Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Tennessee Aquarium

We visited the Tennessee Aquarium on Sunday, June 2, 2013.  We found it to be very wheelchair-friendly, and the attendants were wonderful in explaining where the elevators were.

There are two buildings ... the River Journey and the Ocean Journey.  Inside each building, you ride the elevator to the top floor, and follow a gently-sloping carpeted pathway down through the exhibits, spiraling back down to the bottom of the building.  The wheelchair and stroller bypasses are well-marked, and people were very friendly with helping us open doors, etc.

The only VERY minor snag we ran into was on the top floor of the River Journey building, where the pathway is a wood boardwalk.  It's a bit bumpy, and there were a couple of places where I needed an extra push.  Overall, though, we were very impressed at how easy the buildings are to navigate.

We parked in the pay lot immediately to the left of the aquarium.  It was a little pricey ($9), but we didn't have to go far to get to the buildings, and there were a number of wheelchair-accessible parking spots.  (We just parked in a regular spot since I've never bothered to get a permit.)

I didn't use the restrooms while there, but I imagine they're as neatly-kept as the rest of the aquarium.  :-)

Here are some photos:

Spiraling pathways

You can reach in and touch the fish

Pretty view from the Ocean Journey building

View from the Ocean Journey building

Another fish-touching area

Touching a stingray!

Butterfly garden room

Penguins

Shark cage

Shark

Jellyfish

The pathway leads underneath one of the tanks

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