During our last trip to Baltimore, we visited the Baltimore Aquarium and also attended their dolphin show, called “Play!”. The show lives up to its tame name. You will see dolphins at play, and that’s all you’ll see. It lasts about a half hour or so, and it’s geared toward kids — more specifically, kindergarten-age kids and maybe those in the first few grades.

I felt cheated as I sat there, waiting for some nice acrobatics, and all I got was talk about dolphins — again, geared toward the kindergarten crowd — plus a few lame jumps here and there. I kept thinking, “Is this it?”, and yes, that’s it. It’s not that the show is expensive — because it’s only a few dollars more on top of the regular ticket — but it’s a real letdown to spend half an hour listening to boring kiddie talk instead of watching dolphins do what they do best.

The kids seemed to love it though — probably because they didn’t know any better, but, fyi, there is something that’s a lot better. You’ll need to go to the Miami Seaquarium for it. They have three dolphin shows, and all of them will wow you. One is called “Top Deck”,  another is “Flipper” and the other is “Killer Whale and Dolphin”. You also get a comical seal show called the “Golden Dome”. Apparently the recipe for entertainment — known full well to the Miami Seaquarium — hasn’t quite made it up the coast to the Baltimore Aquarium yet. Who knows, maybe at some point in the future, they’ll get the message…

I’m posting several photos below, but seriously, the photos make the show look better than it really was. Dolphins frozen in mid-air are always impressive, and to the discredit of the show, they had them doing jumps very few times.

Jumping through hand-held hoops? C’mon, you can do better.

Oh look, the dolphin can jump over the ball… Please, applaud for this amazing feat.

What got me really annoyed was the constant solicitation of applause for the lamest tricks. Oh look, a tiny little jump — applaud now, loudly!

Oh wow, a hi-five. Applaud.

Truly an exciting experience. Just the thing to perk you up.

Thank goodness there were a few high jumps to make it worth our while.

Take my word for it, save a half hour the next time you visit the Baltimore Aquarium, and skip the dolphin show. But if you’re in Miami, DO NOT MISS the dolphin shows at the Seaquarium. Definitely worth your while.

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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