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The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium is a wonderful aquarium in Draper that is more than just an aquarium, they have quite a few exhibits that feature many aquatic, semi aquatic, and non aquatic animals as well. In wintertime they transform their outdoor Rio Tinto Kennecott Plaza into a magical fairyland of light up animals and other decorations. It is not included with regular admission, or with membership, but it still looked fun!
Quick Details:
Length: As much as you wander.
Trail Type: Meander.
Difficulty: DR2. It’s paved and has ramps.
Elevation Gain: 1 story.
Restroom: Several.
Dogs? No.
Other Info: Fee area. Just the aquarium starts at $18.95. The Lantern Festival is $18.95 for adults and is a separate event starting at 5:30 PM. Members get 15% off (I feel like it could have been a little bit bigger of a discount, but meh). Note: During the lantern fest you can go in the aquarium and view the animals (though many are asleep). However the Lantern Fest is not included with regular daytime aquarium tickets.
To Get Here:
Take I15 to exit 291, 12300 s. Go west to the first light and turn right on Lone Peak Parkway and it will be on the right very shortly.
The Adventure:
The aquarium and The Claw.
Fun honeycomb archway with bees.
Elk.
Giant frog.
The Claw. This was the stage for U2’s 360 Tour. I don’t know how the aquarium came into it’s possession. Some people hate it but, I think it is pretty neat. I enjoy having the big colorful thing to locate from the mountains above during some of our hikes and such.
Fun penguins.
We decided to start with a quick tour through the inside. You can skip that and jump directly to the Lantern Festival here.
Not really a pro tip, but a suggestion. If you follow the route we did today (or the reverse) you completely avoid all stairs and just use the gentle ramps between exhibits.
The new-ish entrance while they complete the new Education Center. They also expanded the gift shop a little bit. This was where the original ticket counter was, quite a few years ago now.
Green sea turtle.
The main lobby with the holiday decorations.
Spiny Lobster.
The little photo area with the orca statues. Whatever construction they were doing with it appears to be done.
We started with Antarctica Adventure.
Moon jellies.
Other jellies.
Fun mural.
Heading up the the Penguin Research Station.
Unfortunately the lights are off and the penguins are sleeping.
The penguins names. Well, all but the newest babies.
Fun whale stained glass. I have never noticed this before.
Penguins of the world.
We popped into Expedition Asia.
It would seem they are in the process of moving this exhibit into the new education center. From what little they have shared on the website, it looks absolutely incredible! I am excited to see it. I wonder what they will do with this area when that happens.
Fish.
Little stars growing on the glass.
Journey to South America.
Some kind of frog.
Pretty red one.
Colorful poison dart frogs.
Turtle.
Snake.
Toucan.
Blue-billed curassow.
River giants.
Tarantula.
Anaconda.
Turtles..
Piranha.
Onto Discover Utah.
Fun faux arch.
Desert gopher snake. We have seen quite a few of these on our hikes.
Random frogs.
Desert tortoise. I have not had the pleasure of seeing one of these in the wild yet.
Western toads. These are endangered, and the aquarium is working on giving them a head start by raising them to adulthood and then releasing them into their natural habitat.
The George S and Dolores Dore Eccles Otter Outpost.
Sadly, the otters appear to be sleeping as well.
Brine shrimp. You can find these in the Great Salt Lake.
Adult tiger salamanders. I have yet to see an adult in the wild, but we see their aquatic form in places like Cecret Lake.
Lionfish.
Megalodon Jaw.
Into Ocean Explorer.
Tide pool.
Again.
Seahorses.
Clownfish.
Octopus.
Rays.
Sexy dancer shrimp.
Upside down jellies.
Mantis shrimp.
To the sharks!
The fun hallway.
The shark tunnel.
Shark.
Another.
Huge ray.
Sea turtle.
Shovelnose ray.
The turtle again.
Oh wow. I can’t remember the last time we saw the tunnel with this few people.
Not empty, but close enough.
Sharks.
On to the shark tank.
The tunnel we were just in.
Sharks.
Rays and sharks.
The tube again.
Back to the lobby.
Quick breeze through the gift shop.
The updated hallway to connect to the new education center.
The slightly expanded giftshop.
Alright, back to the Lantern Festival.
Beautiful wings. We will come back to these a little later.
Corridor to a private event.
The Claw.
Mantis shrimp.
Lots of color.
The Claw. Like it or not, I think it is a fun addition to the Rio Tinto Plaza, and particularly the Lantern Festival since it adds a lovely mix of color pretty high up.
Fish.
The Claw again.
We are both a bit over stimulated and squirreling all over the place, but it is super pretty!
Fun tunnel.
The Claw.
Giant frog. Every once in a while you will hear it ribbit.
It also blows fog every now and then.
More neat plants.
The frog again.
Fish.
There are several warming stations around the plaza. It’s not particularly cold tonight, but they feel nice anyway.
The frog.
With some fog.
The Claw above.
The fun tunnel again.
Inside.
Axolotl’s. They are closely related to our local tiger salamanders.
Fun jellyfish.
Fun anglerfish.
Giant octopus!
With a nutcracker.
With the claw.
Looking in.
Inside. I love the suckers.
Giant jellyfish, with some more nutcrackers.
Closer.
Inside.
I don’t know what these are, I assume some kind of aquatic plants, but they are pretty.
Hermit crab.
Reefs.
Jellies.
The octopus almost appears to be grabbing The Claw.
Muscles.
With the octopus.
Shark!
I had to use google, but I guess these are simply called spinning tunnels, or vortex tunnels. They always trip me out. This one the effects were a little bit more mild than the one I recently experienced at The Museum of Illusions as well as some I have seen at haunted houses.
Again.
I wish I had thought to take video.
More fish.
Penguins, orcas, and sea lions. and seals.
The Claw.
Wave.
This kind of reminds me of Chihuly Garden and Glass.
The back of the penguins.
Again.
Komodo dragons.
Otters.
Again.
The Claw.
Mountain lion.
We have heard all of the various names except for catamount. Must be regional.
Eel drinking fountain. This reminds me of the tiger drinking fountains at Hogle Zoo.
The Claw.
Fish.
Neat bird. I have seen these on some nature show, but I can't think of what it is. I do remember they display like this while doing a little dance to attract a mate. Possibly a Parotia bird?
More fish, and the new Sam and Aline Skaggs Science Learning Center in the background.
Bees.
Chameleon.
Again.
Supposedly the buttons did something, but… I couldn’t tell you what other than light up when you stand on them.
Fun flower.
In front.
And poof! It shoots a puff of fog at you. That was kind of neat.
Neat light up stage. Kind of like an old disco stage.
The squares light up as you step on them. Fun!
Butterflies.
Skunks.
The Claw.
Anaconda.
Bobcats.
Cacti.
Tortoise.
Sloth, I think.
More sloths.
Binturong.
More. Sadly, the aquarium no longer has one.
The Claw.
We decided to take the little ramp up to the stage underneath it.
It’s like a spaceship.
The tunnel below.
The octopus.
Now it kind of reminds me of that laser from Independence Day.
All lit up.
We decided to do another lap.
Elk and, those look like one of my favorite wildflowers, shooting stars. Obviously not to scale.
Axolotls.
Tunnel.
Anglerfish.
Inside.
Jellyfish.
Octopus.
With the claw.
Again.
Little wall around the stage.
The Claw again.
Octopus.
Penguins.
Coming though the iceberg.
Again.
The octopus.
Adorable little colorful light up swings.
Shark!
The penguins again.
Bees again.
Fun contraption that turns you into little shimmery lights.
This was supposedly interactive as well, but pressing the buttons didn’t appear to do anything.
Bees.
Wilson’s Bird of Paradise.
Butterflies.
Bobcats.
Sloths.
Atlantic royal flycatcher.
I thought this looked like a Pallas cat.
Hooray, I was correct. There was one at Hogle Zoo, but sadly he died last year. Oh, but it looks like they have gotten 3 more! I guess we need to go back soon.
Tortoise.
We have never noticed this little pond before. I wonder if it came with the new building.
Back to the pretty wings in front of the Sam and Aline Skaggs Science Leaning Center.
I imagine the Enchanted Earth is for the Lantern Festival.
Anyway, they are super pretty!
One more quick breeze through to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
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The fun penguins again.
Mantis shrimp.
This appears to be a tardigrade, and appears to be a permanent display.
The Claw.
The frog again.
Again.
I’ll be honest, I was trying to find the chest. I love me a good scavenger hunt. But, no luck tonight.
So colorful.
Frog and claw.
The tunnel again.
Beta.
The big jellyfish.
Inside.
Bubbles.
The fun swings again.
The spinning tunnel again.
I wanted to do it again.
It’s neat.
Alright. We were getting hungry, so we called it. Plus we have been walking all day anyway, and the legs were starting to protest a bit.
The Claw.
Elk.
Leaving the entrance.
Fun flowers.
The front of the entrance.
With The Claw.
Wow! That was super fun! We chose a good day, it was not super busy at all. My only gripe is, aside from being colorful, it’s not particularly festive. Plus, I think some snow would have made it a little more magical, but, there isn’t anything they can do about that haha. However, I appreciate the educational theme they went with so that is pretty fun. There were a lot of fun photo opportunities as well. It was really fun. Going with 9 squirrels out of 10.
As for difficulty, it is paved, and there are ramps. DR2.
Dogs are not allowed, so be sure to leave Fido home.
