The Shedd Aquarium has been a favorite for young families in Chicago for a long time. With the addition of the Oceanarium about 20 years ago or so, there is a lot to do here, and you can easily spend an entire day at the Shedd with your family. I highly recommend getting here at open, especially on the weekends, because this museum gets super busy, and because it’s geared more towards kids, you’ll have a lot of strollers to contend with.

Getting Here

The Shedd is right off of Lake Shore Drive, and easy to get to, although parking is not quite as simple. They do have valet which fills up quickly on the weekends. There is metered parking on Museum Drive, but that is extremely hit-or-miss. Alternatively, you can park in the Soldier Field North Garage, and it’s about a 5-10 minute walk to the Shedd from there. If you are in from out of town, an Uber or Taxi is probably your best bet, as the Shedd is a bit of a hike from the central areas of the city.

Tickets

Tickets for residents of Chicago are $19.95, but tickets for out of town residents are much higher, ranging from $34.45 for adults during the week to over $40 on the weekends. Member pricing is pretty competitive though, much like the other museums around town, so if you’re a family of four or more, it might make sense to purchase a family membership, good for one year, for $195.00. This is especially the case if you plan to come more than once. The membership also gets you discounts on things like 4D movies and the gift shop. Note that you must buy tickets in advance, and you get a time of entry. Again, try to go for getting there as early as possible.

What to do?

You can easily spend an entire day here at the Shedd. While most things are geared towards kids under 10 years old, I would say there is plenty to do for older kids and adults, too. The aquarium obviously has a ton of cool tanks with various fish, some very tiny and some very huge.

We all love the Stingray Touch, which is only available during the warmer months. The rays have their stingers removed, and they feel really cool to touch. You can book private experiences too, including feedings, and other touch encounters with various animals.

The Oceanarium is a massive stadium-seating type of theater with a massive tank for larger animals, that has shows just about every hour. Sometimes it’s dolphins and sometimes its beluga whales! The dolphins are a little more impressive since they do all sorts of tricks, but the belugas are also really cool to see, and do plenty of tricks of their own!

We adore going below the Oceanarium to see all of the penguins running around and swimming. Honestly, I could stand here for at least a half hour watching these little dudes!

There are also a whole bunch of 4D movies to see, that are all about 15 minutes long. They cost extra, but some of them are very cool and beautiful to look at. We recently saw the Octopus:Blue Planet II movie which was lovely and fun. It’s a $5 upgrade for your ticket ($3 for members).

The Shedd is one of the most popular museums in Chicago, and my number one piece of advice is get your tickets in advance, and get there early. You’re going to have a great time!