National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium

Official website (English): https://www.nmmba.gov.tw/En/ 
National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium will be written as NMMBA below. 

Information

Hours of Operation

Months	Hours
January to June	AM：9：00~PM：17：30
July & August (Weekday)	AM：9：00~PM：18：00
July & August (Weekend)	AM：8：00~PM：18：00
September to December	AM：9：00~PM：17：30

• Price：Adult NT$450, Concession NT$250
• Address：2 Houwan Road, Checheng, Pingtung, Taiwan 94450
• Directions： suggest driving here by car. 

Public transportation: take the High-speed rail to Kaohsuing station and take the Kenting Express Line to NMMBA (can walk in or take the local Pingtung bus.) 
For the long weekend, the public transportation of Kenting Express Line might be full-bus. Be careful of stocking there with the bus!

Activities

There is always to learn the activities schedule first, so you could better plan for your NMMBA trip and spend the best value of the tour. 

I’ve compiled it here for your reference, but the most accurate data is always on their official websites. 

Venue	Zone	Activity	Time
Waters of Taiwan	Open Ocean Tank	Fish Feeding	10:00:10:15 13:00:13:15 16:00:16:15
	Touch Pool	Touch	10:30-11:0013:30-14:00 15:30-16:00
	Behind the Scene (Waters of Taiwan)	Secret Garden (Extra Paid)	11:00-11:5014:30-15:20
Coral Kingdom	Underwater tunnel	Tropical fish feeding	11:00-11:15 14:30-14:45
	Behind the Scene Coral Kingdom	Secret Garden (Extra Paid)	11:30-12:20 13:30-14:20
Waters of The World	Seal Pool	Seal Feeding	10:00-10:15 14:30-14:45
	Polar Sea	Puffin Feeding	10:00-10:15
	Polar Sea	Penguin Feeding	11:00-11:15 15:00-15:15
	Kelp Forest	Fish Feeding	14:00-14:15

Sleepover introduction 

Sleepover official webpage：https://www.aquarium.com.tw/sleepover.asp 

Venue	Zone	Quota	Price （above 6）	Price（3-6）
Waters of Taiwan	Waters of Taiwan	80	2680	1340
Coral Kingdom	Underwater tunnel	30	3380	2040
	Beluga Tunnel	15
	Sunken Ship	15
Waters of The World	The Polar Zone	50	3380（June – August） 2680
	Kelp Forest	40	3380（April – August） 2680	2040（April – August） 1340
	Shark Zone	8

The above price is in local currency, New Taiwanese Dollar. The conversion rate is about 1USD=30NTD.
Each zone has a uniform price. The higher price is for the package tour (NT$3,380). There are no package tours on Mondays, and the price is NT$2,680.

Each zone has a quota limit. The fewer quotas, the easier to fill up. Highly recommended to book earlier. If there are less than 15 people in a zone on a given day, it may not be open and may be arranged to another zone.

Reservation

Official reservation site：https://www.aquarium.com.tw/booking.asp 

• Recommend booking 4-6 months prior if the desired sleepover night is during a long weekend. 
• Recommend booking 3 months prior if the date is on a weekend. 
• The weekday would be easier to book. 

According to the registration order, you can choose the place where you want to sleep. So, the earlier you register, the greater the chance you can sleep in your top choices. 

Sleepover Schedule

Although the sleepover has a two-day itinerary, the actual time should be one day and night (from 4 pm to 11 am).
Below will introduce the itinerary in different phases. 

Before check-in

The first step to participating in the overnight stay at the NMMBA activity is to register for the event. Because I chose to go on a long holiday, I booked 4.5 months in advance.
After the reservation is submitted, there will be an order confirmation. Two or three days before the activity, there will be a phone call to remind you of the precautions before the trip. The day before the activity, you will receive an email notification before the trip (also provide an English version!). 

One of the benefits of participating in this event is that you don’t need to purchase tickets. You can visit the NMMBA on the day of the event and the next day! 

When you arrive at the NMMBA, go to the service desk at the ticket inspection area at the main entrance. Inform the staff of the sleepover activity and the dormitory area you have registered for, and you will be issued an activity tag. With the activity tag, you can freely enter and exit the NMMBA for the next two days!
The group will gather at 4 pm. It is recommended to arrive at the main entrance of the NMMBA at least 3:30 pm to register (it takes a little time to walk from the main entrance to the assembly lobby).

Gathering & Pre-activity Briefing

The NMMBA has an indoor lobby. As it approaches 4 pm, you will see a lot of people waiting with their luggage. You will definitely not have a problem finding it. However, there will be other visitors on site, and the staff will be holding a megaphone to confirm the venues one by one. There will be different team leaders for different venues who will take you to your own area to leave your luggage.

We were in the Water of the World Venue. After we were taken to the Water of the World venue, we lined up to confirm our luggage lockers with the staff and got the keys to leave our luggage. Then we went to the small auditorium for the briefing of the sleepover activity. 

The itinerary says it’s a pre-trip briefing, but it felt more like an opening ceremony!

The opening ceremony started at around 4:30 pm. In addition to some small reminders for the activity, the general activity was introduced, and the bedding was introduced (there was also a demonstration of how to make the bed and fold the quilt, which was quite interesting).
It is worth mentioning that if it is your birthday on the day of the event (the day of check-in and the next day), you will be called out, people will sing a song to you, and you will be given a small gift (I think it is a pendant).

After about half an hour, when all the explanations are finished, the groups will be called one by one (the group number is written on the name tag), and each group will be led away by a tour guide.

Guided Tour

Day 1 included two guided tours with a quick dinner break in between. Be prepared for a speedy all-you-can-eat buffet, as it has a time limit and can get crowded!
Our tour group’s schedule was first to do a tour of part of the venue, then go to the back of the stage for another tour, have dinner, and then return to the venue for a tour of the remaining areas.

The following is an introduction to the in-depth venue and backstage tours.

In-depth venue Tour

Basically, the venue you choose to stay in will be the one you get a tour of! Since we chose the Kelp Forest in the Waters of the World venue, our in-depth venue tour only covered the Waters of the World, and the tour guide started with the Kelp Forest, which is the zone we chose.

After the tour guide led us away, we went straight to the Kelp Forest. First, we faced the largest tank to introduce the kelp itself. The giant kelp can grow to 60 to 100 meters, and the one we were facing was a mini version. Along this zone, the tour guide will also introduce the available bed locations and the advantages and disadvantages of each. It gave us more ideas to choose where to sleep, which you can consider after this site visit. 

When passing through the tour to different zone areas, the tour guide will always call out the names to ensure everyone has arrived, to avoid anyone being left behind. Therefore, be sure not to fall behind; otherwise, the other people in the group may have to wait for you.

The tour will generally introduce some of the species of creatures and their characteristics. Since there are many children, the tour guides usually explain in a simple and easy-to-understand way. 

Reminder⚠️ The temperature in the Waters of the World venue is relatively low. Please bring a jacket with you, as it may be cold during the guided tour.

Backstage Tour

The backstage tour is an activity exclusive to those who stay overnight at the NMMBA. Everyone can enjoy a backstage tour no matter which venue to sleep in!

The temperature and humidity in the backstage area are very different from those in the venue. It is pretty humid and hot inside.

The tour guide introduced several water tanks and how the creatures are transported from outside into the NMMBA. Small fry grows up in the backstage area, and injured fish need to be healed here. The backstage tour has several interactive activities, where you can touch the creatures and feed the fish.

The total backstage tour time is approximately 40 minutes.

Evening Activities

The tour ends at around 8 pm, after which you can choose to wash up first (we chose this time because there were fewer people!). There is also time for washing up, eating, and children’s playtime (you can freely participate in playing with clay).

The tour guide also notified us to gather at 9 pm to make our beds.
The bedding time is very interesting, people from the same zone gather together. The tour guide will call out the names according to the registration order, choose the area, then get the mattress and choose a seat. After getting the mattress and sheets, be sure to quickly put the bedding in place, otherwise, you will be overtaken by the people behind you. 

The tour guide will also announce the evening instructions and the lights-out time at the beginning of the bedding time. They will tell us which door will be open, where the toilet is, the duty officer’s phone number, and that we are not allowed to go to other dormitories/zones.

Then it’s free time again, some people go to shower at this time. We walked outside the Water Zone (still in the park), but it was very dark, and there was nothing to see.
It was almost lights-out time (around 10:30 pm), and we returned to the zone to get ready for sleep.

I could hear the sound of water while I was sleeping, which was a bit like white noise. To be honest, I didn’t hear anyone else snoring. It was a peaceful night.
(But I got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and was scared by the fake doll outside the toilet. The tour guide reminded us about it.)

Morning Activities

Everyone loves having exclusive access to the museum in the morning!

Free Time

The actual wake-up call is broadcast at 7:00, but the early bird gets the worm! We got up at 6:00, first wandered around the Waters of the World venue, and saw those polar creatures.
We packed up our bedding before 7:00 and left the venue. We went to the various areas of the Waters of Taiwan to explore and take photos.

We arrived at the restaurant before 7:30 and became the first batch of tourists to have breakfast, finishing it within 15 minutes. Let’s continue to visit the NMMBA!
If we start at 7:00, there are actually two hours of visiting time. Of course, the earlier you get up, the longer you can visit! (But if you get up too early, some people may not be up yet, so be quiet and don’t disturb them!)

Open Ocean Tank Fish Feeding

After 8:30, you can move to the Open Ocean Tank to grab the best viewing spot for the Open Ocean Tank Fish Feeding. It will start at 8:50 on time, and most people will arrive early.

There will also be a tour guide moderating about a 15-minute feeding show. Friends who participate in the NMMBA overnight activity should not have to participate in the NMMBA’s Open Ocean Tank Fish Feeding feeding show during regular hours.

The feeding show is a whole group activity. After the feeding show is over, the group will be divided again.

Ecological Activities

As the activity is coming to an end, it is time to introduce Taiwan’s ecology. If the weather allows, we will enter the intertidal zone next to the NMMBA to conduct ecological observation. If not, we will change to indoor activities. Then there is the final marine ecology course.

Intertidal Zone Ecological Observation

This group, in fact, can skip! Because there will be no roll call at all!!! (But it could also be that my tour guide didn’t call the roll) We set off the latest but saw the least. It took about 30 minutes, and the earliest group might have seen it for 50 minutes. If you want to see it for a longer time, just sneak out and follow the earlier group.

It is similar to the general intertidal zone tour. It depends on what creatures (or fossils) the tour guide catches and then introduces them. Some living creatures can also be touched. Remember to wash your hands after touching them, and don’t touch them randomly!

Marine Ecology Course

This is a class where you can sleep with the air conditioning on.
Okay! In fact, it is also quite interesting for children. It introduces the endemic species of Taiwan and the animals that need to be protected.
Of course, there will be a prized quiz.
The course lasted about half an hour to an hour, and all the activities of the NMMBA Sleepover ended before 11:00.

Accommodation at NMMBA Sleepover

Basically, the night tour activity will be a tour of the venue where you will stay. So many people are willing to visit again after the first visit, just to stay in different zones!

Waters of Taiwan and Coral Kingdom

The two indoor temperatures are relatively warm, and only quilts and pillows are provided. (I remember there are two quilts, one as a mattress and one for you.)

• Underwater Tunnel: Sleep in the tunnel of the escalator (of course, it won’t move).
• Beluga Tunnel: There will only be one beluga whale in the exhibition tank at a time. It can accommodate fewer people and is also an easily filled area.
• Sunken Ship: Different viewing windows can see different parts of the hull. I will not choose this area, I am afraid that I will be scared when I wake up at night and see the deck, it feels like there will be ghost stories at night (?)

Waters of the World

Because the temperature is lower, a mattress is also provided. The mattress is very comfortable (I am very picky about mattresses, I approve of this mattress!)

So~ don’t worry about whether the bed will be uncomfortable. Whether the other passengers are snoring must be more important than whether the bed is comfortable or not. But, this is really out of your control…

The tour guide will introduce the available bed locations in the area during the tour. So, you can still hesitate when you see the scene. However, those who register late have almost no choice. 

Shark Zone: Stay overnight next to the shark display tank. The shark exhibition area is actually very small, so it can only accommodate eight.

Polar Zone: 15-18℃ very cold; remember to get a thick coat. To imitate the natural situation, the light of the penguin tank is adjusted like the sunlight of the polar area in the southern hemisphere. The light of the puffin tank is adjusted as the sunlight of the polar area in the northern hemisphere.

The Kelp Forest

The Kelp Forest tank is very tall, reaching ten meters in length. There is a spiral ramp leading up next to it. A small viewing window (about one and a half floors high) can accommodate two people in the middle of the ramp. Basically, you need to be one of the first few to book in order to get it. It is also further away from the entrance and toilet. And it’s on a slope?

There is also a viewing window on the second floor, which is flat and can accommodate about four people. It is suitable for a family.

The top floor is arc-shaped and can be used to view the kelp from a distance. It can also accommodate many people. However, there is still some distance between the beds, and everyone maintains an excellent social distance.

Other practical information

Food: The sleepover event provides three meals, which are all you can eat. 

• Dinner is a Taiwanese-style buffet that contains about 12 different dishes. The taste is fine, it should be worth as NT200-300/meal.
• The late-night supper is offered at 8-9 pm. The offer we got was the famous PingTung local dessert, Green bean soup. Delicious! 
• Breakfast contains both Western and Chinese styles.