Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour 2026
Nintendo announced that they’ll be bringing back the Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour for 2026. As of this writing, it’s already started in Orlando, Northern California, and Dallas-Fort Worth, and will making its way to New York City, Detroit, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Phoenix, Charlotte, and Kansas City through 2026.
Nintendo has been running these since 2021, starting in Japan and spreading out to major aquariums worldwide. Last year’s tour was held at a variety of different aquariums, including both nonprofit ones like the New England Aquarium in Boston and for-profit ones like the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey (the one I went to). This year, NIntendo has partnered with SEA LIFE Aquariums for most of the venues.
Since I went to the tour last year and am planning to go ahead this year, I thought I’d answer some questions people have, as the Nintendo site tends to be scant on details. Feel free to leave additional question in the comments.
Here are the questions. Feel free to jump to the last question (My Experience) to see photos and accounts of my experiences at last year’s Tour.
- Is the Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour coming close to me?
- Is the Animal Crossing exhibit included with the admission cost?
- How do I get discounts to the Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour?
- What can I expect?
- How long does it take?
- Is it worth it?
- My experience
1. Is the Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour coming close to me?
Here are the exact locations and dates for 2026.
| 2026 Dates | Metro Area | Aquarium | Hours | Starting cost for online tickets (Animal Crossing included with all admissions) |
| Feb 13 to Apr 30 | Orlando, FL | SEA LIFE Orlando Aquarium 8449 International Drive Orlando, FL 32819 | See hours here | $29 per adult, $24 per child |
| Feb 16 to Mar 26 | San Diego, CA | Birch Aquarium 2300 Expedition Way La Jolla, CA 92037 | See hours here | $35 per adult, $30 per child |
| Feb 21 to May 25 | Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, TX | SEA LIFE Grapevine Aquarium 3000 Grapevine Mills Parkway Grapevine, TX 76051 | See hours here | $19 per person |
| Apr 2 to Jun 21 | New York, NY | SEA LIFE New Jersey Aquarium 1 American Dream Way East Rutherford, NJ 07073 | See hours here | $31 per person |
| May 7 – Jul 23 | Detroit, MI | SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium 4316 Baldwin Road Auburn Hills, MI 48326 | See hours here | $19 per person |
| Jun 11 – Aug 23 | Minneapolis, MN | SEA LIFE at Mall of America 120 East Broadway Bloomington, MN 55425 | See hours here | $27 per adult, $24 per child |
| Jul 30 – Oct 10 | San Antonio, TX | SEA LIFE San Antonio Aquarium 849 E Commerce St. San Antonio, TX 78205 | See hours here | $19 per person |
| Sep 3 – Nov 15 | Phoenix, AZ | SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium 5000 S. Arizona Mills Circle Suite 145 Tempe, AZ 85282 | See hours here | $18 per person |
| Sec 24 – Dec 6 | Charlotte, NC | SEA LIFE Charlotte-Concord 8111 Concord Mills Blvd Concord, NC 28027 | See hours here | $19 per person |
| Oct 22 – Jan 3 2027 | Kansas City, MO | SEA LIFE Kansas City Aquarium 2475 Grand Blvd. Kansas City, MO 64108 | See hours here | $19 per person |
2. Is the Animal Crossing exhibit included with the admission cost?
Yes, in all cases, all you need to do is purchase general admission to the aquarium, and all Animal Crossing exhibits, meet-and-greets, and activities are included at no additional cost.
3. How do I get discounts to the Animal Crossing Aquarium Tour?
- LEGOLAND Passes – If you already have a Silver Pass or higher for LEGOLAND Florida or a GoldPass or higher for LEGOLAND California or LEGOLAND New York, you get free admission to your local SEA LIFE Aquarium (Elite Passes get you into all of them anywhere in the USA).
For example, if you purchase a Gold Pass in New York (currently $119), one pass will cover the $31 admission to the Aquarium in East Rutherford, plus the $35 parking fee and $59 ticket cost for one visit to LEGOLAND. So after just ONE visit you’re up $6. And you can visit as often as you like. - Check the “Offers & Discounts” page on your local SEA LIFE Aquarium. Most will offer discounts to military, educators and first responders, while some may offer seasonal discounts, discounts for local residents,
- A few of the SEA LIFE Aquariums show up on Groupon from time to time, but it’s usually hit or miss. Go City passes offer SEA LIFE as an option, but in most cases you’re not saving much, unless you happen to have a free slot for an experience that you’d otherwise lose.
4. What can I expect?
Exhibits:
Unlike other museum and aquarium visits you may be used to, there really isn’t a separate “Animal Crossing Exhibit”. Rather, you’ll spend most of the day strolling through the aquarium’s normal exhibits. If you come across a fish or sea creature that you can catch while fishing or deep sea diving in New Horizons, there’ll be a special Animal Crossing-themed sign, in addition to whatever sign the aquarium normally has.
For example, here’s a sign talking about a pufferfish, next to a display with an actual pufferfish in it.
Some creatures are easy to see, while others take a little time to spot in large tanks or displays. Since the graphics in New Horizons are more accurate than ever, most of the creatures will be instantly recognizable.
Just make sure to set your expectations: if your local aquarium didn’t already have the creature in its collection, they won’t be carting it in specially for this event. So you probably won’t see a Coelacanth, a Football Fish, or and Oarfish in your local aquarium. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised had living specimens like pufferfish and spiny lobsters.
Character Standees
Just like in New Horizons you can furnish your island with “standees”, throughout the aquarium will be standees of favorite characters like Tom Nook, Isabelle, Timmy and Tommy (in the gift shop, of course), Blathers, and Pascal the Otter. They’re not just small cardboard cutouts, but nice acrylic standees that are perfect for photo ops with your family.
Nintendo Points Kiosk
One nice little bonus is a kiosk you can scan to receive 100 My Nintendo Platinum Points. The only other place I’ve seen this kiosk is the Nintendo Store in New York. 100 points isn’t a huge amount, but it’ll get you one-fifth of the way to nice physical rewards like this Animal Crossing Colorful Bandana or (my personal favorite) these coasters from The Roost.
Merch!
Of course, the aquarium gift shop will be stocked with Animal Crossing-themed gifts. When I went last year, they were mostly plushies and Legos, but the stuffed animals were actually much better quality than ones I see on the Nintendo site or on Amazon—more true to the game and a nice size.
Activities (YMMV)
Depending on the date you visit and the aquarium, you attend, you might be able to participate in some special events. Check the aquarium’s Web site to see the dates and times these things will be happening (they’ll generally update their site with a special Animal Crossing page a few weeks before they open the themed event to the public)
Character Meet and Greets
Each aquarium will typically set aside a weekend a month to have character visits. These aren’t just 3 foot standees, but gigantic, Disney-style characters coming in for photo ops. Depending on the weekend, you can meet Isabelle, K.K. Slider, and of course, Tom Nook; check the aquarium’s Web site for the exact schedule.
Stamp Rallies
Most aquariums will hold “stamp rallies” from time to time, where they hand out cards and you need to find all the character standees and stamp a spot on the card. You can turn in the card for a small souvenir, typically a sticker, button, or little aquarium-themed trinket. It’s, of course, an homage to the in-game stamp rally to commemorate International Museum Day every May 18 to May 31.
5. How long does it take?
Like I said, the Animal Crossing theming is more a “layer” on top of a regular aquarium visit more than something incremental or additional.
Most SEA LIFE aquariums are smaller than giant standalone aquariums, so a typical visit will last you about 1.5 to 2 hours. I would suggest making a day of it and enjoying whatever normal activities the aquarium has to offer, including feeding times, touch pools, and lingering at big tanks. Assuming you don’t go on the day of a Stamp Rally or Meet and Greet, the only additional time you’ll spend is taking pictures by the standees or spending a little more time to read the plaques.
A Meet and Greet will probably add 15-20 minutes of standing on line, while the Stamp Rally may add a few more minutes as you go through and look for all the characters.
I’d probably schedule a half day to take everything in at a nice, leisurely pace and fit in lunch at the aquarium or the mall.
6. Is it worth it?
If you’re Animal Crossing fanatics like my family and I are, the answer is a resounding “yes, yes”. The aquarium we visited was about a 2.5 hour drive, so we decided to make a day of it, getting a room at a local hotel and taking in some of other sites in the area.
One thing to bear in mind is that other than whatever interactive exhibits the aquarium already has (e.g. touch tanks, feedings), there’s not really a whole lot “interactive” with this event, except if you happen to go on a day with a Stamp Rally. Younger children may lose their attention span (at the aquarium we went, there was a room with younger kinds doing an Animal Crossing-themed activity sheet while their older siblings took in the exhibits. If you only have younger kids, you might want to find ways to make it more interactive for them.
I’d say older kids 7 and up will love it. These aquariums on their own are clean, well-designed, and well-run. The Animal Crossing layer on top of the aquarium’s regular exhibits provides a nice “connection” they might not otherwise have. If they’ve “caught” something in the game, many will naturally have some curiosity about it. That’s why I love how Animal Crossing introduces kids to everything from art, to cooking, to fossils, to fish and sea creatures.
7. My experience
Here’s what my experience in 2025 was like. I went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. As a kid, I visited it when it was run by the state, but since then it’s become a for-profit aquarium. I was happy to see that it’s still being run great.
Entering the aquarium, we were greeted by a beautiful large digital display, perfect for photo opportunities.
We encountered Isabelle, the first of several standees we took pictures with.
Then it was on to the exhibits.
There were sea creatures…
Since we were in New Jersey, we saw more locally relevant creatures. For example, horseshoe crabs are a common sight because it’s right next to Delaware Bay, one of the most famous spawning areas in the world.
There were also fish from around the world, including these pirhana.
And of course, tropical fish.
There were some neat little tie-ins to other video games too. I was happy to see an axolotl, one of the species we’d spent obsessing over in Minecraft (yes, I know that Dr. Shrunk is an axolotl, but we haven’t seen a lot of him since New Leaf).
This particular aquarium also had an exhibit on ancient sharks; we got a kick out of seeing this display about Megalodon, which of course reminded us of Splatoon (and made me realize how delightfully subversive Nintendo is in getting kids—and parents—to learn through video games).
But of course, it’s the Animal Crossing details that produced the smiles throughout the day. If you keep your eyes peeled, you might see little “Easter Eggs” from time to time, such as this figure out a passed-out Gulliver by a tank of penguins.
Like I said, if you’re an Animal Crossing fanatic, it’s well worth the trip. It’s a no-brainer if the aquarium is within a one-hour drive, and even if it’s a 2-3 hour drive or more, if you can plan other activities around it, it’s worth a day trip or even planning a little vacation around it. It’s a great way to bring your in-game experience to life.
