeing the dolphins especially Winter.My girls love the movie Dolphin Tale and were so excited to see winter in real life. My girls also loved the virtual reality experience and feeling like they were swimming with the whales.

Very fun and educational. It was easy to find our way around to each exhibit. There are no shows here. It is a rehab aquarium. We loved getting to see Winter and friends!

On Monday, July 19, 2021, I took my nephews and niece to the Clearwater Aquarium and the experience was horrible.Outside exhibits were closed due to lightning being spotted within 5 miles. We never got to go outside!The third floor was a joke. Full of blowup toys of whales. Not worth the stair walk. Elevators were too slow and packed.The place was extremely hard to navigate and good luck getting an employee to help you. They stand around and talk to each other and when you do ask for help, they navigate you wrongly and then disappear.The main attraction we’re a few inactive dolphins.While we were looking at the only touch exhibit of stingrays, we were told to leave because we didn’t pay for the feeding time of the stingrays.When we requested a refund, they looked at my receipt and told me that I purchased them through a third party and cannot give the refund. I did not purchase through a third party. I went to Google maps, clicked on their name and then clicked to purchase tickets. They said that it directed me to another website. This is very deceiving!Security was called on my family of 6 because we would not take no for an answer on the refund. The man pictured was horribly rude, he called the police and even chased our car down and took picture of our car while yelling at us.I urge you to run from this place! Go to the Tampa Aquarium…..much much better!

Very interesting place. We really enjoyed the dolphin and wildlife boat tour. Kids loved the dolphins Winter and Hope. Of course they had watched the movie of Winter losing her tail and her recovery. Amazing work they do there.

Aquarium was awesome. All workers and volunteers were very welcoming and informative. Parking costs $12, and admission for adults was approximately $33. My friends and I had a great time overall though.

Awesome place to visit, especially if you love dolphins like me!

This place was definitely great to go visit the only issue I had was they said they had a whale experience so I thought they had actually Whales to see also they have signs to see seahorses and there was no seahorses. The Dolphin Show is more educational its not really a show where the Dolphins do stunts but the mermaid show I think was the cats meow.

A wonderful visit with two of my granddaughters to see Winter! The aquarium is amazing and well worth your time to visit.

Very handicap accessible. Very informational. Crowded but not too bad

We spent the day there Sunday, super friendly staff, had a great day playing with and learning about all the animals dolphins are magical

Amazing 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬 So beautiful to see how different this place is than SeaWorld. They don’t punish animals at all … they give the freedom to them to act.Crowds in ticketing, no distancing, optional mask.Don’t miss Whales exhibition… so wonderful !!! With real size inflable replicas. So cool 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

We had a wonderful visit with Winter the Dolphin, Max the Sea Turtle, pelicans, otters and stingrays. I loved learning about their rescues. The boat tour sighted several dolphins and an Osprey family.

We enjoyed our visit and the new facilities. It was rather busy when we came but we still enjoyed our visit. Great to see a place that puts the time and care into our earthly creations.

After reading some of the reviews I was skeptical, but I am SO glad we went as my girls loved it. They are 17, 16, 13, & 4. The stories behind the animals are what made it worthwhile. The girls got to see a turtle that had a huge hook removed from his esophagus get a TPN feeding because he couldnt swallow. We heard the story about the fisherman keeping the otter as a pet and the girls had a blast touching the sting rays. The girls were mesmerized by Winter and Hope as well as the other dolphins. I would recommend to go visit if you want to see what Sea World used to be like..all about the animals.

Very nice Location! Staff are really friendly. Is very Small Aquarium was expecting a little more....

Its a relaxing and beautiful place to have fun with our children 😊.

Go realizing what youre there for. It was cute and fun and educational. It is not a traditional aquarium, presentations are about the care of the animals, not about impressing audiences. Animals there are there out of necessity. The tanks are not decorated to look nice: everything is very functional and your money goes to help a functioning hospital. We liked it, recognizing what it is and the work done there. But it is not impressive as an aquarium to entertain, not should it be (though some ambience would certainly help, but Im not an expert for the best thing for the animals). 0

CMA was everything wed hoped it was. Winter and Hope are healthy and happy, and they also have PJ, the third female dolphin. Hemingway and Nicholas are the two male dolphins. Its easy to spend a lot of time observing them from several HUGE viewing ports. The tour route is very nicely laid out with callouts to scenes from the movies and a couple of gift shops. Great viewing opportunities for the animals. Extremely clean facilities. Staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. The pricing for some of the stuff (VR whale experience, food court, etc) is a bit high, but consider the fact youre supporting an animal rehab center with a LOT of overhead. The food at the Shark Bite cafeteria was fantastic. Hand made burger patties, not the frozen patty type and a fresh tasty bun. Very tasty and a good portion size.

This is not an aquarium like you would think. The main attraction of the place are the dolphins for dolphin tale which were cool. The nice thing is for military personnel you get in free which made it worth while for us.

Its a great place to visit, just dont plan on making it an entire day event, unless you add a boat tour to it. We really did enjoy ourselves.

I did expect to see more for an aquarium the main feature was the dolphins. Confusing to get around, if they didnt have attendants you would keep going in circle.

Pricey, but money goes toward the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of animals. Nicely renovated/new buildings and educational experiences. Traffic flow is a little confusing.

Total waste of money and time. I paid for two adults and two kids ages 7 & 4. Only saw 4 animals and a handful of fish. When asking is there more they informed me there are balloon whales on the top floor. Dolphins must have been hungry as they only stayed with trainers and never left them so you only got a glimpse of side of the face. The mermaid was the highlight of the trip. My 4 year old giggled over her. The otters were visibly scared and when workers were asked why they were hiding they told they are like dogs and are afraid of all the smells. A lot of empty tanks, the only shark was on the tank floor looking lifeless. Just a huge waste.

Rehab center for sealife. Residents include Winter and Hope from Dolphin Tail and Dolphin Tail 2. Interesting information on the walls. Tanks are not decorated as focus is on rehab. Blinds sea turtles with permanent jaw damage is a permanent resident.

I love marine life, and this was my first experience going to an aquarium, thought it couldve been better for the admission. Whales are blow up structures. Fish are very limited. One shark and 4 dolphins

Such a disappointment. Save your money especially if you have kids.Expensive for the experience. Almost 30$ for kids. If you don’t pay for the extras you see very little.Why call this an aquarium? There’s a handful of animals recuperating and that’s it’s. Every review says the staff is knowledgeable and I’m sure that’s true, if you find one and ask them all the questions. Very poor education of why these animals are here or what can be done to stop ocean pollution. There were several displays on the walls but they all seem to have the same info and are hard to see because of the crowds of people walking by them.Theres very poor directional signs. For some reason you have to climb three flights of stairs to pay, then go back down to the first level to see the animals. Then you have to go back upstairs to exit. My 75yo mother didn’t appreciate that. Sure there’s elevators but they are packed and the line to wait for them takes a long time.I get what they are trying to do, but the whole thing smacks of a money grab. For any additional experiences they are going to charge you many more dollars.Skip it and go to Tampa. I’m sure they aren’t trying to pass off stuffed whales as the real thing (yep stuffed whales)

This was what I wanted to do for my birthday and I was so disappointed and regretted my decision. I wish we had gone to The Florida Aquarium, which is 100% better.Its expensive for what it is. $36 per adult to enter and $12 for parking. There is very little to see, we finished in just over an hour.The animals are in small tanks with very little decoration and enrichment. It has all the charm of a flooded, abandon nuclear reactor. The tanks are concrete, water, and rust.The main dolphin tank with the Window of Wonder was leaking at the top which is rather alarming. The wonder is why they havent fixed it yet.I was so disappointed that I didnt even buy a t-shirt from the gift shop. I would rather save that money and purchase a shirt from The Florida Aquarium when I go again.We were also considering Clearwater Aquarium for our wedding, but after seeing it, weve promptly marked it off our potential venues list.

We enjoyed our visit immensely. The online ticket purchase was easy. Parking was easy. Checking in was easy. We upgraded to have the stingray feeding and enjoyed it. The whale exhibit was very interesting. The Behind The Scenes tour was our favorite. And we could watch Hope and Winter all day

This place is pathetic. There are hardly any animals and it is extremely hard to navigate. It is definitely a very strange place. I’m glad I was given the tickets for free, because I would be pretty mad if I actually paid for them. Pet Smart is more exciting than this place.

We visited the aquarium for the Clearwater Dolphin tour and had a really great time. The staff were very professional and knowledgeable. We boarded a pontoon boat and were socially distanced from the other groups. The excursion was an hour and took us out to the Gulf of Mexico where we saw dolphins breached several times. It was a great site and informative ride. They gifted us a valentine heart cookie as a thank you for taking the tour. Afterwards, we were able to see some of the fish, turtles, stingrays, and otters.

My family loved it. Interesting and entertaining. Also the home to Winter from the movie Dolphin Tails. The fact that many items in the gift shop give a percentage of profits to animal rescue programs, made it easy to say yes to the kids wants. 😄

It was a good experience love seeing the dolphins never been there before never seen the movie but heard about it I think the dolphins name is winter and they rescued another dolphin named Hope.

You must go into here with an understanding that it is a rescue for sea wild life. Their first and main goal is to help with the rehabilitation and reintegration of wildlife. It does not have the flair that other main street aquariums have, but you get an inside look into the hospital portion, and the rescue efforts. Winter from Dolphin tale is here so you get to see a famous Dolphin as well! It was great to see the rehabilitation efforts! I recommend going so anyone can learn about the conservation efforts.

Made popular from Dolphin Tales movie series. It’s legit - do the behind the scenes tours and photo specials. Totally worth it!

Love this place. Great place to go with the family and especially kids ❤😊

Loved it! Did rhe wildlife boat ride and got to see some dolphins along the bay area

Love it and we loved how they rehab and release animals. You can tell everyone loves their job and these animals. Everyone you asked questions to had great answers for you. Even the parking people were nice and helpful.

Amazing, I love Winter, its very educative

We visited Clearwater Marine Aquarium with the intent to see Winter. Seeing her in action as she eagerly responded to her trainer’s exercise prompts was inspiring. It grew a whole other level of appreciation for this rescue organization in our hearts. Not only did we get to see Winter herself, but we also had the amazing opportunity to see all her friends from the classic movie DolphinTails. Plus, walking down “the hall of remembrance” was very emotionally moving in a joyous way. To see Winter and her friends timeline of hardships, rescues and victorious survivals. Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a must see for a personal heart touch that resonates in hearts of all ages.

The new whale exhibit is very educating and it was great to learn more about marine life

Let it be known this isn’t a standard aquarium. I would probably give this more like 3 stars, but all the work they do rehabilitating animals truly makes a difference and is wonderful. So perhaps a great place to take young kids who have minimal focus and only want to see a few animals. It feels a little like a scavenger hunt trying to find the animals, it was an extremely confusing layout. I think a better understanding going in would have set my expectations to be a little more realistic- and that is this isn’t so much an aquarium but rather looking in on a few rescued animals and reading about them. Pretty costly to just see a handful of animals, but again not too bent out of shape about the money spent since they do a lot of rescue work.

We had a great time! Seeing the dolphins up close was amazing and we were able to touch the sting rays which was pretty cool! They also have a virtual reality whale experience see photos of the pods you sit in!

Positive experience for kids and adults alike. We were here 6yrs so. Will be back again

Really neat seeing the dolphins from the movie dolphin tail but a small aquarium not worth the admission high price

We took our 12, 13, and 15 year olds here. We did the Behind the Scenes tour as well as general admission. Finding the meeting spot for the tour was difficult. It wasn’t really what I expected. There were some interesting points but I do not recommend spending money on it. You can see just about everything with the general admission. We were suppose to be able to see one of the dolphins on this tour but we didn’t. As far as the rest of the aquarium though it was fun. The kids liked it. It took a few hours of our day to see the whole place. The cafe had good food and had a typical price. We did not get a map so we’re were confused on where to locate specific things but overall it was a good one time experience.

*Disclaimer* 5 star review souly for it being a fun and educational trip***Things you need to know** - This is still a functioning Marine Hospital that focuses on rehabilitation and rescue! It was only renamed an Aquarium after the Dophin Tale movies were released to bring in more tourist. This will give you an idea of what to expect as this is first and foremost a rescue and rehabilitation center all animals here have been deemed unreleasable by the state. This will give you an Idea what to expect as its not an ordinary Aquarium.Youll also get to see plenty of Winter so dont worry.**Review** Overall the it was fun and educational Smaller than a normal aquarium but that meant less people and more chances to catch feedings and see the staff interact with the animals. And unlike other Aquariums being a functioning Marine Hospital youll get to see some of the Marine Biologists at work too.It is connected to the water so there is also a boat tour FYI, so grab tickets. As always at aquariums special feedings and behind the scenes tickets can be purchased too.