{"id":1069,"date":"2013-06-02T19:15:04","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T23:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=1069"},"modified":"2013-06-02T19:15:04","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T23:15:04","slug":"ripleys-aquarium-of-the-smokies-in-gatlinburg","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=1069","title":{"rendered":"Ripley\u2019s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our stop at Ripley\u2019s Aquarium was truly a memorable experience, no wonder it is one of the most visited aquariums in the country.\u00a0\u00a0This $70 million attraction houses sea life from each of the world&#8217;s major oceans. Some of the most popular exhibits show off octopuses, jellyfish, piranhas, weedy-looking sea dragons, all kinds of colorful coral reef critters and the absolutely prehistoric-looking Japanese spider crab. In two huge tanks, Coral Reef and Stingray Bay, scuba divers hand feed marine creatures during regular dive shows. The hands-down highlight was navigating Shark Lagoon via a 340-foot moving walkway through one of the world&#8217;s longest underwater acrylic tunnels. Here, several species of sharks live alongside sawfish, eels, and even sea turtles, giving us an amazing view and a real thrill as the sharks glide directly over your head.\u00a0\u00a0As a certified scuba diver, I felt like I was actually diving with them as they swam all around me. Penguin Playhouse, the aquarium&#8217;s newest section, is an interactive exhibit that invites visitors to crawl through still more acrylic tunnels to explore a colony of playful African Blackfooted penguins. If that&#8217;s not quite close enough for your kids, they can pet stingrays at Touch-a-Ray Bay and hold horseshoe crabs at the Discovery Center. Wow, what an amazing experience!\u00a0\u00a0Ripley\u2019s Aquarium is definitely more than just an Aquarium, it\u2019s a lifetime experience, one that you will never forget!\u00a0\u00a0Open 365 days a year and from Memorial \u2013 Labor Day &#8211; Mon-Thur: 9:00am to 10:00pm &#8211; Fri-Sun: 9:00am to 11:00pm <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ripleyaquariums.com\/gatlinburg\/plan-your-visit\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ripleyaquariums.com\/gatlinburg\/plan-your-visit<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our stop at Ripley\u2019s Aquarium was truly a memorable experience, no wonder it is one of the most visited aquariums in the country.\u00a0\u00a0This $70 million attraction houses sea life from each of the world&#8217;s major oceans. Some of the most popular exhibits show off octopuses, jellyfish, piranhas, weedy-looking sea dragons, all kinds of colorful coral [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1069","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8aPSh-hf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}