On the floor of Monterey Bay Aquarium's newest gallery there are painted shapes for hopping from rock to rock. They lead to a large open-top habitat where dozens of leaping blennies sit at eye level, and water washing over the stones makes them leap, hop and sometimes flop across them. The blennies come at the height of a small child. So does nearly everything else in Ocean in Motion / La Danza del Mar, the bilingual exhibit opening to the public on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The aquarium says it designed the space for children ages two to six, and adults are welcome too. That small target audience sets up the whole rollout. Many of the kids it was built for get in free. Donors and members get a preview week before the public, and it includes two full weekday member sessions on a Monday and a Tuesday. And the public opening falls on one of the busiest weekends on the Monterey waterfront this fall.
A gallery built around how small children move
The aquarium chose each animal for the way it moves. CEO Jenny Gray put the theme this way in the aquarium's Sept. 8 announcement: "The main theme of this exhibit is building empathy with ocean life in kids through movement, so we've selected endearing animals that move in fun ways." Vice President of Exhibitions Emily Saich said in the same release that the team worked with young children and their adults early in the project. They wanted the design based on "the movements and words children would intuitively express in relation to each animal."
Here is how the gallery lays out, stop by stop:
- Big-belly seahorses. Oversized seagrass towers rise toward the ceiling for visitors to hold, the way a seahorse does. Past them is a living exhibit where dozens of seahorses wrap their tails around green seagrass.
- Leaping blennies. These are the hopping shapes on the floor and the open-top rocky habitat described above.
- Coral community. A 20-foot living reef has a custom-built wave machine, bluespotted ribbontail rays, clownfish in anemones, and a coral-themed play area next to it. The main path through the play area is fully accessible.
- Swaying and fluttering. The exhibit page also lists spotted garden eels that sway out of sandy burrows, and flamboyant cuttlefish that ripple yellow, purple and white as they move across the seafloor.
- African penguins. Projections of waddling penguins lead to the gallery's centerpiece, described below.
The labels are written like a children's book, with the animals as the main characters, so a parent can read them out loud. Families with a toddler can read their way through the gallery in about the time a toddler stays interested.
The penguins, and the family gallery before them
The penguin habitat is the part longtime visitors will look for first. The aquarium calls it "much-expanded." Visitors will see penguins diving, preening, waddling and resting on a rocky beach, with digital silhouettes next to the habitat that invite kids to flap and shake their tails along with them. The aquarium's African penguin page currently lists the species as "Not on exhibit," so Nov. 7 is also when the colony goes back on view.
For years, Monterey families saw the penguins in Splash Zone. The aquarium's own photos show its African penguins on exhibit there. According to the aquarium's history page, Splash Zone opened in April 2000 as the first children's museum inside an aquarium. It was meant to be temporary, but it proved so popular that it became permanent. The aquarium's Spring/Summer 2025 member magazine announced a "Splash Zone remodel" as "a reimagining of our beloved family gallery" that was "coming soon." The Ocean in Motion announcement never uses the Splash Zone name. Still, a new gallery for young children with the penguins at its center sounds a lot like the family gallery Monterey kids have grown up with for more than 25 years.
KSBW and the Monterey Herald both covered the announcement in September and noted the focus on ages two to six.
The preview week, day by day
Members and donors can see the exhibit before Nov. 7. A Packards' Circle reception and preview was held on Oct. 24. Here is the schedule the aquarium lists for the days still ahead as of this week:
Date | Who gets in | Hours |
|---|---|---|
Fri., Oct. 30 | Donor preview | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
Sat., Oct. 31 | Donor preview | 8 a.m.–noon |
Sat., Oct. 31 | Member preview | Noon–5 p.m. |
Sun., Nov. 1 | Adults-only member preview, 18+ | 8–10 a.m. |
Sun., Nov. 1 | Member preview | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
Mon., Nov. 2 | Member preview | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
Tue., Nov. 3 | Member preview | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
Sat., Nov. 7 | Public opening | See aquarium site |
Members come in through the Main Entrance, then show their member card and photo ID at the gallery door. Guest cards are honored. According to the donor preview page, donor previews are free for Ocean Advocate donors.
Two rows on that table stand out. The Nov. 1 adults-only hour lets grown-ups see the reef and the penguins without a crowd of preschoolers, in a gallery built for preschoolers. And the Monday and Tuesday sessions on Nov. 2 and 3 are the only full weekday days of the member preview. That suits anyone who lives close enough to go on a weekday.
Opening week shares the waterfront
The preview and the opening fall right in the middle of Monterey's busiest stretch of the fall calendar:
- Fri., Oct. 30. Monterey Public Library holds a free Halloween storytime and kids' costume parade on the Colton Hall lawn, 570 Pacific St.
- Sat., Oct. 31. Old Fisherman's Wharf holds its 8th annual Halloween on the Wharf, with trick-or-treating along the bay and a costume contest with cash prizes. That afternoon, the first general member preview runs from noon to 5 at the aquarium.
- Nov. 6–8. The Monterey Bay Half Marathon and its race expo take over the weekend. The Wharf's event listing describes a 13.1-mile course along the coast. Ocean in Motion opens to the public on the Saturday of that same weekend.
- Nov. 13–15. Monterey's 17th annual Día de Muertos is a three-day, Indigenous-led gathering with Aztec dance and community altar building.
With the half marathon and the public opening sharing a weekend, a member who has already seen the gallery during the preview can sit that Saturday out. If you're making a day of it downtown, Gelato Pazzo Café opened in early September at 482 Alvarado St. Owner-operator Carl Alasko serves gelato, focaccia, pasta and coffee there, Edible Monterey Bay reported.
What it costs a young family to get in
The aquarium's ticket page lists general admission at $65 for adults, $50 for youth and seniors, and free for children four and under. For a gallery aimed at ages two to six, that means many of the visitors it was built for get in free, and their parents pay full price. A parent with a three-year-old pays $65. Add a six-year-old and the same parent pays $115.
There are other ways in. The aquarium takes part in Museums for All, which gives free admission to an adult SNAP/CalFresh EBT cardholder plus up to three guests. The card and a matching photo ID have to be shown in person at the Main Entrance, and these tickets can't be booked online. The program is good during regular hours with no end date. It doesn't cover SUN Bucks or P-EBT, and eligible guests also get 10% off at the Aquarium Cafe.
This year's free-admission window for Monterey County residents has already passed. It ran Sept. 8–20, 2026. Reservations opened Aug. 12, were first-come, first-served, and allowed up to six tickets per reservation. Adults needed photo ID and proof of county residence. That window closed seven weeks before Ocean in Motion opens. For a local family that plans to come back often, a membership is the way to see the new gallery during its first week.
The preview schedule and ticket prices come from the aquarium's live pages, so check montereybayaquarium.org before you go.
At Mike O'Boy, Mike and Tara follow what's opening around Monterey Bay, from new galleries on Cannery Row to the cafés around the corner. If you'd like a local's take on spending time around the bay, we're happy to share what we know. Connect With Us Today.
