Butterfly House & Aquarium — Attraction in Sioux Falls Township

After 15+ years of hearing my mom rave about the time she visited this butterfly house in 2006, my brother and I thought it would be special to surprise her with a $50 gift certificate for Christmas. We live 4+ hours away, so it took us a little over two years to coordinate a weekend where all three of us could make the trip to South Dakota together.

When we finally arrived, my mom was beaming. She handed the cashier her gift card, still in the original envelope it was mailed in. The cashier removed the gift card from the envelope and informed us that the gift card had expired. We were stunned. Since when do gift cards expire? We explained how long we’d been planning this, how much it meant, how we’d driven over four hours to get there, but the cashier refused to honor it. She tracked down the manager for us, who doubled-down that we could not use our gift card. Instead, the manager offered to let ONE of us into the butterfly house for "free", as long as the other two of us purchased tickets for $15 each.

Let me repeat: they offered to “honor” a $50 gift card by waiving a single $15 admission fee, and expected us to pay another $30 just to walk into a room we’d already paid to access. We declined and left, as requesting three customers to pay a total of $80 to for admission into a butterfly house is ridiculous. We were so disappointed.

What a bizarre hill to die on. This isn’t a restaurant where goods are consumed. It’s not a concert with a limited number of seats. It’s a ROOM that we ALREADY PAID to STAND IN. And yet, despite already having our money, they wouldn’t let us in.

The worst part was watching my mom get turned away from a place she’d spoken about with such joy and nostalgia. I still get upset just thinking about it. We tried to do something kind. Instead, we left with nothing but frustration, disappointment, and the feeling that we had been taken advantage of. I'm not sure where our $50 went, but it certainly didn't contribute to staff training on empathy or basic decency.

I sincerely hope they treat the butterflies in their care better than they treat their...

NOT AUTISTIC FRIENDLY! We have the membership and come here often and have never had a problem we go at different times of the week and never have had a problem until we went last Wednesday. New staff maybe I don’t know … our membership comes with a free butterfly feeder we get it every time the guy at the counter kept telling me it doesn’t come with a feeder which is a lie I tried telling him multiple times we come here all the time and have always received one. My son who is 3 1/2 is autistic and this is one of his favorite places so he was disappointed. Now the sad part. The worker that was in working in the butterfly area was aweful!! Again I have never had a problem with anyone here before.. we were looking at all the animals and butterflies when my son spotted a turtle that was literally next to the wall way he petting the shell a couple times so excites and the worker comes over to us and says we need to leave to go wash his hands and makes us exit while my husband and baby waited for us. OK no big deal. Then we returned and literally not even a minute after we returned my son caught a butterfly he loved it wasn’t hurting it or anything keep in mind he usually had a feeder so he usually just catches them on the feeder but they refused to give him one. The worker comes up and gets on him about not touching the butterfly. Ok we told him to put him down but no the guy was just watching my son like a hawk like there wasn’t other people on the place to watch all my son did was picked up a leaf A LEAF off the ground and he runs back over to us and has been set it to the side. At this point we are annoyed and not even enjoying it anymore because we feeel like anything we do we will get in trouble so we just left and I’m not sure we will be back which is upsetting because my AUTISTIC son asks to go there all the time. I guess we will stick...

My suggestion would be don’t make a special drive to come here from out of town…I could see how it could be great for a quick trip for locals (though, rather expensive for a quick hour activity) but after driving an hour and a half, my husband and I get to the door with 4 kids under 5 and it says no stroller. Thank goodness I did not come by myself because I could not have held a newborn and a 1.5 year old though the exhibit long enough to get any joy out of it or without the 1.5 year old climbing something in appropriate. Then, I see a sign that says “no public bathrooms.” Well, I opened the door to double check with staff. I said “no bathroom? We just drove almost two hours to be here.” And his suggestion was, “right…you can walk down to the park.” He sent us to 400 meters through a parking lot with 4 littles to a NASTY PARK BATHROOM to change diapers and have little hands around the potty. I was repulsed. We walk all the way back to the butterfly house and I’m visibly annoyed. Kid needed a bandaid after falling on the way to the bathroom. I asked for a bandaid. He obviously picked up on my disappointment in the situation and instead of apologizing, he is passive aggressive, rude, and short with us. We walk all the way in after paying and see bathrooms!! Like what?? Maybe signs should say “bathrooms for paying customers only”?? And maybe don’t assume people didn’t drive almost two hours to come use your bathrooms 😂 like obviously we were there to come to the butterfly house. So, the experience was already off to a sour start and then we find out the touch pool in the “aquarium” is closed due to animal illness. I feel we overpaid for the butterflies only. Won’t be doing it again,...