The Cleveland Aquarium Starts Down the Road of Discounts

Update: SOLD OUT!

Tired of the high price to visit the Greater Cleveland Aquarium (GCA) and you can leave the kids at home for a night? Then now may be the perfect chance to take advantage of the rarest species among aquatic animals, the GCA discount. This is assuming that you do not mind your house getting egged for not passing out Halloween candy.

The GCA has been fraught with bad publicity regarding its pricing versus what you get for the money. Most families have a difficult time justifying spending over $75 for a family of four to visit the aquarium that takes only around an hour to visit.

Since the aquarium’s opening in early 2012, I had high hopes of the marketing people putting together some great promotions to offer families discounts to visit. I even put together the start of a Greater Cleveland Aquarium discount list to keep track of everything, yet the aquarium failed me. The GCA initial discount affiliated with Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt shortly after opening was great, but the “bucks” literally stopped there.

Since the GCA has done a terrific job of baiting their customers with high prices and low expectations, they decided to step it up once more by creating an interesting Halloween themed party called the Hauntaquarium Bash. The event allows adults to share in a pool of blood among the sharks with live music, Halloween themed decor, and an allowance of ONE (1) drink with paid admission. All that for double the price it normally costs to visit the aquarium. Just throw me in with the chum.

So I had to laugh in my evilest, scary voice that the Greater Cleveland Aquarium has now had to succumb to the Groupon. I like to think they finally are starting to realize their mistakes. For $22, two adults can visit the aquarium for the Hauntaquarium Bash on, of all nights, Halloween. While I understand the concept of having a Halloween party on Halloween, surely someone should have questioned having the event on a Wednesday, but then again I am no marketing major. Obviously, the event has not been selling so well, thus the need to offer a 50% discount at the last minute.

Hopefully this discount is the start of things to come, as the newness effect must be wearing off. Once the Greater Cleveland Aquarium starts to throw their customers more of a bone, maybe then they will embrace the experience.

Save Money, Travel More!