Ok, first things first: this is not a stand-alone aquarium. The Houston Aquarium is a really a restaurant in the heart of downtown Houston, but one with lots of fun options on-site for kids and families! It’s a great full-morning activity, with a built-in lunch option before you head home.
To give a lay of the land, first there is the Aquarium restaurant, which everything is centered around. The restaurant is fun for kids, because of its underwater theme and the enormous fish tank inside. I think this is the best part of the whole complex.
Then, all around the restaurant building, there are other attractions: the Stingray Reef experience, the Aquarium Adventure exhibit (this can be confusing because the restaurant is also called the Aquarium), six rides, and carnival games. There also some vendors (think fair-style food and a caricature artist) and a splash pad. If you have kids over 42 inches (more on that below), the best value is likely to buy an All-Day Adventure Pass ticket, so you can do everything and spend the whole morning. Otherwise, the rides on their own can get a bit pricey ($4-$6 each). It is fun to be outside in this fair-like space with the backdrop of the skyscrapers!
Bebe at 18 months (and a tall 18 months) was too short for some of the rides, to my surprise. Although I misunderstood the Shark Voyage, the train ride, sign! I couldn’t understand why it would require kids to be 42 inches tall to ride, but apparently that is only for kids not accompanied by an adult. Face palm. Don’t make the mistake I made! We watched a few kids ride the rides and then headed to the Aquarium Adventure experience.
Under 2 is free, so I paid $15 (plus tax!) for adult admission for myself to see what the Aquarium Adventure was all about. (Although, as a point of comparison, the excellent Monterey Bay Aquarium is a top dollar $50 per adult.) It took us about a half an hour to go through the exhibit, although we could have spent longer. Bebe enjoyed walking (ok, running sometimes) through the exhibits and seeing all the fish. A lot of the tanks are also at eye level for small kids, which they really like. As a side note, somewhat bizarrely there are two tigers at the end of this exhibit.
Afterwards, Bebe and I had lunch with a great view of the enormous fish tank inside the restaurant. Their kids menu had good options (I am always looking for things other than pizza and chicken fingers), and Bebe had grilled fish, rice, and fruit for a very reasonable $7.50. Mama had fish tacos. The restaurant prices are comparable to other Landry’s restaurants like Saltgrass Steak House, and the atmosphere is very kid friendly.
As a tip, I would not pay again for the $8 self parking on site, and I recommend parking on a nearby street and paying the meter, particularly on weekends when downtown is pretty calm and there should be lots of open parking.
Bebe really liked visiting the Aquarium, and our lunch was tasty. The variety of activities kept us moving around the site, and Bebe didn’t have a chance to get bored. And I want to go back and ride that Shark Voyage train!
