I'm so excited!! I'm picking my DD up from Sea World camp tomorrow (Saturday) and we are heading right to DC. I'll report back, hopefully with some photos.
It was okay - best about it was a chance to get away from the crowd at the reef, but mostly to just try to find the shy marmosets and watch the otters. Nothing else to see.
Call me crazy, but I like the relaxing, low-key sound of the new freshwater oasis. I am wondering, too, if it will be a better experience after the animals grow more accustomed to both their new surroundings and the "intruders" who will be spending time among them.
For the PP who visited, its is a pretty shady area? Would it be a good place to get out of the sun on a scortching kind of day? (that's what it sounded like from the original description)
Are there photographers in this area, as there are in the aviary and lazy river?
The combination of the lighting in the otter area, along with the quickness that they move, does not allow for many great photo opportunities of the animals themselves, let alone taking a shot with both guests and animals. I took about 300 shots (granted, on a not-so-great-underwater camera) but maybe only 15 were what I would even consider viewable. As far as the marmosets, they are too small and too far away to allow for photographers as well. I feel the "sunken oasis" seating area is more for relaxing and chatting, and having staff bombard you for photos would take away from the atmosphere, in my opinion. Imagine if photographers started to take photos of you while you were lounging around on your beach chairs? I think of it as sort of the same thing.
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H-3ikaGgZs
A little bit of footage I took with the otters playing around!