Visiting SeaLife Orlando Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Orlando with Kids

Icon Park has so many fun activities that it is nearly impossible to do them all in one day. The kids and have gone there a few times in the past year checking off different activities on our list. Last month, we ventured out to Icon Park again to visit two of the OG attractions SeaLife Orlando Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Orlando. Yes, we have been there before, but it has been a while and my youngest was two, so he remembers absolutely nothing.  If you haven’t visited these two attractions before, here is what you can expect on your visit.

SeaLife Orlando Aquarium

One of my favorite activities when traveling is to visit aquariums with the kids. It is interesting to see sea life from all over and learn some interesting facts. So I had high hopes for our visit to SeaLife and it didn’t disappoint.

We started off our visit to SeaLife with a 4D adventure that wasn’t offered when we visited years ago. On the 4D adventure, you dive down into the ocean, swim with sharks, and learn about how humans interact with sharks under the water and how to do it safely if for some reason you ever want to do this; we were happy interacting from the safety of our seats. Both kids thought this was a pretty cool adventure and a great way to start off our visit.

Afterward we headed off into the aquarium proper. Like a traditional aquarium, it had sea life in a variety of tanks for us to view. It is a smaller aquarium so little legs won’t get tired exploring and there is just enough to see to keep it exciting and not tip over into boredom territory, which has happened at larger aquariums in the past.

Make sure to pick up a scavenger hunt map for the kids. They get to look for specific displays around the aquarium and answer questions. They than stamp their paper and present it at the end for a prize Warning: the stamps really do require some elbow grease and might need an adult to press down. Also, they are more of an etching than a stamp so you won’t see any color on the paper. My son thought it wasn’t working at first until we figured that out. The scavenger hunt really contributed to my son’s enjoyment of the aquarium. He made sure that he got all the stamps and looked out for them in every room that we visited.

Another fun exhibit that he really enjoyed was the touch tank. He got to touch a lot of cool sea creatures including starfish and sea anemones.

All in all, it was an enjoyable visit to the aquarium.

After visiting SeaLife Orlando Aquarium, we crossed over to the other side of the main hall to visit Madame Tussauds.

Madame Tussauds Orlando

We have visited a few different Madame Tussauds around the US and find it fun to see and take pictures with the different statues. The different locations have different celebrities, so it is still fun to go even if you have been to a Madame Tussauds before.

If you have never been to Madame Tussauds before, the way it works is that there are lifelike statues of famous inventors, politicians and celebrities. They are spread out around the museum so that you can take pictures with them. Some of them are posed in realistic situations like Oprah in an interview seat, Jimmy Fallon at his desk to her, Steven Spielberg in a director’s chair or even ET on his bike.

Other newer celebrities are together in a room, but with enough space to grab a selfie with them. One celebrity was even posed on a bed, and you could lie down next to him to get a selfie.

The museum starts out with older figures such as Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Madame Tussaud herself and more. It them moves into a display of the most recent presidents; you can take a selfie in the “oval office” and then onto more modern celebrities and sports stars. There weren’t a lot of celebrities that younger kids would recognize, so my kids actually had more fun in the upfront portion.

The most fun section of the museum for us was the DC room. We entered a reenactment of Gotham, got to hold up a helicopter with superman and take pictures with Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman and Batman.

Go or No Go

We are mixed on this one. It is a definite go if you have younger kids. My 7-year-old had a great time at both the SeaLife Orlando Aquarium and at Madame Tussauds Orlando. The 12-year-old on the other hand didn’t enjoy them as much.