Aquarium on Wheels Frequently Asked Questions

Please fill out the pre-visit form that will help us gather details for your event. We ask that you complete this form 4-6 weeks prior to your event date. After the form is completed you will be contacted via email or phone to finalize the booking.

On the day of your scheduled program, the Aquarium on Wheels will arrive at your site approximately 1 hour and 15 mins prior to the start of auditorium and classroom programs. For Tidepool Animal Explorations, the Aquarium on Wheels will arrive about 45 minutes before your program. Please have someone available to meet our educators to direct them to the correct parking spot.

The truck requires a parking space with the minimum dimensions of 50’ L x 25’ W x 15’ H. The parking space must be a hard (no grass/dirt), flat, level surface, and must be safely accessible for the participants. This vehicle will be used in the touch portion of the program. Parking must be easily accessible, allowing for entry and exit without obstruction. The vehicle cannot be parked in designated pathways such as alleyways, fire lanes, or bike lanes. In the event of an animal or system emergency, we must ensure a quick and safe exit from the event site. The Aquarium reserves the right to cancel a reservation should the site not meet our parking and accessibility requirements.

Parking at school sites: For the safety of your students, please coordinate a parking space that is within school grounds.

No. The vehicle is completely self-contained and does not require any electrical hook-up at your site. Our life support systems run from a generator on board the vehicle.

While we will make every effort to honor our scheduled appointment, certain circumstances may require the Aquarium to modify or cancel a program. In such cases, we will notify you promptly and work together to explore alternative solutions. The Aquarium reserves the right to modify or cancel a booking in the event that…

• The welfare of our animals is at risk
• The site does not meet our parking and accessibility requirements
• Travel or weather conditions are hazardous
• Staff and animal rest periods are not honored

We understand that situations can arise that would necessitate you having to cancel your program. Please realize that the later you cancel your program, the less likely we are able to fill the vacancy you have created.

• Cancellations made one month prior to the scheduled visit time will not be billed.
• Cancellations made less than one month prior will be billed 50% of the reservation admission amount.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks prior to the scheduled visit will be billed the full amount.

The truck may need to close for up to 30 minutes to accommodate a mandatory staff rest period, typically occurring midway through our visit. This break time will not be deducted from your active programming time, as we will extend the program duration by 30 minutes to ensure you receive the full time. The exact timing of the break will depend on the site and staff schedules. Our education staff coordinating the event will work with you to schedule the break at the most appropriate time.

The 30 minute mandatory break closure will not deduct from your active programming time. We will extend our total visit duration by 30 minutes to ensure you receive the full allotted time. For example, if you booked a 2 hour Tidepool Animal Exploration program starting at 9 AM, we would operate from 9 AM – 11:30 AM, with the truck closed from 10:15-10:45 AM.

The Aquarium on Wheels truck features three touch pools, each exhibiting a unique selection of tidepool animals for guests to explore. Due to the limited space inside the truck, it typically takes each guest a few minutes to engage with all three pools. The 100 participants per hour limit helps ensure that all guests have an enjoyable experience while maintaining the safety of both the visitors and the animals.

For school visits with set class times, we ask that 15-20 minute time slots are designated for individual classes of 15-35 students to visit. The total number of students that visit the truck within an hour should not exceed 100. Guidelines to create your schedule are specified in the Tidepool Exploration Pre-Visit form.

At public events, where guests are not following a set schedule, a queue will be organized outside the truck. Aquarium staff will manage the flow of visitors to ensure an orderly and engaging experience. We typically see 80-100 guests per hour.

You do not need to supply anything other than a parking space. Please see “What type of parking does the Aquarium on Wheels truck require?” for additional information.

The 30 minute mandatory break closure will not deduct from your active programming time. We will extend our total visit duration by 30 minutes to ensure you receive the full allotted time. For example, if you booked a 2 hour Tidepool Animal Exploration program starting at 9:00 a.m., we would operate from 9:00–11:30 a.m., with the truck closed from 10:15-10:45 a.m.

The Aquarium on Wheels truck features three touch pools, each exhibiting a unique selection of tidepool animals for guests to explore. Due to the limited space inside the truck, it typically takes each guest a few minutes to engage with all three pools. The 100 participants per hour limit helps ensure that all guests have an enjoyable experience while maintaining the safety of both the visitors and the animals.

For school visits with set class times, we ask that 15-20 minute time slots are designated for indvidual classes of 15-35 students to visit. The total number of students that visit the truck within an hour should not exceed 100. Guidelines to create your schedule are specified in the Tidepool Exploration Pre-Visit form.

You do not need to supply anything other than a parking space. Please see “What type of parking does the Aquarium on Wheels truck require?” for additional information.

Please reserve a room large enough to accommodate all participants, up to 100 (i.e. auditorium, gym, multi-purpose room) with working electrical outlets. We will bring our own AV equipment. Some of this equipment is heavy, so we ask that the room is accessible by a ramp or elevator. We also ask that the room has the ability to become dark enough so students can view the projected image.

If there is no inside space available, we can do a modified program outside for our Pacific Journeys program. Please keep in mind that this program will be very different from an indoor program. We cannot accommodate an outside program for our Under the Sea Shapes as the program is designed around a projector.

The auditorium presentation will last approximately 30-50 minutes, depending on the program.

Participants will touch animals after the auditorium or classroom presentation. Individual classes or groups will be scheduled to visit the Aquarium on Wheels vehicle at a designated time. You will be responsible for scheduling these groups for a 15-20-minute time slot for animal exploration. Touch time should be scheduled back to back with no breaks in between. Below is an example timesheet to assist you with scheduling.

We set our program size at 100 to ensure that every participant gets the best possible experience. Although your auditorium space may accommodate more students, the entire AOW experience includes animal touch time with individualized Aquarium staff and student interaction. We have found that in programs with over 100 participants, the quality of the animal exploration is impacted.

You may use this example as a guide to prepare your school’s/group’s schedule. Each situation is unique. For example, school start/end times, lunches, number of participants, etc. can be different. If two auditorium programs are booked in one day, you can choose to have the auditoriums back to back.

Please note we can accommodate up to 100 participants per auditorium program, which includes animal exploration. If you have more than 100 participants you will need to book 2 auditorium programs. Once you have a prepared schedule, please email a copy to apatton@lbaop.org or upload it to the AOW Pre-visit Forms page.

DOWNLOADS - The Aquarium’s Education staff has prepared free downloadable pre- & post- materials. You can access grade specific materials and their answer keys.

Please reserve a room able to accommodate all participants, up to 35 (i.e. classroom, auditorium, gym, multi-purpose room) and a table to place the teaching supplies we bring with us. If our Under the Sea Shapes program was selected, please ensure the room has an outlet for our projector. We require a room that we can use for all programs that day. Due to the amount of set-up/equipment, we ask that the students come to us.

We can accommodate for our Amazing Animal Adaptations, but we cannot for our Under the Sea Shapes as the program is designed around a projector.

The classroom presentation will last approximately 30 minutes.

Once the classroom portion is complete, the Aquarium educator will lead the class/group to the vehicle for the animal exploration. The duration of touch time depends on the number of students participating in the classroom program. For example it takes a group of 30 students approximately 20 minutes to complete the animal exploration.