Ascarium, the New York Aquarium’s Halloween festival at Coney Island, returns on select dates from October 10 through October 31, and the headline addition this year turns an existing gallery into the event’s centerpiece. Sea Change becomes the Sea of Illusions, five themed seascapes built around the ways marine animals hide.
What is the Sea of Illusions?
A walk through five areas, each one about a different trick: the Bioluminescent Ocean, the Dark Abyss, the Enchanted Kelp Forest, Color Connection, and a Shape-Shifter Station. The framing the aquarium uses is that camouflage, bioluminescence and shape-shifting are the ocean’s own costumes, worn year round rather than for one night, and the animals in the building are the demonstration.
Two other things are new. Hand-crafted pumpkin sculptures, built large and shaped as sharks and octopuses, are set up as photo backdrops. And a costumed performer leads interactive bubble play, which is the kind of thing that sounds slight on a press release and is usually the part a four-year-old talks about on the drive home.
What else runs during Ascarium?
The returning program is substantial. Animal chats and feedings cover enrichment, adaptations and what protecting a species in the wild actually involves. A costume parade moves through the aquarium with performers and aquatic puppets. There is face painting for ages three and up, marine-themed magic shows, and a sea lion presentation at the Aquatheater.
The two that do the most teaching are quieter. A self-guided spooky scavenger hunt sends guests to piranhas, wolf eels and spider crabs and then explains why none of them deserve the reputation, and the Strange Things station has aquarium staff telling guests about real encounters and discoveries from the deep sea. A Marine Mystery Wall lets visitors feel the range of textures that ocean animals actually have. Add lawn and carnival games, seasonal crafts, a Halloween community mural and fall food, and the aquarium is running a full day rather than a decorated afternoon.
Dates and tickets
Ascarium runs October 10, 11 and 12, then October 17 and 18, October 24 and 25, and October 31. It is included with New York Aquarium admission and free for Wildlife Conservation Society members, who do not need reservations. Non-members must reserve tickets in advance. The full announcement carries the daily activity schedule.
The aquarium holds about 4,500 aquatic animals, and an event like this is one of the few times a family visit is built around finding them rather than passing them.
For the New York Aquarium’s conservation work, see our report on the release of a rehabilitated Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Its sister institution runs a Halloween event of its own: Boo at the Zoo at the Bronx Zoo.
