In This Post…
Top 5 Reasons to Visit SEA LiFE Charlotte-Concord
Hello, everyone!
I hope each of you had a safe and enjoyable holiday season, and I’m so glad you’re back here on the blog again! And if this is your first time on the Mandala Traveler, welcome!
During our holiday travels, Daniel and I spent a week near Charlotte, North Carolina, with my family. Unfortunately, many of the city’s amazing activities were closed due to a combination of holiday hours and the pandemic. However, I couldn’t have been happier with the adventure we decided to take!
Right between Charlotte and Concord, North Carolina, there is an amazing mall called Concord Mills. It is absolutely packed with great stores and awesome activities, including a carousel in the food court, a speed park, a theater, and–you guessed it–an aquarium!
The aquarium is called SEA LiFE, and it was truly the cutest and most enjoyable aquarium I’ve ever been to–and I LOVE aquariums! In this post, I’ll be sharing my Top 5 Reasons you should visit, as well as a short overview of the aquarium’s exhibits!
I also created a YouTube video of our adventure, and I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch it to truly understand how adorable this aquarium is! I took lots of pictures, but a video always does fish better justice.
A Virtual Tour of SEA LiFE
Top 5 Reasons to Visit SEA LiFE Charlotte-Concord
1. The Fun & Interactive Atmosphere
What immediately stood out to me at SEA LiFE was how immersive each section was. Every area was decked out in a theme that matched its name and the type of fish on display. We walked under trees, through shipwrecks, past coral reefs, and more!
These decorations extended into the aquariums where divers’ helmets, submerged stone walls, and ship’s helms created unique habitats for the fish. As a result, it felt like we were in the exhibits–not just looking at them. Daniel and I loved it, and my two nieces who came with us did as well.
The aquarium was also highly interactive, with touch pools, little game and quiz stations, and even the ability to change the jellyfish’s colors. Plus, there were surprise crawl spaces and tunnels that let us pop our heads into the aquariums for 360-degree views.
On top of the regular decor, SEA LiFE went the extra mile and decorated everything for Christmas! You’ll see the reflections of Christmas lights in a lot of my photos, but I enjoyed the extra color and personality the decorations added to the entire experience.
2. The Only Ocean Tunnel in North Carolina
Ocean tunnels are one of my favorite parts of any aquarium. The Virginia Beach Aquarium has a pretty great one, but I really enjoyed the one at SEA LiFE. It’s fairly short, but it’s the only 180-degree ocean tunnel in North Carolina, and it packs a lot in!
It’s filled with all types of tropical fish, sharks, rays, and a rescued Loggerhead turtle. They even had it lined with green lights for Christmas!
Be sure to check out my YouTube video to really enjoy the Ocean Tunnel’s beauty!
3. Sea Creature Variety
For a relatively small aquarium, SEA LiFE had an incredible variety of sea creatures to see.
My husband, who grew up with the Georgia Aquarium for reference, even commented on how much he enjoyed seeing fish he’d never seen before! I definitely have to agree with him.
SEA LiFE has over 200 species on display and over 5000 fish and other ocean creatures total! We saw unique species of sharks, rays, and skates up close in Stingray Bay, a dragon moray and black lionfish in Shark Shipwreck, slipper lobsters, and a balloonfish bigger than we knew they could get!
4. Prime Accessibility
Have you ever visited a zoo or aquarium and felt like all of the cool animals were so far back in the exhibit that you couldn’t see them? It’s frustrating, right?
We never had that problem in SEA LiFE! Many of the tanks had nearly 360-degree walking access or convenient side windows where we could view the fish from every angle. Several of the larger exhibits also had dome windows where we could pop our heads right inside the aquarium and see the fish swimming all around.
It was so easy for us to see every creature in the aquarium!
5. Cost & Manageability
I’m all about budget-friendly adventures, and SEA LiFE hit the mark on that, too. Adult tickets cost $18, and kid tickets cost $15 for ages 3-12. Your ticket allows you to access the aquarium as much as you want between your reservation start time and the end of the day, so we actually went through it twice!
If you’re a parent with small children, this would definitely be a manageable excursion to invest your an hour in without worrying that your child would become bored halfway through.
The initial run-through (with my teen and pre-tween nieces with us) took about 45 minutes. Even though it was short, we felt like we got more than our money’s worth from the experience. And being able to go through again (after leaving to get lunch) made it even better!
SEA LiFE’s Amazing Exhibits!
Catawba River
This cute exhibit showed off types of fish that live in the Catawba River in North Carolina. And look how cute they had it decorated for Christmas!
Sandy Shores
This little beach-themed exhibit had cute tropical fish you’d find in the ocean shallows!
Tidal Touchpools
The touch pools were fantastic! We touched chocolate chip starfish and stingless sea urchins and got up close to a slipper lobster who had just molted and looked like a potato.
Harbor
The Harbor was filled with fun tropical ocean creatures like garden eels and rays hiding in the sand. There’s also a crawl space next to the seahorse exhibit where you can get a cool side-view of the main Harbor tank.
The Shoal
The Shoal was one of my favorite rooms! It has a 360-degree aquarium so that you can watch this school of fish dash around you on every side! They actually swim right over your head in the doorways! Plus, it has two giant lobsters with antennas longer than my arms.
Seahorse Nursery
The Seahorse Nursery is such a cute space. It has multiple tanks with several different kinds of seahorses! And they’re set up in a great way to let you actually find the seahorses and see which ones are pregnant. There’s even an exhibit where you can pop your head into the middle of the tank from below! (This is also where you can find the crawl space looking back into the Harbor tank.)
Stingray Bay was such a unique space, and we spent quite a bit of time here. The tank is wide and low, with almost full 360-degree access. Inside, it’s filled with many varieties of sharks, stingrays, skates, and various tropical fish we’d never seen before! My favorites were the blue-spotted stingray, the guitar sharks, and this enormous balloonfish. Its face was at least 10 inches wide, and he was so cute!
Shark Shipwreck
Shark Shipwreck was another area with really cool aquariums and creatures. The urchin tank was so bright and colorful, and the urchins were huge! There was also an aquarium with clownfish swimming around a “shipwreck” and a large window looking into the backside of the Ocean Tunnel’s giant aquarium (Be sure to check here for the loggerhead turtle!). But my favorite part was a tall, round tank featuring a black lionfish and a long dragon eel. I’d never seen either of these creatures before, and it was so cool to watch the eel wriggle through the water!
Ocean Tunnel
You’ll want to spend a good bit of time in the Ocean Tunnel because there is so much to see! There are several varieties of sharks, giant stingrays, and lots of tropical fish swimming all around you! The tunnel is a full 180-degrees, so you’ll be able to see them overhead, as well as on the sides and at ground level!
Keep an eye out in the background from the loggerhead turtle as well. We found him digging through the sand at the base of this cool Kraken statue.
Tropical Ocean
The Tropical Ocean exhibit is more or less an extension of the Ocean Tunnel. It has a fun viewing window where you can see all kinds of fish and bottom-feeding sharks swimming around the tentacles of this octopus/Kraken-like statue. It’s also the perfect spot for a photo-op!
Coral Reef
The Coral Reef is a fun and vibrant section with some unique interactive elements. First off, you can play around with the lights on a large tank of jellyfish, making them turn your favorite color! If you’re small enough (guilty), you can also pop into a crawlspace to be surrounded by a tank of coral and tiny tropical fish!
Conservation Cove
The tour ends with a fun ocean-themed playground (currently closed for COVID), and a small area with information and a video about ocean conservation. Your kids will probably be more interested in the playground, but this final unique aquarium is definitely an eye-catcher as well!
Closing Thoughts on SEA LiFE Charlotte
Whew! That was a long post! If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! I hope you enjoyed learning about this awesome aquarium and that you’ll carve out some time to stop by and check it out for yourself!
Did I leave anything out? Feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section below. And if you really enjoyed the post, I always love to hear about that as well! Don’t forget to save and share this post so that more people can learn all about SEA LiFE!
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That’s all for this week. Here’s to a wonderful 2021 filled with happiness, health, and many wonderful adventures for you and your family!
Happy travels!
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