First, know that I am a big fan of aquariums--love the Shedd in Chicago (probably my favorite) and also the Carmel Aquarium in Carmel, CA. Since we were visiting friends in LA, and they had not seen either this aquarium in Long Beach or the near-by Queen Mary, we decided to make a day of it.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is a major ripoff. It advertises a "Whale Adventure" so that you think they actually have whales somewhere. Wrong. The "Whale Adventure" is a brief projected film on the walls of the main lobby. Showings are periodically announced with much fanfare and in excited tones. High school film classes could turn out a better product. The only whale on the premises is the model of one hanging overhead, and even it pales compared to the one in the Smithsonian.

The Aquarium was overrun with unruly, poorly disciplined camp or school groups. There were screaming, running children everywhere, knocking into and terrorizing adults and generally driving the pleasant young staff members crazy. When I commented to an attendant at the boring shark area that I'll bet he'd like to toss some of those kids in with the sharks, he said that unfortunately, these sharks would just ignore them!

With the exception of a very interesting and large jellyfish collection, this aquarium's specimens are typical and dull. Even with crowds, you can easily see the entire place in an hour. Unless you love jellyfish, save your money and don't bother. The entry fee is very expensive, around $35 per person. The Aquarium should do a much better job of limiting the kiddy groups, and they do not have enough workers/security to protect others from these out of control brats. We were aghast that those supposedly in charge of these groups made no attempt to control them.

We were very disappointed with the Aquarium of the Pacific and are telling everyone we know who either lives in California or who may go there to skip it. We usually buy souvenirs in gift shops too, and this Aquarium lost out big time because none of our group wanted any souvenirs!

Incidentally, we did enjoy the Queen Mary, once we mastered the extremely unclear and complicated bus system as to how to get to it! However, I'm not sure the Queen Mary was worth the entry fee.