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Shedd Aquarium

Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Oceanarium

The Shedd Aquarium, along with the Adler Planetarium and The Field Museum make up Chicago's museum campus. The Shedd Aquarium contains a large Oceanarium where you can see dolphins swimming. There are exhibits for other sea creatures, including otters, jellyfish, sharks, sea lions, stingrays, corals, and many different types of fish.

At the moment, there is also an exhibit on lizards. The lizard exhibit contains approximately 30 different types of lizards, including a Komodo Dragon (pictured here).

There is a dolphin show at a number of different scheduled times during the day. The displays and literature made the dolphin show sound like more of an informative discussion or presentation, but it was just a plain dolphin show. The dolphins did jumps tricks - it was fun to see, as these types of shows usually are. The view from the Oceanarium was also quite nice - it provided a great view of Lake Michigan.

We visited on a Saturday, and it was quite busy. There was a long line up that extended well out the door. Fortuntaely, we purchased the Chicago CityPass, so we were able to bypass the long line, and wait in the shorter "Will Call" line.

Cost

One of the exhibits

The cost of admission is $23 for adults. If you are visiting other attractions in the area, it may be worthwhile to purchase the Chicago CityPass. There is metered street parking available (currently at $0.50/hour) just outside the Adler Planetarium, which is much cheaper than parking you will find anywhere else in the area. Unfortunately, it fills up quickly.

Estimated Visiting Time

Komodo Dragon

Three hours is probably sufficient to see everything. If you purchased the Chicago CityPass, it makes sense to visit the Shedd Aquarium on the same day as the Adler Planetarium, since they're both located close by in the Chicago Museum Campus.