Central Florida isn’t the most likely place in the state to encounter a major undersea world, but it is now ready to surprise all-comers to the LEGOLAND Florida park in Winter Haven with its very latest creation.
SEA LIFE Florida has been more than a year in the making and it now occupies some prime real estate in the extensive acres of its big brother park, just inside the main entrance in an unmissable bright blue building. It is certainly an attention-grabbing site, and it deserves to be on your must-see list when it comes to visiting this LEGO realm.
Just to avoid any confusion, SEA LIFE Florida is a completely different proposition to the SEA LIFE Orlando aquarium inside ICON Park in Orlando’s International Drive. They are both part of UK company Merlin Entertainments, who now have fully 53 of their SEA LIFE-branded marine life entertainment and discovery centres worldwide.
And their latest fits in superbly with the Florida theme at the big LEGOLAND park, which has been offering its own take on Sunshine State entertainment since 2011. With the Peppa Pig Theme Park also a part of this expansive site, it now has even more appeal for the 2-12 age group.
It opened with a fun kelp-cutting ceremony on June 6 and is now open daily from 10am, until park closing at 7 or 8pm. However, there is a separate charge to enter the aquarium of $25 per person (although there is also a new combo ticket with LEGOLAND itself), but it makes for a great place to visit in the afternoon when the summer heat can be oppressive.
While it is definitely a different layout to SEA LIFE Orlando, it still has some of the same elements, as well as the overall style that the SEA LIFE aquariums use, which is to follow a pre-determined trail through the different elements and exhibits on display, finishing in true Florida style in the inevitable gift shop!
Unlike the ICON Park version, there is no children’s play area for children to climb, crawl and slide through, but then, with the whole of the LEGOLAND park just outside the doors, children will never be short of something to do. And the basic facts about the new venue are impressive: there are fully 3,000 amazing animals on show, representing 150 different species of marine life, from jellyfish and seahorses to stingrays and Blacktip Reef Sharks.
After entering through the main doors (just on the right through the park’s main entrance), visitors are invited to have a souvenir photo with a clever green-screen background, and then they enter the first of 11 different sections of the aquarium proper, with an exhibit featuring a characteristic Florida Freshwater Swamp, highlighting the distinctive likes of largemouth bass, bluegill and Florida gar, which are all typical fish species in the state’s freshwater areas.
From there, the trail leads to the sea and an exhibit called Key West Harbor before reaching the hands-on exhibit of the Rockpools, another typical SEA LIFE feature where children are invited to touch live sea stars and anemones. As with many of the different marine sections, there is a strong environmental message with the sealife, and kids can learn about the amazing micro-habitats of the coastal ecosystems.
The next section is another popular one, that of the Seahorse Nursery, which always goes down well with youngsters. Here, there are three different kinds of these super-cute species, including the Big Belly Seahorse. Continuing on the winding path brings visitors to another major exhibit, the vibrant Coral Reef, full of colourful coral and some of its regular inhabitants, including the ever-popular clown fish.
Stingray Bay adds its own version of undersea grace and beauty with a pool dedicated to an array of impressive rays, along with some of the fish they live with. We especially like the thoughtful “portholes” at a lower height that give youngsters their own eye-level viewpoint into the Bay. From there, it’s off to Blackbeard’s Shipwreck, where visitors can enjoy some more clever underwater scenery, along with our favourite fish of the day, the superbly detailed Clown Triggerfish, which can usually be found in the Indian and west Pacific oceans.
Next up, Jelly Invaders invites visitors to change the colouring in the watery habitat of the curious jellyfish, while Colourful Caves goes to even greater lengths to highlight unusual sea life with the story and examples of marine bioluminescence, which is a wonderful feature of the Florida coast in the hottest months of the year.
Saving the best for last, the SEA LIFE journey reaches the largest sections of the aquarium and its unique headline feature, which they used to promote the venue when first announced last year. The Theme Park Under The Sea is a superbly creative and eye-catching habitat that occupies much of the main 125,000-gallon exhibit. It starts with the Ocean Tunnel, a trademark feature that surrounds visitors with all the main marine life – including the sharks – and slowly reveals the “theme Park” elements, which take the form of a fanciful line up of themed attractions – the Coral Kingdom, geddit?! – and hotels for the resident fish, rays and other creatures of the deep. There is even the Big Buoy Pizza restaurant and Spooky Deep cemetery!
It all adds up to an impressive dive into the oceans of the world and is both entertaining and educational, as well as a great place to cool down for an hour or so, while there are periodic Behind-The-Scenes tours (for an extra $10/person) to provide more insight into the aquarium and the way they look after the many sea creatures. SEA LIFE is also right next to the park’s coffee shop and pizza place, so there’s plenty of snacking to be done along the way!
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