ExplorOcean

I took my children there. It has a few hands on things that the kids enjoyed. The main attraction was touching the shark and starfish they have at the hands on exhibit. It was definitely a one time trip.

This should be at least 4 or 5 stars. Seems like so many bitter locals here unfairly giving it bad reviews because of the loss of FunZone. Honestly, the FunZone was outdated and wasn’t ‘fun’ any more.
I felt that the ExlorOcean offers a lot more for the community. My sons enjoyed learning about conservation of marine life, controlling the underwater vehicle, learning how to tie knots. ExplorOcean provides something positive and educational for the kids, who hopefully will help take care of our ocean in the future generation.
Check out our video here (starts around the 4:12 time mark)

We didn’t realize that you get in free when you do one of the rides. We had to pay $ 22. The guy working at the counter should have told us and then we would have done the bungee first and came back to pet the starfish. I was hoping that the tide pool would have more fish in it. There were a couple of starfish, small bullhead shark and hermit crabs. That’s all.

In my 4 years of field trip planning, I have never had such a terrible experience with any organization such as this one! I had read good things about ExplorOcean from a homeschool blogger and eagerly contacted the staff to book a date at the beginning of the school year. As our homeschool is small, I had to reach out to the bigger homeschool community to meet the minimum of 35 students. Families with children younger than 5 had to make babysitting arrangements because they do not allow preschoolers. In the fall of 2014, I put down a deposit to reserve April 24, 2015 for a field trip. TWELVE days before our scheduled field trip, the staff left me a message, telling me that the boat would be unavailable and ALL of the educational staff had decided to attend the Imaginology Fair on April 24^th and please call to reschedule. I did, twice, two days in a row. Three days later, I still have not heard back from them. I had heard about the Imaginology Fair as far back as January 2015. Why did ExplorOcean not contact me in Jan, Feb, or even March?!? Why did they think it was acceptable to bail out on our field trip when I had a made a deposit to hold the date? SHAME on you, ExplorOcean for your lack of integrity, commitment, and common courtesy!!! What a terrible example you set for the students that you teach!

This so-​called museum is a farce at best. What kind of museum destroys the very essence of Balboa, then claims to have preserved it? ExplorOcean has destroyed the FunZone. It is their property and they can do what they want, but it is laughable that they claim to be a non-​profit of preservation when the only thing of significance that they have done is to destroy history.
In addition to the blight that they have caused in Balboa, they also play in local politics, getting politicians to gift them land and other special deals for prices lower than $ 1/​day for a $ 10m plot of land– less than they would pay in taxes if the land had simply been given to them. The owners are awful. Their politics stink, the place is vacant and not entertaining.
I go by all the time and never see anyone in there. Not. One. Soul. I have gone several times in hopes that I could be turned around. The place is vacant.
«Hey, can you tell me how to get to ExplorOcean?» Said no one, ever.

This place deserves no stars.
Our town used to be so special and unique, this place has destroyed it. They are kicking out the family owned businesses, and have taken out the bumper cars, carousel, and more all to replace it with a museum that flat out sucks. I was horrified to hear they were kicking out (and taking over) one of the boat rental businesses that has been around for 17 years, a family owned business that the owner was hoping to pass along to his kids once he retires.
I know this place has big plans to become some huge tourist attraction which is the last thing our tiny peninsula needs. Traffic and parking already suck, this will only make it worse.
Bottom line: don’t support this place. If they can’t maintain the uniqueness of our little town AND they can’t support the family-​owned businesses (businesses owned by Newport Beach residents nonetheless) then they don’t deserve our support.

My daughter received a free entrance to the ExplorOcean Museum after purchasing a $ 10.00 ticket for the bull shark ride, so we thought that we would check it out since we’ve never been there before. As an adult I had to pay a $ 5.00 entrance fee.
We went on a very hot and humid day this past weekend, but being in this enclosed building made us feel even hotter. The workers need to turn on the air-​conditioning, and make people want to stay and look through their exhibits, not leave.
The only highlight of this museum is the touch tank where you can pet the starfish, sea urchins and limpets. Otherwise it was a pretty boring experience. All of the exhibits seem like self-​instructed science experiments or «crafts». This was a one time experience that I don’t need to experience again.
#72 /​100
Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2014

Extremely disappointed in how they handled a class that my kids attended. Staff was rude and extremely unhelpful. Follow up email from the staff was disappointing as well. Parents avoid.

Please do not support this so called «non profit.» While it sounds good in theory the plans that they have for our Newport Peninsula will forever change our landscape. They are pushing for the water taxi service to serve proposed cruise ships anchoring outside of our harbor. Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of people added to the already congested peninsula? Have you been in Avalon when a cruise ship empties bodies onto the island?
By the way, where is our local nautical museum and all the photo archives that were supposed to be housed there? At Sherman Gardens! Sherman Gardens is taking good care of them so, if you want to support them for that, consider a membership there instead of E.O.
This «public attraction» is not something that will benefit Newport Beach. The small and independent businesses are being pushed out and the big money-​bags who are behind ExplorOcean are shoving this down our throats. We don’t want it! The «developer» types on the board — go find yourselves a bigger harbor like Long Beach or San Pedro. We do not want cruise ships anchored outside of our harbor. We don’t want sewage dumped 10 miles offshore and flowing in with the tide. We want to maintain the integrity of our bay and keep it a safe and clean place for our residents and for visitors to enjoy. ExplorOcean, please don’t underestimate the love that people have for historical Newport Beach and the original Fun Zone.

They are horrible company trying to take over the fun zone and kicking out businesses that have been their for many. The are jealous because they are not getting tourists into their museum. DO not visit them, boycott their venue and tell them to get the heck out.

Why did you kill the fun zone? Great idea, a boring indoor experience when there are ocean and boats and bay bars to experience… Meh is right.
This place could’ve been as iconic as the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Now it’s the bored-​walk.

This «museum» has always been a «meh» experience at best going back to when it was on the old Ruben E. Lee. Even though the admission is free your time isn’t. I’d recommend not wasting it here!

Overpriced and exhibits not working properly… kinda sums up our visit. Okay if you like model boats and don’t have kids. The kids liked the touch tank, but I wouldn’t have paid $ 10 per person for that.
Like the previous person, I was sad to see the merry-​go-​round go. I also wasn’t happy to see their new plans… just won’t be the same Balboa.

Wished they had moved the Fun Zone instead of ripping it out. The Fun Zone could have been moved across the street to the park. But no. The Fun Zone you can go back to again and again but the museum is only worth one trip if that.
Only one star for destroying the Fun Zone

Great place for nautical fans and for those looking for something affordable to do around the Balboa Area. One of the highlights of the museum is an actual touch tank with starfish, kelp crabs, and other creatures. The staff can be friendly, I guess depending which room you go in to. There are three different parts of the museum that you can visit. There is one that tells you about the future history of the exhibit, one with the touch tank, and the other with a collection of model ships. That one was entertaining.
TIP: If you’re there for your second or third visit, you can visit the model collection room and the future exhibit room for free.

The museum is mediocre at best. Instead of preserving the history of Newport Beach, they are destroying it. The only thing they are preserving is the time-​honored SoCal tradition of bulldozing what little history we have. The fun zone was great! First the bumper cars, then the merry-​go-​round, next will probably be the ferris wheel. Soon it will be all gone.
Shame, Shame.
Don’t Go!

They stole away the funzone, the only place to bring kids in the area and replaced it with this less than average museum which is really a club for a bunch of rich old boring scallyhaggers.

Free admission!!! (donations accepted) The museum is basically in honor of a paralympian, and there is a large display in his honor. There are a few small boats and nautical paraphanalia on display, and a lot of handmade to scale boats in cases (the «ship in a bottle» kind). A good place to come in off the pier or to get away from the sun. Takes less than an hour to cover if you are moderately interested in boating. Very clean.

Fun place to take pics & learn about boats
Very fun family place on bal boa island & Good place to take pictures! Also best to come with group for discount there is also to parts to this place.