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[sanddunerider]

haunted house was not open when i stopped there this summer.

[Makayna]

No, it's only there the month of October.  But for anyone who IS in town this month (well, within the next week and a half, I guess) should definitely check it out.

[sanddunerider]

ok. well that would 1 more item they failed to mention of there flyer that is posted all over the branson area.  as well as there are NO furbearing animals!. you know, lions, tigers and bears oh my!!

[Makayna]

Their name now is Encounters Aquarium and Herpetarium.  They don't claim to be a zoo anymore.  Their website right now says "YOU CAN FEED STINGRAYS, SEA TURTLES, AND TOUCH AND HOLD VARIOUS ANIMALS INCLUDING SNAKES, ALLIGATORS, STARFISH, AND OTHER VARIOUS AQUATIC ANIMALS."

It specifically says AQUATIC animals.  I don't think their flier is misleading in THAT respect.  Now as far as the gamerooms are concerned, they're a mess!  Yes, they're free, but they're rundown and 1/2 the games are broken!  And the aquarium itself is dirty, smelly and DARK!  They don't have signs on 1/2 of their tanks telling you what the fish are.  It's very confusing trying to figure out which way you're supposed to go.  The outside is very unkept.  I know they said they'll never house mammals anymore, but they could at the very least either keep that area clean or find a way so that guests don't have to walk by those areas.  It just looks very unprofessional.  And, the cages don't seem very clean to me. At all.  And, safety is a HUGE issue there.  There's only about a foot between the top of the water where the man-eating sharks are and the top of the wall, so it'd be VERY easy for some curious child to put his/her hand in the water... and possibly get it taken off!  And, as I mentioned before, I could have very easily taken a snake out of its cage... or opened ALL the cages and let them out! 

But, other than that...

It's the only place that I know of that you can feed bull sharks (for a fee, of course).  You can also hold and pet snakes, alligators, sharks (those little non-biting ones that all the aquariums have), sting rays (feeding them was really cool... never done that before either... well, I have at the end of a stick, but here, you actually get to let them take it from your hand! They have one of the largest varieties of snakes I've seen.  And it was an experience that I certainly don't regret.

But I would never, never, never, never, never, NEVER take a child there!  Not safe.  At all.