St. Vincent Dolphin Pavilion — Attraction in Indianapolis

Highlight of our visit (according to our 7-yo). I read some reviews saying it’s short and not much of a show: in fairness, this is actually a “presentation” of their program and if you expect a flashy show, you’ll probably get disappointed. It’s free and fills up quickly. We got tickets for Meet and Greet ($20/person) and they reserve seats for you, which I thought very thoughtful and we didn’t have to worry about standing in line for long (the required age is +6). You’d check in before the presentation (required to fill out their waiver form via phone) and wait after the presentation till everybody else leaves. Then they’ll escort you to the backstage where you sanitize your shoes/hands before meeting dolphins. Actual meeting time is probably less than 30 seconds but my kids loved shaking “fins” with them. Not recommended for someone with bad knees as you’ll have to be on your knees when you meet dolphins. I was hesitant to spend $60 for 3 of us and probably would have hated myself if my kids didn’t enjoy as much...

The dolphin show was particularly excellent to watch. The trainers seemed to be passionate about what they were doing, and I was happy to have been reminded of the importance of environmental conservation. As for the zoo, the variety in their collection was notable, although at times narration of a particular animal was too generic (for instance, if there was a Bengal Tiger in display, you really want to know about it and not just tigers). The underwater species part was very rich, something not to miss. The ticket cost should be lowered though, but I was glad that the booth operator came ahead to suggest that they could store my luggage for the hour (seeing that I was dragging a bag). This made my visit...

This zoo has so much to offer, it was a delight for our whole family visit, with our ages being under 1 all the way through 80+. For the baby, everything was very stroller-friendly, and for Great-Grandma there were lots of shady areas, and benches were easy to find.

The animals were all very easy to see and observe, so it was really enjoyable in that regard. There were no safety concerns that stood out to us, but definitely make sure you keep careful watch over your toddlers and preschoolers because it would be easy to get lost very quickly.

I highly recommend the dolphin show! That was well worth sticking around for even though we were unable to go to as early of a showing as we...