This is a neat little aquarium available to Edmonton It's great for kids to experience underwater life if you're unable to hit up the larger ones on the coasts (ex. Sea World). They have a couple other land critters like snakes, reptiles, scorpions and such, which occasionally are taken out for walks and petting/photo opportunities. As for the underwater animals, there's a couple schools of fish, some individually unique ones, handful of large nurse sharks, a black tip reef shark, huge green sea turtles and other fishes I can't begin to name. The touch pools are always neat - poking at anemones, starfish and small nurse sharks! (they feel pretty rough covered in sand, like wetted fine sand paper) And then the 2 main attractions - African penguins and California sea lions! We got to attend a mini-showing of one of the Penguins before catching the sea lion show. The penguins are so little & super cute and make interesting noises (if the trainer can coax a loving squawk that sounds like a donkey lol). The sea lion show is also pretty entertaining, and the fun photo opps allow you to choose either side-by-side or getting a big wet kiss on your head! read more

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This was actually a lot of fun. Sea Lion Rock had three Sea Lions that are very well trained and perform a few fun tricks for the crowd. My daughter is still really young but she thought the Sea Lions were hilarious the way they bounded about. She would have been happy with that. If you get a good spot on the bridge or balcony from the mall you can watch the whole show for free. The only difference is the photo opportunity at the end. If this is the only difference, I think they should brush up on the photography skills. There were a lot of bad images and I totally get it. Taking pictures of animals and kids is really hard. Although quite a few parents in my group begrudgingly purchased photographs of their kids with eyes closed etc. My kids pic was such a joke - even the sea lion looked confused. I didn't buy mine and it's ok. I don't really need a souvenir anyway. The price is reasonable, as it includes entry into the Sea Life Caverns too. $12 for adults and under 3 go free. The caverns are worth the $12 alone and the staff are fantastic with the kids and talking about the animals in general. A nice way to spend a few hours in the mall with the kids. read more

The Sea Lion Show at West Ed always leaves me conflicted. It's a cute show and the animals are really well trained but I still don't agree with it. It's a great thing to take kids to. They always love it. I think it's pretty inexpensive to actually go to the show (you can see the show by not actually paying and going in to watch it). West Ed got rid of the dolphins that used to inhabit the sea lion territory because one of them died. It's just not a healthy environment for animals to be in captivity, that is). But if you like animal shows, this one will probably float your boat. read more

Marine Life - Aquariums Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

How do places like this still exists. Animals are not for entertainment. The show was horribly depressing and the animals have to preform for their dinner. I don't not recommend this show at all. Go to the imax and learn about animal in the wild where they belong read more

It's a cute show But not a nice place for a wild animal to live in for the rest of its life Maybe many of you don't give two shits about anything but yourself But I felt bad for it They put on a good show but then I looked outside the box of small minded people and saw a poor animal alone in a small tank with no one. Same damn routine every day for ever must be quit the life Sadly people support it so the show must go on! read more

Like many other reviewers I am a little bit conflicted when it comes to the Sea Lion show. The animals are amazingly well trained and it's one of the few things in the mall parents can take their kids too that won't break the bank. The show itself is inexpensive and you can always take it in for free from the second level of the mall. I think it is kind of funny actually that the mall put in a glass barrier decorated with sea lion pictures behind the seating area in what I was assume was an attempt to encourage people to actually pay for the show but there are still numerous excellent vantage points to view it for free. The show doesn't change much from what I have seen and I find the audio system to be quite poor making it difficult to understand what the trainers are saying at certain points. This is one of those things I would say try it once just to have the experience but this is more then likely not something you are going to make repeat trips to on a regular basis. Myself personally I have gotten more enjoyment watching them swim and sit out on the rocks during off show times. read more

Awful. A tiny, cramped place with sad-looking animals. You can do the place in ten minutes and the last time I went I spent more time feeling bad for the penguins than experiencing the place. The shark tank is the only part that feels like a quality exhibit; it looks like it has depth. The penguin exhibit is so cramped it looks more like a jail than anything. I cannot keep the frown off my face thinking about this exhibit. It's an embarrassment. read more

Shy the animal care specialist introduced us to the shark exhibit. She said we can pet them. The shark tanks are so awesome.

Extremely small aquarium area in W Ed that I was somewhat surprised how actually small it was. Sure you can pet a shark (that looks like it's sleeping or about to die) and they do have a few other aquariums but for the price it's very cramped and a bit of a dissapointment. We had admission with the Sea-lion show. The Sea lion show was great, entertaining and educational. It is a bit sad that they have them in a shopping mall but I don't think eating fish all day and performing tricks is such a bad life. There was also a penguin demonstration that was a bit underwhelming but that's fine. Both were enjoyed quite a bit by my six year old daughter. If you are buying admission for just the Sea life caverns I'd say don't waste your money. With both the sea lion show and penguin show it's a bit more palatable. Don't come with massive expectations as you will be let down in a big way. read more

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Super cute, a penguin and 3 different sea lions for the show. They were super trainee and fun to watch read more

Marine Life - The show setup - Aquariums Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

This Show reminds me of Sea World a little bit. Everyone gathers around and watched the sea lions put on a show. Like the other reviews said, they used to have dolphins but one passed away and they let the other one go. The Sea lion show isn't bad and it's really great for kids. I have never stopped to watch the whole show but I occasionally watch from the 2nd floor when I pass by. When the show is going on the top floor is packed with people watching it with out paying. read more

If you grew up in Edmonton, you likely have the childhood memory of visiting the dolphins at West Ed. Today, the dolphins are gone. One died, and her mate was so lonely and depressed they had to send him away. The mall decided to get out of the dolphin business and into the sea lion business. New childhood memories will be made, and they'll be almost as good (it's hard to top dolphins). Sea Lion's are pretty darn cute though, and during a show I got close enough to touch one and get splashed. I love watching the little kids at the shows, all wide-eyed and amazed that what looks like a beached legless slug with puppy dog eyes and kitty cat whiskers can swim like a fish right in the middle of a shopping mall. Anything's possible at West Ed. The shows run pretty regularly, and whenever I'm at the mall I like to lean over the 2nd floor bannister and watch a few minutes of a show. If you want to swim with the sea lions you can participate in a session for about $150. I haven't done that yet but I plan to. read more

Marine Life - Swim with Kelpie. - Aquariums Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

We are visiting from out of town and bought tickets to watch the sea lion show. We bought tickets at 1:45 for the 2pm show. We have never been down here and and mistakenly thought the entrance was at the marine life area downstairs. We thought it was a waiting area and at 1:59pm asked one of the workers there where the entrance to the sea lion show was and she told us it was actually upstairs. We got upstairs at 2 and the man working upstairs told us once the gates are closed they would not let us enter. We had no idea and the guy working there said the woman who sold us the tickets told us this was the policy and to be back before 2. I swear I didn't hear her tell us that but it could have been that there a lot of commotion as it was Remembrance Day and we have a toddler. I insisted we hadn't heard and we were visiting from out of town and couldn't wait till 4pm till the next show as our toddler needed to get back for her second nap. He snapped back that it wasn't their fault we didn't hear and proceeded to systematically ignore us like a complete A hole with no customer service training or basic manners. While waiting about 10 minutes for the manager to come and give us a refund she tried to let us into the show but said by that time the show was about half over and she graciously apologised for this sad excuse of an employee and gave us a refund. Never coming back here and, wow, what a welcome to Edmonton. read more

We visited the mall, staying at the hotel, and received a package deal that included access to the aquarium and entry to the sea lion show. We never made it passed the aquarium which was small, dank and dark; my family refused to attend the sea lion show because of this. I support animal conservation but these exhibits are small, overly artificial and do not display animals in a truly educational or inspirational way. Born in captivity, they warrant a better living environment that what this mall display can surely provide and I see this only as exploitation for money and not a true desire to conserve and educate. read more