This blog is not sponsored by Ripley’s Aquarium, and all of the opinions are my own. Due to COVID-19 masks are strongly suggested in the Ripley’s facilities at this time.
The Aquarium is located at 1110 Celebrity Cir, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 (at Broadway at the Beach. Their hours are 9:00am-7:00pm from Sunday-Monday and 9:00am-8:00pm Friday and Saturday!
This past weekend, my little family and I took a mini family vacation to Myrtle Beach! Since my son had turned two the week before, our plan for the whole trip was to take him to the Ripley’s Aquarium for his birthday! In this blog, I want to tell you the best timing to go, the best way to buy tickets, and I want to show you what a wonderful time we had while exploring the aquarium!
First, I want to tell you about our personal experience with buying tickets. We stayed at the beach from Friday until Sunday, and our plan was to go to the aquarium on Saturday because that was going to be a rainy day. Well… everyone else had the same idea! There is a ticket purchasing line and an entrance line. There were at least one hundred people in those lines (not exaggerating).
When we realized that the line was going nowhere fast, we decided to go do something else for the day and try again on Sunday. Saturday night, we decided to buy our tickets online so we could bypass the ticket purchasing line. We decided to buy the “Aquarium Day Pass” tickets. I think we got the best deal with those tickets (prices down below). I decided to purchase those tickets because from the time of your purchase, you can enter the aquarium anytime during business hours for one whole year. Purchasing the tickets online saved us so much time in my opinion.
Now that I’ve discussed the tickets, let’s move on to the fun part! On Sunday, the crowd was not nearly as bad. I was so glad that we waited. If it is an option for you, I would totally recommend going on a weekday for less of a crowd as well. Anyways, we waited about fifteen minutes to enter. When you enter, a member of their staff will take a family photo for you and give you a ticket if you care to purchase the photo. We chose not to. Right as you enter, there are so many things to look at right off the bat! I am an adult, and I was even super amazed! JJ could not stop saying “Wow!” at everything he saw!
There are so many different exhibits to explore! We loved all of it! My personal favorite exhibits were the jellyfish, penguins, and the stingrays! They even have a place where you can safely touch the stingrays! Something about these animals just feel unreal and magical to me. It is almost like being in these exhibits takes you somewhere else entirely. I cannot describe it with words so I will show you some photos and videos!
We also loved the shark tunnel as well! It is so mesmerizing to walk into the tunnel and just see the tank above you filled with several different species of sharks, fish, turtles, and eel. They also have plaques to show you what each species is. We had fun spotting all of the animals on the plaques as they swam to and fro.
JJ’s favorite exhibit was the penguins! They were swimming and waddling about. They were so adorable! They even have a walk through tunnel that goes up into the exhibit so you can get a closer look! JJ did not want to try it, but we had fun watching other people do it! I think that makes it so much more fun when you feel like you can be up close with these animals!
The walk in tunnel. 
JJ’s stare down with a penguin.
There is also an indoor restaurant in the aquarium. We did not eat there, but it is great for grabbing a bite to eat if you are hungry and you don’t feel like leaving the aquarium. There is also a gift shop as well. It does get pretty crowded though due to having to walk all the way to the back of gift shop to exit. I guess it’s one way to make money because if something catches your eye on the way out, you will want to buy it (guilty, haha)!
In conclusion, we had a great time, and I cannot wait to come back sometime soon! I hope you enjoyed this blog! I highly recommend Ripley’s Aquarium to you whether you have small kids or not! There is something for everyone for sure! Stay tuned for more blog posts coming soon!
