The sandtiger sharks swim right overhead as you pass through the underwater tunnel in the Aquarium of the Smokies.
“I bet my aquarium can beat up your aquarium.”
That’s sort of what lot’s of people were thinking when Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies opened in Gatlinburg a few months ago. Would another aquarium in East Tennessee cut into business at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga?
Chances are some of the folks at our hometown aquarium are checking into that question, but if they know anything, they're not sharing for “competitive reasons.” Cindy Todd, the head of marketing for the Tennessee Aquarium said she would have expected a short term blip as the Gatlinburg facility opens, but in the long term, she felt the two could actually complement each other.
I recently made trip to Gatlinburg to visit “the competition.” There’s absolutely nothing scientific or statistical about what is to follow. It’s simply the reflections of a guy who likes fish.
As we’ve known from the outset, the Tennessee Aquarium can still lay claim to “the largest freshwater aquarium in the world.” There are no freshwater exhibits in the Aquarium of the Smokies. It’s devoted to saltwater. Yet it still calls itself “the TennesSea.”
It’s kind of a reach if you ask me. The promotional literature explains that a few million years ago the Smokies were covered by saltwater so sharks once were “a native species.” Like I said… it’s a reach.
My guess (emphasis on the word “guess) is that they knew saltwater species such as sharks, moray eels and sting rays are a much better draw than bass and bluegill. Sort of the same reason designers felt compelled to include a saltwater section in “the world’s largest freshwater aquarium.”
The first few feet of your trip into the Gatlinburg fish tank aren’t impressive. There’s an “introductory tank” that certainly didn’t grab or hold my attention very long. Next you ease into the Tropical Rainforest section. This strip of small tanks can be a crowd problem. The walkway is tiny and one mom with a stroller can bottleneck a hundred people.
However videotape presentations playing next to each tank certainly give you a great education on the critters you’re looking at… piranhas ripping a pig to shreds and mudskippers battling for their own little mud puddle.
You wind your way through the Ocean Realm and Coral Reef. Interesting but certainly not showstoppers… and there’s no real theme.
There is rhyme and reason to the Tennessee Aquarium… the figurative trip of a drop of water traveling from the Smokies, all the way downstream through the Tennessee River, ultimately landing in the Gulf of Mexico. I got no sense of such a journey in the Gatlinburg aquarium.
But there was certainly a sense of wonder when I reached Shark Lagoon. This is the highlight, and some will consider it worth the trip to Gatlinburg. “This is the most marvelous thing I’ve ever seen,” exclaimed an elderly gentleman from Nashville. “I’m an engineer and I’ve never imagined anything quite like this in my life.”
He and I were traveling side-by-side along the moving walkway that transports visitors beneath the lagoon. You find yourself twirling like a lighthouse trying to see everything. For 370 feet you are completely underwater. Toothy sandtiger sharks swim literally inches over your head. The tank is filled with hundreds of fish of various species. Yellowtailed snapper, grunts, tarpon, redfish, sea turtles, nurse sharks, stingrays, sawfish, moray eels, and even jewfish that weigh 400 pounds-plus. It is a feast for the eyes. Coupled with some good Jaques Cousteau-style music, it is a truly a treat.
The motorized walkway serves two purposes. It’s easier on the visitors, but more importantly it insures that people keep moving. Otherwise the underwater pathway beneath Shark Lagoon would quickly become a traffic jam of unmanageable proportions.
Exit the Shark Lagoon tunnel and you’re immediately in the Discovery Center. This is an area where the Tennessee Aquarium is severely lacking. A place where kids, and those of us who are young at heart, can actually touch stuff.
Horseshoe crabs swim in a tank where anyone can pick them up and marvel at these creatures that are more closely related to spiders than crabs. There are interactive exhibits with lots of buttons to push and things to climb on. Youngsters can even slip inside an aquarium where Mom or Dad can take their picture swimming with the fishes.
From there you snake through the Gallery of the Seas and then to Stingray Bay. Here, once again, visitors are invited to reach out and touch. Stingrays, leopard rays, and even small sharks cruise the shallows where you can get up close and personal. The guy watching over Stingray Bay simply suggests on occasion that you not try to touch the sharks. The braver folks can style try.
Again, the Tennessee Aquarium could really use more such “interactive exhibits.”
On the other hand… our hometown fish tank offers a great diversity you won’t find in Gatlinburg. Birds that roam wild, otters that frolic before your eyes, and I’ve never seen anything that comes close to the reality of the Delta Swamp…. except for a real delta swamp!
And of course, you won’t find another “Nickajack Tank” anywhere else in the country. Monster catfish, alligator gar, smallmouth bass and every other freshwater species graces the huge tank that imitates the Tennessee River.
Each facility offers its own unique experience, and yes, can actually complement each other rather than compete.
But there’s one major difference. It’s actually the very first difference I noticed at the Gatlinburg aquarium. The price!
Ripley’s Aquarium in the Smokies gets $15.95 for each adult visitor. The Tennessee Aquarium only wants $12.95.
For the price, the Tennessee Aquarium is far better. That’s my opinion anyway, and I give it without any “hometown bias,” I think?
But consider the market influences. When folks go to Gatlinburg, they’re sort of expecting to get ripped off. In a free market, any given thing is worth exactly what any given person will pay for it. And in Gatlinburg, most visitors are fully expecting to “give” a little more than they would probably expect in Chattanooga.
But if you’re the typical family of four… two adults and 2 7-year old kids… you’ll spend $47.80 to visit the Gatlinburg facility (the Tennessee Aquarium would be $39.80). Parking will add another four bucks. The kids will want eight dollars worth of food, and as in any well-designed tourist facility, you “Exit through the Gift Shop.”
$70 or $80 is a reasonable amount to expect to spend to visit Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. But you and the kids will see some stuff… and even better, touch some stuff and generally experience stuff not otherwise possible.
Who knows? You might even learn something in the TennesSea. A good education doesn’t come cheap.
The Touch Tanks at the Aquarium of the Smokies are great. It's one thing that is sorely lacking at the Tennessee Aquarium. In Gatlinburg you can even pet a stingray.