Anonymous wrote:My kids loved in when they were little. Obviously pre 2013.

+1. It was great!

We took out of town guests and I tried to set their expectations of how underwhelming it was. Apparently not low enough because they were still surprised when we walked through the whole thing in 10 minutes.

I really wish the Baltimore aquarium wasn't in....Baltimore.

My mother worked for Commerice and we'd go there on the rare occasion I'd go to work with her.

It had a touch pond too with starfish and hermit crabs. I loved it and it was charming. Easy to wrangle twin toddlers in and out of the aquarium quickly on my own. The Baltimore one is beautiful and better for older kids or visitors you would want to shock and awe.

It got such terrible reviews that we never went

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember it being so dark and damp.

Once when I was really young, my mom told me we're going to the aquarium, I was so excited because I thought it was the one in Baltimore. When we got to the DC one, I was super disappointed and confused. Where are all the fish? Where are the sea lions?

Has Baltimore Aquarium ever held sea lions?

I remember in the 90s they used to sit on a concrete in the inner harbor. They were out all night, every night. And then one night someone spray painted them and they took the sea lions away. This is a foggy childhood memory that you should fact check

Hm, it's totally possible! I'm a 2000's kid and info on zoological institutions' past holdings can be sparse, so I have no personal info/couldn't turn anything up-- but maybe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember it being so dark and damp.

Once when I was really young, my mom told me we're going to the aquarium, I was so excited because I thought it was the one in Baltimore. When we got to the DC one, I was super disappointed and confused. Where are all the fish? Where are the sea lions?

Has Baltimore Aquarium ever held sea lions?

I remember in the 90s they used to sit on a concrete in the inner harbor. They were out all night, every night. And then one night someone spray painted them and they took the sea lions away. This is a foggy childhood memory that you should fact check

We went when my kids were little too. Sorry to see DC lose these little gems.

Anonymous wrote:I remember it being so dark and damp.

Once when I was really young, my mom told me we're going to the aquarium, I was so excited because I thought it was the one in Baltimore. When we got to the DC one, I was super disappointed and confused. Where are all the fish? Where are the sea lions?

Has Baltimore Aquarium ever held sea lions?

Yes! Remember the shark (a small one) that was sick and sort of swam on his size. When my kids were toddlers they loved going there.

I wish we had an Aquarium restaurant in the area. It was small, dark, and only took about an hour to see everything, but still. Thanks to Commerce correction poster.
Haters: Go to the Relationship forum.

I remember it being so dark and damp.

Once when I was really young, my mom told me we're going to the aquarium, I was so excited because I thought it was the one in Baltimore. When we got to the DC one, I was super disappointed and confused. Where are all the fish? Where are the sea lions?

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't in the Hoover Building. It was in Dept. of Commerce, basement.

You’re both right, it was in the basement of the Herbert Hoover Department of Commerce Building. Different than the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, of course.

We live in the far out exurbs and I remember taking my son one day when he was about 4 years old (he's 17 now.) Since we live so far out, it was actually kind of a hike to get there.
I just remember thinking it wasn't much different than looking at the tanks in PetSmart.

I worked in the Commerce building when it was still open. NOAA would host an annual fish fry in one of the courtyards (no idea if it still does) and the line to enter would snake through the aquarium. I thought that was a little on the nose - "Here's a preview of some of things you might be eating."

The NOAA fish fry was awesome and the aquarium had its charms in its way. But, probably not a great destination for tourists.