Electric City Aquarium and Reptile Den

 

The Electric City Aquarium is a small aquarium nestled into what used to be the Steamtown Mall, now The Marketplaceat Steamtown, located in Scranton PA.  For those asking, yes, this is the same Scranton PA the TV series The Office takes place in and the old mall is mentioned a few times in the show, though the new name and aquarium did not exist at the time of the show.

         In order to arrive at The Marketplace, I needed to do some brief navigation through the city and also finding a spot in the underground parking garage.  The website mentioned a parking a fee, but it was free the day we visited.  Once we arrived inside The Marketplace, you’ll walk through the indoor shopping space and while there is a lot of empty space there I was pleasantly surprised by how many shops and offices there were.

          My niece, nephew, and I only looked around breifly, choosing to head directly to the aquarium, located in the center of the marketplace.  Again, it’s a small aquarium, but they make great use of the space, housing among other creatures, frogs, turtles, reptiles medium sized sharks, and some touch tanks. 

        My favorite area was a room with cylindrical tanks filled with extremely vibrant coral and fish. My niece loved the brightly colored frogs and my nephew enjoyed seeing the varieties of snakes.   

        During our visit, there was a show going on in the reptile room, but we opted to keep exploring the aquarium while most of the people went to the show. It was a good idea, and we seemed to have the rest of the place to ourselves.

          As with most attractions we ended up in the gift shop. The people working there were very friendly, answering my niece’s questions about toy frogs. The shop was filled with many frog toys not to mention snakes, fish, sharks, and even mermaids.  Some of the stuffed animals were made from recycled materials, which we thought was pretty cool.  They also had shirts, hoodies, and a penny press.  

          For the three of us to get into the aquarium the price was aound $57. My nephew is thirteen so was included in the adult pricing, but my niece got in for the kids price of around $15.95  Adults are  $18.95. They also offer student, military, and senior citizen discounts and season passes.  One thing to keep in mind is that the admission tickets are good all day, meaning you can leave to eat, take bathroom breaks, shop, whatever, and return at no extra cost. 

        After buying a stuffed turtle for my niece and a stuffed octopus for my nephew, we had snacks at Auntie Anne’s and lunch at Basilico’s Pizzeria and Restaurant. Later on, we visited Starbucks. As I mentioned before while, there are a lot of empty stores, there’s also some neat little shops, such as a Build a Bear type of store called Make A Buddy, a half library, half book store called The Library Express Bookstore, and a neat retro video game store and gaming lounge called Nick D’s Video Game Vault.  

        There were also several offices, medical offices, and a gym. A lot of the stores sold The Office merchandise, some of it homemade.  We had a wonderful time both at the aquarium and the marketplace. I highly recommend both to anyone looking for a fun day trip.