Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

 The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium is a large aquarium located in Draper Utah. We really like it there and have been getting season passes for a few years now. Mostly to have a good nearby option for something to do on gross weather days. No I take it back, that’s a bonus, we got them for the penguins. Speaking of, that is is what brought us out here these days. The penguins have had babies! So we decided we should come see them.

I don’t do this often, but this post is going to combine 2 trips into one. Mostly photos from our trip on the 30th, and I peppered a few extra photos from our trip on the 8th. With this color text. 

Quick Details:

Length: Whatever you decide to explore. It is roughly a mile to explore across 2 floors.
Trail Type: Wander
Difficulty: DR2.
Elevation Gain: 2 stories.
Restroom: Several.
Dogs? No.
Other Info: Fee area. General admission is $18.95 - $25.95.

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 Adventures:

They renamed The Claw to the Rio Tinto Kennecott Plaza. But it will forever be The Claw to me.

Again.

New entrance.

The main lobby.

I didn’t get a shot of it, but they expanded the gift shop a little bit, but they still have a little awkward area where the original ticket booth was.

Of course we just b-lined it to the penguins.

Antarctic Adventure and the Penguin Research Station:

A few weeks ago:

We showed up at feeding time.

Quick video.

The macaroni’s and Gentoo’s are all mixed together. I took this as a good sign.

Then it was time to check on the chicks.

From what I observed, 1 guy does the actual examination and/or feeding, and the others job is to keep the parents from getting in the way haha. But I get that the parental instincts just screams MY BABY! Get away from my baby!

Then mom and dad are left to watch over their chicks. You can just make out their silhouettes through the pen. Did I mention there are two? Cause there are two. There are also two more in the back area that they are trying to get acclimated. All born here at the aquarium.

Swimming around.

Mom and dad screaming to the heavens. I actually have no idea what they are doing but it looked neat.

More baby silhouettes.

Macaroni penguin. These guys are new this year. There are 4 total. I love the orange feathers.

Gentoo swimming.

Macaroni.

More macaroni.

Back to the end of the month:

The new babies are still in the enclosure for their safety, but they are big enough you can see their heads now! Hello cuties!

There are 2 more babies that hatched this year, but they are being cared for in the back areas.

Well, this is the most lethargic I have ever seen them be. I guess this time of year, they are molting and building up their fat stores in preparation for winter.

Well this is a fun treat! We got to watch mom and dad feeding the babies!!! Yay!

Ahhh!!! I loves it.

Yep. They are definitely molting. I wasn’t paying too close attention because, well, baby penguins, but I believe I heard her say they molt all of their feathers and regrow them before winter.

Back to the cute little family.

Super cute!

Dad is Ghost Rider (purple band, right), mom is Meg (green band, left). Boys get purple bands, girls get green bands. Except for the macaroni's, but we’ll get to that.

That looks like a whole ass fish… okay this is really fascinating, but rather disgusting at the same time haha.

Cuties.

Quick video.

Family.

Found this girl snoozing in the corner.

The macaroni penguins. These neat little guys were added earlier this year. As you can see their arm bands are different. From what I remember from previous visits those are the arm bands the previous zoo they came from used, and they didn’t want to upset them so they just kept them. They have their own system that identifies them that is not nearly as easy as the ones the Gentoo’s have. So far they do not have a guide available to the public... at least not that I have noticed. But they are named! Penne, Ziti, Linguini, and Rigatoni (I love the pasta theme for the macaroni penguins).

All 4 of them.

More lazy guys.

Macaroni’s again. Last time we were here it seemed like they had fully integrated with the rest of the Gentoo’s, but now they seem to have separated themselves again. Well, at least they don’t fight each other.

Different species of penguins.

Awkward panoramic with them all.

Gentoo’s (green) are the 3rd largest species. And if this graphic is accurate, then Macaroni’s (blue) are the 3rd largest of the crested penguins.

Onto Expedition Asia.

Turtle of some sort.

Komodo dragon.

Clouded leopard. Sadly, the other one passed away earlier this year.

Little waterfall.

Tortious.

Giant millipede in an interactive exhibit. Landis opted to touch it, I opted against that. Yuck!

onto Journey to South America.

Earlier this month:

Poison dart frogs.

Some other frogs.

Some other frog. I believe this is also a poison dart, but just a more specific kind.

Yellow headed gecko.

Sloth.

Sloth.

I forget what this guy is.

One of the river giants.

Anaconda.

Mata Mata. I have never noticed this one before. I wonder if he/she is new?

Electric eel.

Piranha.

Onto Discover Utah.

Desert Tortoise.

A second one.

Western toads.

Closer. These pretty guys have been threatened due to a fungus that kills them pretty early in their life cycle. The aquarium has joined into a program called Head Starting. In which they raise the toads up to a certain age, and then release them back into their natural habitat when they are stronger adults. Neat.

We see signs about them in our mountains. But I have not seen one in the wild yet.

Information sign.

We saw one of the otters briefly before it dipped backstage. I am sure there is a more accurate term but that’s all I can come up with at the moment.

A few weeks ago:

One of the otters was out swimming.

I love them.

So acrobatic.

Climbing out of the water.

Playing in the water.

Out of the water.

Oh.. oh my. I guess that is where they go potty.

Swimming around.

There are two, they got a new one earlier this year. But they are alternating their time in and outside of their pens while they are working on getting them used to each other.

Playing with the bucket.

Super cute.

Quick video

Brine Shrimp. The only thing that lives in The Great Salt Lake.

Tiger salamander. We find these guys in high elevation lakes, like Cecret Lake.

The orca photo op station is currently under construction. I wonder what they are doing to it.

Antarctic Adventure

Moon jellies.

I forget what kind of jellies these are.

Moving onto Ocean Explorer.

Tide pool.

I forget what these guys are, but they can spit water to hunt bugs on branches above. I haven’t caught them doing that ever though. Maybe one day I will get lucky.

The Giant Pacific Octopus. He is usually hiding in the corner, but sometimes you can see the suckers against the glass.

Heading towards the shark tube.

Into the shark tube.

It’s super neat, so it is usually pretty crowded.

Shark.

Shark, turtle, and ray.

Shark.

The shark habitat.

Different kind of shark.

Back to Antarctic Explorer and the Penguin Research Station

With our penguin friends.

The babies in their pen.

The other adults.

The macaroni’s still hanging out in the middle.

Closer.

The Gentoo’s.

I don’t know why, but the Macaroni’s just look like a group of stoners right now hahaha.

The penguin names.

One of the babies.

Again.

I wish you could see them better, but I get it is for their safety.

Back to Expedition Asia.

Neat Komodo Dragon statue.

Small clawed otters.

Getting a drink. I am happy to see these guys again since it has been a while. I was starting to worry they were not well. But, we probably just had bad timing.

Super cute!

Adorable little explorers.

Slipping into the water.

Playing with the drum thingy. Both the Asian otters, and the river otters appear to really like playing with these.

Hello cutey!

So cute.

Them feets!!!

Them whiskers.

Hi cutey!

Little paws again.

I loves her.

I love watching them swim around.

The other one decided to come out and play.

So acrobatic.

From earlier:

Running around on land.

I still want to snuggle one.

They really seem to like to explore enclosed spaces.

The clouded leopard.

The main lobby area.

The Claw.

Panoramic.

Pretty flower.

Bonus terrible PSP shot of the old Valley High School. Now turned into a Shake Shack and an event venue. I knew this happened, but this is the first time I saw it myself. So sad, but time marches on. At least they kept the building.

That was a fun time at the aquarium (x2). I just love the adorable baby penguins, and well, the adorable adult penguins and otters and others. We really do get our moneys worth with the memberships allowing us to come on a whim. We need to do another visit soon to see when the babies are released. 10 squirrels for both days because BABIES!!! 

As for difficulty, it is paved and ADA compliant. DR2.

Dogs are not allowed.