MOMday; Penguin Plunge at the Calgary Zoo - Take Two

You may remember me writing about this when the exhibit first opened back in February and we made the laughable decision to try to see it on opening weekend.

Well, the next time we tried was on a weekday.  The dayhome was closed for a half day so I picked up the girlies and off we headed.   So worth the wait.  And, on a weekday, NO LINEUPS!!!!

The Penguin Plunge exhibit itself is in two parts.  The outside exhibit is where the humboldt penguins hang out.  They have a glass partition that is about waist high so the midges can look through the glass, yet the parents can take glass-free photos. 

Just around the corner from the outdoor display is the entrance to the much colder indoor experience.

Basically, the inside exhibit is a giant tank, with chest-height glass and a rock habitat around the edge where the Gentoo, Rockhopper and King penguins can waddle about and dive into the water.

Perhaps the coolest part is that you can also watch them swim around under the water.

Nah - the coolest part is that they will often swim across the surface and splash you!  The low glass on these exhibits makes it feel like an interactive experience.

Look it's the penguin Beatles!  All they needed was a crosswalk!

The king penguins weren't to active when we were there.  Apparently they had an egg so the whole neighbourhood came out to hang around until it hatches.  It was awesome to watch the spectator penguins gathered around.  

So, do I think Penguin Plunge was worth the long wait for us?  

YES!

My girlies still love their Waki-wakis (their special twinese word for penguin) after all this time and, if that love affair was ending - it has been renewed.  They LOVED seeing penguins in real life and especially loved watching them swim and splash!   We ended up taking two trips through the exhibit on our afternoon at the zoo.

We'll definitely be back!