mhc

May not fit your schedule, but Sunday afternoon may be less crowded than Saturday.

tchoiniere

Aquarium / Stone Mountain Park would be Sunday.

mhc

Sorry, we must have overlapped.

You could easily go to the aquarium on Sunday before going to Stone Mountain.

Stone Mountain is open 10am-8pm in July. Lasershow is at 9:30pm.
http://www.stonemountainpark.com/

tchoiniere

Is there a BBQ restaurant downtown that we could go to before the game? Or on the way to Turner Field?

cheryllj

Try Daddy D'z in Grant Park not far from Turner Field. It's a real down-home kind of place.

www.daddydz.com

tchoiniere

What is the better attraction? Zoo or the Aquarium. I'm thinking zoo because of the pandas. My only concern is that on my other road trip, we are already going to the zoos in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. This leaves the Pandas as the only unique exhibit. Is there any unique exhibit at the Atlanta Aquarium?

lakeside77

Unique attractions at the Georgia Aquarium - the beluga whales and the whale sharks. Aside from that, we didn't enjoy the aquarium. If you have small kids with you, then it would be great, but i wasn't all that impressed for how it's advertised. Overall, I would prefer the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga to the Georgia one. But the belugas and whale sharks were amazing to see in an aquarium - definitely unique to the Atlanta aquarium.

tchoiniere

Glad I asked then. Rather than doing the aquarium / Stone Mountain, I think we are going to do the Zoo / Stone Mountain Park on Sunday. I can see Beluga whales at the Mystic Aquarium. The Atlanta Aquarium is on our list of maybes for Saturday or Monday morning.

jillis

I am an Atlanta native. That being said I would never go to the zoo over the aquarium especially in July. The aquarium is world class, the zoo is not. And AC makes the fish the easy winner. Plus if you are staying downtown no need to travel to Grant Park.

Stone Mountain is worth it if staying for the laser show otherwise hot as crap and lines lines lines. It's a family do with the kids kind of place.

Botanic Gardens are nice if a special installation is going on (Chihuilly).

CityWalker79

Definitely agree with Aquarium over zoo. I live in Atlanta too and the aquarium is the best tourist attraction we've got. Plus, its in the centennial park complex which makes it easy to walk over to the cnn center, world of coke or just circle around the park. I attached a zoomed in aerial so you can see how it all fits.

http://www.HotelMapSearch.com/?llz=3...ottom_left_n1n

CordeliaCH

I love the Atlanta Zoo. Not only is there a baby panda as another poster mentioned but there are 4 young gorillas (less than 3 years old) who are hilarious! Lots of adult gorillas, of course. Also, 3 lion cubs were just born but I don't know if they will be in public when you come in July. The Aquarium is also impressive and may be easier for you to get to from your hotel. The High Museum is featuring some art from the Louvre right now-- the ancient world-- so that would be neat to see as well. You could take MARTA (the metro).

starrs

Three new lion cubs born today.

tchoiniere

Based on the 7-12 weeks that the article states, they will not be out. We are still trying to decide which one to go to - Aquarium or Zoo. Having already been to 2 aquariums in the past month and 1 zoo, it may just come down to the baby gorillas and the pandas. Ask me tomorrow and I may say the whale sharks...

starrs

If it's a hot day, go to the aquarium.
If it's kinda cool, go to the zoo.

How's that for a plan?

tchoiniere

Starrs, that would work but me being obsessive has to have tickets ahead of time...

starrs

Well, you're better off getting advance tix for the A, but don't need them for the Z.

tchoiniere

Decision was made for us. My friends girlfriend is flying down the following weekend and wants to go to the Aquarium, therefore we are going to the zoo. I may try to get to the aquarium for an hour on Monday morning before heading to the airport to see the whale sharks, beluga whales and a few other exhibits.

Assuming 9am entry, how long to see the whole aquarium assuming a decent pace?

nini

Can't advise on the Aquarium as I have never been but I found the zoo somewhat disappointing two weeks ago. The giraffe(s) were not on display, rhino not on display, elephant habitat was being worked on so elephants could only be seen in the barn, the female lion and baby are not available for viewing yet, and the tiger could only be seen from afar. To top it all off, the petting zoo was closed. It was 98 degrees also. However, the three year old we were with said her favorite was the flamingos so she was happy.

tchoiniere

Just convinced my friend to go to the Aquarium. We are still planning on going to Stone Mountain Park on Sunday afternoon so it didn't make much sense to do 2 outside activities due to the heat.

Anyone know how to buy the tickets for Stone Mountain Park online with the add on for the Duck Tour? I can get to the Adventure Pass which is supposed to have a duck tour option for an additional $8 but cannot find it online to be able to reserve the duck tour ahead of time.

Paytons_Grandma

Click on my name, then scroll down to see MY FIRST GTG & TRIP TO ATLANTA thread. I was just there 2 weeks ago and reported on some of the places you mentioned. I highly recommend Stone Mountain.