animal crossing aquarium meet

i don't often go to the mall of america on account of it being a massive, sprawling, extremely loud labyrinth of storefronts and rollercoasters aimed a little more at tourists than at locals, but when a meet was planned for the sealife aquarium during their collaboration with animal crossing -- as a lifelong animal crossing fan, i was unable to resist the siren's song of themed decorations and mascot costumes.

my coordinate was themed after kicks, my favorite NPC in the series. i agonized for a good long while on what would best suit him, coordinate-wise, but i think i'm really happy with the result. the bustle of my shirring princess is kind of skunk-stripey, and the furry cape plus stuffed skunk purse really helped me get some kind of resemblance to my little guy :-D

coord rundown
jsk - shirring princess, baby, the stars shine bright
blouse - baby, the stars shine bright
bow - angelic pretty
socks - the black ribbon
shoes - LIEF
bag - steady hands
capelet - angelic pretty

 

 

 i generally don't post other comm members on my blog to respect their privacy (okay -- in reality, i'm too shy and swamped with work to ask, but i try to assume that the answer is "no" until people say otherwise) but i hope you can imagine how wonderful everyone looked! some members chose to theme their coordinate after specific characters, while others went with a general aquarium or broadly animal crossing-y vibe. everyone knocked it out of the park and quite a lot of time was spent gushing over each others outfits -- and that was before we actually entered the aquarium proper.

 

rover and kicks become acquainted!

 when we entered to buy-slash-redeem our tickets, we were given stamp sheets for a stamp rally! our goal was to find cutouts of every character and get stamps for each one. super fun stuff! we all entered the aquarium and were met with the first half - a sort of rainforesty exhibit. throughout most of the aquarium, they softly played animal crossing music over the speakers. it really did have a way of making you feel like you were in the town museum, sigh ...

 

i scraped up my knees a little and probably revealed the color of my ridiculous safety shorts while crawling under here, but i think it was worth it to be in a lizard bubble...

 this part of the exhibit, in addition to fish and aquatic creatures, also had some land animals to see, like this lizard, and some tortoises, and some poison dart frogs(!!)

 

after this section, though, we headed down into my personal favorite part of the aquarium -- the massive stretch of underwater glass tunnels!

 

the false coral made for a great plushie perch.

"look how big that shark is, chum."

 i don't have as many photos as i'd like - i was focused mainly on taking clips for a short video i made for my comm - but the tunnels are suuuper cool. imagine a huge underground tunnel that seems to go on for miles, and everywhere you look, there's huge, colorful fish, turtles, and even sharks.

 

it's not my first time at this aquarium, but it never ceases to amaze. for this event specifically, they put up little museum plaques for certain displays where blathers (and the aquarium staff) would tell you some fun facts about the creatures behind the glass.

 

at the end of the tunnels, we ran into isabelle! or -- a cutout of her, rather. but then we also ran into the isabelle mascot they had working the event. (we took some group photos. just trust me bro) cutouts like these were the ones we needed to look out for during the stamp rally. we got her stamp, and previously, we had gotten blathers' stamp, too. only two more to go after that!

 

 we eventually exited the tunnels, and came out into the latter half of the aquarium. i tried to crawl into this bubble, but decided the tiny tunnel of this one was pushing it a little bit, and my knees already kind of hurt from my prior escapades. the clownfish were still really stunning under the blacklight!

 

next up was one of the coolest displays in the entire aquarium - the jellyfish section! it's rather dark in there so that you can really take in the brilliance of the displays. each tank was filled to the brim with jellies, and illuminated with lights that would slowly change hue in a rainbow.

 

the display also had mirrors on pretty much every wall, so we all took some selfies and group photos hahahaha. when you're dressed frilly, you gotta...!!!!

 

hey dude!!

 i was a bit sad when our time in the aquarium came to an end. i had so much fun that it felt like it went by in a flash!! luckily, even the exit is chock full of things to enjoy -- ray tanks, touch pools, a gift shop with pascal and kapp'n standing guard, (of course!) and some final little animal crossing treats. we got some free little patches as a reward for completing the stamp rally, and we even spotted gulliver up on the roof... that's rough, buddy.

we all eventually left the aquarium and said our goodbyes to the animals and to each other. it was a really, really good time, and i'm excited to see them again for the next one!!

 

as thanks to my partner for being my ride (and also because i really really like them and really like spending time with them) we got some sweet treats and some lunch together.

 

my sushi was delicious and normal, but something went SO wrong with my partner's burger that they made a new one and totally nixed the 20 bucks they were going to be charged hahaha

 after some food and some brief sightseeing, we eventually went back home. :-)

 

it was a really wonderful time and excellent idea for a meet! like i mentioned, i've been an animal crossing fan ever since i was a little kid, so i had just the most amazing time. the event in our state has since ended, but if they bring it to a town near you, i super recommend checking it out, particularly if you love the games!