Nation's biggest aquarium opens in Atlanta Nov. 23

[hoosier]

Aquarium unveils ticket prices, sales dates

By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/20/05

Tickets to the Georgia Aquarium, which opens Nov. 23, go on sale beginning next month, with prices ranging from $17 for a child's ticket to $59.50 for an adult annual pass.

Annual passes go on sale Oct. 15 on the aquarium's Web site, and general-admission and group-rate tickets go on sale Nov. 1. Tickets initially will be sold by time slot in an effort to reduce lines and spread out crowds throughout the day.

"It's so people don't have to wait," said aquarium spokeswoman Donna Fleishman. "It's like going to an art exhibit."

Ticket prices are similar to those of other major aquariums throughout he country but are not cheap. It will cost a family of four $79.50 to tour the world's largest aquarium, which is at the north end of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. Two people on a date will drop $45.50 to get in the door and see things like whale sharks, coral reef displays and beluga whales.

Sherry Hoover of Alpharetta is familiar with the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, where a full-price adult ticket runs about $23. It will cost her $22.75 to get into the Georgia Aquarium. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, it would cost her $21.95.

The aquarium is not offering family discount tickets, which are common for some entertainment venues but rare in the aquarium community.

"I don't know of any major aquariums that do family plans," said Ken Peterson, spokesman for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Aquarium officials estimate that 70,000 Georgia schoolchildren will visit the aquarium during its first year. A pricing plan for those visitors has not been revealed.