Moody Gardens — Attraction in Galveston

It’s unfathomable how Moody Gardens Galveston Texas has a 4.4 Google Review rating at the time of writing this. Our family had been talking about re-visiting Moody Gardens since last summer when we passed it on the way to the beach. Although it didn’t knock anyone’s socks off the last time we visited, 20 years ago, we thought it might be fun for some of the children and adults, and perhaps there would be newer and better things to experience. The prices for entry were pretty steep, but we decided to purchase the “Value Pass” for everyone in our group since we had planned to spend the whole day there and wanted to get our money’s worth (06/2023). At $80 per adult and $70 per kid, we felt like we had been swindled by the end of our 4.5 hour visit (arriving when the doors opened). To keep it short, the good things about our visit were that the rain forest area was still very pretty and entertaining, the aquarium pyramid was okay, and a handful of the staff was nice. The negative things: 1) The pyramids, though breathtaking from afar, are in need of a lot of TLC; they are dirty, rusting, and visually unappealing as you approach each one. 2) A lot of attractions that should have had animals, or sea life, in them were empty with signage claiming that the exhibit was under repair, or that the animal was being kept somewhere behind the scenes for random reasons. 3) Displays and exhibits are literally falling apart everywhere. In the shark museum, there are displays that were falling apart inside their glass protection (that’s just pure laziness concerning maintenance). A lot of the exhibits look like they were put together as cheaply as possible, and other exhibits were broken from wear-and-tear by visitors. Most exhibits look very dated and you can see the black duct tape coming off of displays that Moody Gardens used to hold the exhibits together. 3) The movies were so boring that three adults in our party alone fell asleep. The kids were disappointed with the movies as well and they are usually happy watching anything. 4) Unlike our visit 20 years ago, all of the pyramids are roped off in such a way as to force you to take certain laid out paths. Before, you were able to freely roam the exhibits like most museums. You could easily go under the ropes, but why? We’re sure it was done to get people to visit areas they might have otherwise missed, but this could have been done with better signage. 5) Certain areas that used to be available were closed off. There’s an observation deck that overlooks Offatts Bayou that was blocked off by a wooden bench and no explanation. 6) There was a dinosaur exhibit thrown together under a large tent that was included with the Pass but the majority of the displays looked like they were still being painted and worked on. Most of the dinosaur's eyes were not painted yet. We wanted to ride the paddleboat, which was also included with the Pass, but nobody in the group wanted to wait another 45+ minutes for the boat to take off again and then be stuck on the water for the 50+ minute ride if it was as boring as the rest of the visit had been. In all, we spent over half a grand for less than 5 hours' worth of “blah” memories. For the same amount of money, we could have bought season passes to a handful of waterparks, theme parks, the zoo, or who knows what else. We would have given a 1-star rating but since one of the kids enjoyed it enough to say they wouldn’t mind visiting it again someday, there must have been a little entertainment in...

We had a great time exploring the rainforest pyramid! The flora and fauna are absolutely gorgeous.

Parking was okay; not great, not terrible.

The rainforest pyramid gets VERY hot in the summertime, especially on the top level, and it's very humid. I should've expected this because it's inside a glass building with the sun beating down on it, and the humidity is also important for the animals and plants - it is a rainforest, after all.

But I was still surprised by it. If you're sensitive to the heat and humidity, it's probably best not to go during summer.

On the upper level, there are AC vents placed along the walkway to afford the humans a bit of respite from the heat and humidity while also keeping the "weather" the way that the plants and animals need for their health.

There were so many cool plants, flowers, trees, birds, fish and bats. Everywhere you look, there seems to be a million and one things to take in.

This is an exhibit that you'll want to take your time with. The more you look at any one area, the more things to see and appreciate seem to come forward.

There's at least one monkey we caught a fleeting glimpse of, and one sloth that we unfortunately didn't see.

The whole time we were in this pyramid, I kept wondering where the bugs were. Surely, bugs are needed to sustain the ecosystem.

While I didn't see any bugs in the pyramid, I was absolutely stoked when we exited the pyramid proper into the last (air conditioned) room: bugs at last! And other "creepy crawlies," which I love so much.

Tarantulas, a beautiful praying mantis, an actively molting bushwhacker pit viper (oh my goodness, what a treat!), and roaches.

So. Many. Varieties of roaches. Madagascar hissing roaches, some kind of black roach with white spots that didn't even really look like a roach and so many more.

To be honest, even though I love most bugs, roaches aren't among them. Even so, it was fascinating to see so many varieties of them.

While I very much enjoyed this last room, if you or someone in your party is squeamish about bugs, it'll be best to keep your eyes on the floor while you navigate your way to the exit door.

Once you exit the pyramid, there are a couple of benches (in the AC), just a short walk to some restrooms. On the way to the restrooms, you can stop by a terrarium and get a good look at an endangered axolotl! That li'l guy is bigger than I thought and way cuter than I could've ever expected.

I should also mention that my mom uses a push wheelchair for things like this that require a lot of walking. She can walk on her own but needs some assistance when we're looking at more than an hour on our feet.

We took an elevator instead of the stairs up to the second level, where the walk-through started. Once we were inside the pyramid, we had zero issues navigating the paths. There were a couple of instances of stairs, but with one exception (four steps down to get closer to a fish pond), there was always a ramp.

That's good news for folks who have young kids in strollers, too.

So, if you or anyone in your party is rocking wheels, you'll be good.

Another thing I liked about this attraction is that it's not time bound. As long as you get there about two-and-a-half hours before they close, you can show up whenever you like and...

I only live an hour and a half away and was looking forward to a quick 4 day getaway. I booked the Moody Gardens due to the large campus and them having so much to do on site. It was rated as a 4-star so I just knew we would be able to enjoy it. It started out with the valet guy out front when we pulled up to drop off our luggage. The Asian man was very rude telling us that the second lane (they have 3 lanes, but only the first is marked "Valet only") is for valet and that we needed to pull towards the street to unload. We check in with no problems, the front desk staff was very nice. I'll start off by saying the grounds are nice to walk and they have bike rentals for guests, no charge. The room was large and spacious. The pool was large, but the 2 days I tried to use it, they shut it down because someone would vomit in it. SMH! Maybe they should rethink that swim up bar. The water was murky and seemed dirty. One of the maintenance men said the pump wasnt working properly. The prices at the bar at the pool were really reasonable and we enjoyed a couple of drinks (outside of the pool). They have a large workout room and to my surprise, a sauna. Lots of food options between the hotel and the visitors center. Now, the unpleasant. I was so disappointed with the lack of cleanliness of the hotel. I was shocked at how filthy the carpet in the hallway was. My husband pointed out the trash still on our bedroom carpet as well. Our shower had mold along the wall and the tub paint was peeling (see photos). It needs replacing. As a matter of fact, the entire place needs a massive overhaul. It is badly dated. The coffee tables in the lobby were rusted, My first night, there were brown stains on my sheets and I immediately called housekeeping to come change what should have been clean sheets. The lady came, didn't speak to us at all, didn't apologize and said nothing the entire time. When she was finished. She just walked out. I don't know her name, but she was a short hispanic lady. We were shocked. I was also surprised that the grounds and the many gardens were unkept and many overgrown with weeds and dead plants. It was sad to see this property look so bad. I remember visiting in 2001 and it was so beautiful. To make things worse, there was a cheer competition or something and they assigned cheerleaders on our floor who ran and played until after 10 PM sometimes, making it hard to get any rest. Our second night, they put a group next to us who did cheers in their room late at night and woke up before 7 doing cheers. With us being an adjoining room, you already know how that went, as you can hear everything. A total nightmare. I don't blame the kids, I blame the hotel. You have too many rooms to have them mixed in with regular guests. You should have put them all together. I couldn't enjoy coffee in my room because of course, the coffee pot was filthy, (see pictures). This place has so much potential and I was so disappointed in the lack of upkeep and the failure to modernize the facility. I'm assuming it still has 4 stars because of the golf course, waterpark and pyramids, who knows. I do know that management and the city of Galveston or board for Moody foundation or whoever is in charge, has really...