Sometimes a family vacation involves passports, airport transfers, and figuring out how many snacks you can reasonably fit in a carry-on.
And sometimes your kid asks to go back to the Georgia Aquarium. So you load everyone into the car, drive to Atlanta, and spend several days looking at fish.
Honestly? Excellent vacation.
Planning a Family Trip to the Georgia Aquarium
We planned this trip around the Georgia Aquarium, and I’m glad we gave ourselves a few days. We bought a membership because, for our visit, it paid for itself in two visits. That made it easy to keep going back without feeling like we needed to see absolutely everything in one very long day.
We could linger, revisit favorites, and leave knowing we could come back. If you’ve traveled with kids, you know how much pressure that takes off.
This was also a bring-the-grandparents-along trip, which made things easier when the kids had very different ideas about how much aquarium time was enough. When the little one wanted to stay in the room and the big kid was ready for more exploring, we had enough adults to split up and make both things happen.
Nobody had to be dragged along, and nobody had to cut their day short. Time together is wonderful. Having the flexibility to spend a few hours doing different things is also wonderful.
Where We Stayed: Embassy Suites Near the Aquarium
We stayed at the Embassy Suites around the corner, which worked really well for us. Being able to walk back to the hotel made those different schedules easy to manage, and we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast and evening drinks and snacks.
I am apparently developing a consistent theme in my travel writing, and that theme is an appreciation for someone handing me snacks and a drink.
Easy Family Meals in Downtown Atlanta
For easy meals, we liked STATS for burgers, and there was a Chick-fil-A across the street (and to assuage my liberal guilt for supporting Chick-fil-A, I also made a donation to the ACLU!). This was a trip where feeding everyone conveniently and getting back to the aquarium was pretty much the goal.
And the aquarium absolutely delivered.
Our Favorite Georgia Aquarium Experiences
We spent so much time sitting by the enormous viewing window, watching the whale shark. There is something about watching an animal that large glide through the water that makes you happy to sit still for a while.
No rushing to the next exhibit. No trying to convince anyone we needed to move along. Just sitting together, watching, and occasionally pointing out something we didn’t want the others to miss.
Those were some of my favorite moments of the trip. It’s easy to feel like a vacation needs a full itinerary, but we were all perfectly content looking through the same giant window.
Glow Night
We also accidentally stumbled into a Glow Night, which turned out to be a very fun surprise. There were huge puppets, Cirque du Soleil–style acrobatics, and a whole production we hadn’t expected.
I would love to take credit for thoughtfully arranging that part of our visit. I cannot. Sometimes you research every detail, and sometimes you happen to be standing in the right place when the giant puppets appear.
More Things to Do With Kids
The sea lion show was another favorite. We LOVED it. Absolutely worth making time for, and something we were very glad we didn’t skip.
The dolphin show was our one miss, and that was mostly a packing failure on Mom’s part.
I forgot the headphones.
The show got too loud, so we left early. It happens. A reminder for anyone traveling with kids who are sensitive to sound: the headphones only help if you actually bring them. Ideally into the building.
We didn’t need to push through just because we were already there. There were plenty of other things to enjoy, and leaving was the right call for us.
I did make an attempt to introduce a little variety by suggesting a visit to the World of Coca-Cola. Mom had interests! Mom had ideas!
The kids wanted to go back to the aquarium.
So back to the aquarium we went. When you’ve built a trip around something your kids love and they’re still excited about it on repeat visits, that feels like a win. Coca-Cola will have to wait.
I also came home wanting a tank full of skittles shrimp, because apparently observing aquatic life for several days wasn’t enough. Now I would like a tiny, colorful shrimp community in my own house.
Some people bring home a magnet. I bring home plans for another hobby.
Why This Atlanta Family Getaway Worked So Well
This was such a good reminder that we don’t always need to go far or plan something elaborate to have a wonderful family trip. A conveniently located hotel, easy meals, grandparents along for the adventure, and enough time to enjoy the thing we came for worked beautifully for us.
And next time, I’m packing the headphones first.
Apparently I took exactly one photo, so you’ll have to just trust me on this trip!
