Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center

The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, formerly known as the Virginia Marine Science Museum, is an Aquarium and Marine Science Museum located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just south of Rudee Inlet. The exhibits at the Museum are contained in over 800,000 US gallons of fresh and saltwater displays.

Each design is $1 and the machine has preloaded Zinc pennies. You pay with dollar bills, credit card, GPay, or Applepay, no coins.

Machine 8 (2014) located just past the ticket counters on the left, you do not require admission:
1) Alligator,
2) Spotted Ray,
3) Shark,
4) Sea Turtle

Machine 9 (2014) located just past the ticket counters on the left, do not require admission to use it.
1) Heron,
2) Squid
3) Owl,
4) Prairie Dog

Token Machine 1 (2014): located in the shark area. Cost $5 for the collectible token. Designs are:
1) Dolphins,
2) Komodo Dragon,
3) Shark,
4) Humpback Whale.

Token Machine 2 (2018) located in the coastal river area. Cost $5 for the collectible token. Designs are:
1) Jellyfish,
2) Giant Pacific Octopus,
3) Loggerhead (Sea) Turtle,
4) River Otter

Retired machines/ designs:

Retired 1: Great Blue Heron, River Otter, Seahorse, and Lookdown Fish.
Retired 2: Sea Turtle, Seal, Shark, and Lookdown Fish. (The design of the Lookdown Fish is a duplicate.)
Retired 3: 4 designs - Dragon/ Llizard, Ray, Turtle and Shark
Retired 6: (2008): 4 designs - Seahorse, Heron, Otter, Snake
Retired 7: (2008) 4 designs - Ray, Cobra, Alligator and Fish-

8/18: Token Machine 1 and 2 (collectible medallion machines) cost $5 for the collectible token. Souvenir coin albums are also available in the gift shops for $5.

4/24/25 Token Machine 2. Same images but all gold now and no longer Silver/Copper. 10/18/2025 - Penny machines 8 & 9 press great, no coins needed. Each cost $1 by dollar bills. If you pay by credit card, you pay $4 for all 4 designs on that machine. You hand crank after paying.
The gift shop also sells a Virginia Aquarium penny book for $5.99. It has cartoon drawings of sea animals on the cover with various word captions next to each one, like "splash," "peek-a boo," and "sluuuurp." {bjj}