NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher experiencing a rush of visitors

June 24, 2021

Celeste Smith,

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) —The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is experiencing a rush of visitors, as the summer season kicks off.

It’s the first big season since the pandemic, which changed their ticket practices.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher officially reopened in September and has seen a steady stream of guests since then, with tickets sold out on a weekly basis.

“People are ready to get out, they’re ready to experience. They’re ready to do something that they felt safe, and comfortable with, and the aquarium is that. So we had some really strong visitation, September, October, November, and then over the Christmas holiday, and then as typical we see lower visitation January, February, but we’ve really had just a steady visitation almost since February,” said Hap Fatzinger, Fort Fisher Aquarium director.

The pandemic led the aquarium to require advanced ticket sales, making guests buy their tickets online and no longer allowing tickets to be purchased on site.

Pre-COVID, the aquarium was bringing in around 4-thousand guests a day.

“Having a set number of people come in our facility, every thirty minutes really creates the best experience for not only the visitors, for the animals, but for our staff and our upkeep and the maintenance of the facility,” Fatzinger said. “So, we are currently running 160 visitors every thirty minutes to come into the doors of our aquarium.”

Fatzinger said the animals at the aquarium are loving the return of visitors.

“The animals really love having people in the building. So we saw them, when we were closed for 6 months with COVID, that we had staff in the building every single day, and the staff interacted with the animals through the windows, above the aquariums, whatever that might be, but they really do miss that engagement with our visitors,” said Fatzinger.

Since its reopening, the aquarium has added a new habitat featuring 3 otters, and currently has multiple new exhibits and habitats in the works.