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WOW! 2 NEW SPRINGFIELD, MO MUSEUMS
WOW!
Side-By-Side Museums Bring Nature Up Close
By Bob Lindsey
With the promise of colder days ahead, everyone seems to be looking for more indoor activities. Two of Missouri’s newest and biggest attractions in both scale and scope are located side-by-side in Springfield, MO., a 3.5-hour drive from St. Louis that’s well worth the drive.
Big is the key word here, but WOW is more fitting. Johnny Morris’ Wonders Of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium is billed as the “most immense fish and wildlife attraction in the world.” After visiting the two massive and impressive museums in early November, we would have to agree.
Located next to Johnny Morris’ famous Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Wonders of Wildlife contains 1.5 million gallons of fresh and saltwater habitats and the “world’s largest collection of big game animals” in their natural environment-like display area. Covering 1.5 miles of trails. Be prepared to walk a lot—at least 1.5 miles of trails—and prepare for the many surprises awaiting you. The time spent goes by fast, but allow about four hours for both attractions.
Ten years in the making, Johnny Morris often called his museum the “Walt Disney of the Outdoors” and said WOW is an “inspirational journey around the world celebrating the roles of hunters and anglers.” To him, hunters and anglers are “America’s true conservation heroes.” Emphasizing that, there is a Fishermen’s Hall of Fame inside the aquarium.
With only a Sunday afternoon to visit the museum, we toured the aquarium first. Having visited the Monterrey, CA and Atlanta, GA aquariums in recent years, we wondered if WOW’s aquarium would be comparable. Indeed it was and so much more. The Springfield aquarium’s many facets, interactive displays and quirkiness reminded us somewhat of our own City Museum in downtown St. Louis. You can touch a stingray, be up close and personal with piranhas, wander through an underwater tunnel with large river monsters, and see sharks, jellyfish, and iguanas while also viewing eagles and owls.
the Great Ocean Hall in the Wildlife Aquarium. (Pat Lindsey photos)
Then there’s the Great Ocean Hall where you step into a 300,000-gallon circular open ocean containing zebra sharks, leopard sting rays and a massive grouper. Included here is the Shipwreck Reef, which takes you to the ocean floor for the sunken shipwreck which is now a colorful reef.
While the aquarium keeps you mesmerized, be sure to see the Wildlife National Museum. Here you’ll find 4-D dioramas that are part of the these immense wildlife galleries where you encounter some of wildest places on the planet including the African savannah with lions, zebras and giant neck giraffes. There’s also the Amazon rainforest, the Arctic with giant polar bears and America’s National Parks and its vast assortment of animals depicted in their life-like environment with deserts, plains, mountains in the background. A really amazing experience for an indoor facility.
Tickets can be purchased individually, but it’s a better deal to buy a combo ticket, so you should allow the extra time to try to experience as much as you can. Tickets can be purchased in advance at: wondersofwildlife.org. phone 888-222-6060.
