Vacationing with your family in Atlantic City can get a little harry. I’m a new parent so I’m just getting used to the responsibilities. Trust me it’s hard not to want to go to the Bikini Beach Bar like I used to when I was in college. But these cruises are great – and wholesome – for the whole family. We took a two-hour cruise ($35 each for adults) out on the ocean to check out the marine life. Our little girl is now obsessed with dolphins.
Things to do
You can’t walk the boardwalk without checking out the Steel Pier Amusement Park. Granted it’s pretty tacky and over-priced, but that’s what the whole Atlantic City experience is all about, right? They have a ton of rides here including a huge ferris wheel that even adults can get behind. Beware, the crowd is pretty crazy and very youthful, but that’s the be expected. Let’s just say there is no way your children will be able to walk past this place without making you go inside.
This is one of the few attractions in Atlantic City that’s not overpriced. For $7, you can check out over 100 different kinds of fish and marine life throughout their eleven aquariums. Some of my favorite species include the octopus, seahorses, and jellyfish. Our kids (and us too) love their touch tank. You can actually handle sea urchins, shrimp, mussels, hermit crabs, etc. They even have a huge tank with sharks and stingrays.
If you’re getting a little claustrophobic down on the boardwalk, I recommend taking a trip to the top of the Absecon Lighthouse. It’s the tallest lighthouse in Jersey and actually the third tallest in the United States. The bottom of the lighthouse is free to enter, but for $7 you can climb its 228 steps to the top. A few of the more athletic members of our family did it and really enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful view of the ocean from 171 feet up.
