Aquamermaid School, Chicago

In The Little Mermaid, Ariel yearns for a pair of human legs. But that was just a fairy tale—in real life, everyone yearns for a mermaid tail. At AquaMermaid School of Chicago, dreams can come true, as human swimmers—adults and kids alike—transform into shimmering, graceful mermaids with the help of artificial tails complete with colorful scales and broad, delicate fins. Before they can glide through the water, though, students have to learn how to swim with the apparatus. During classes or parties, instructors progress from basic tail-swimming lessons to advanced techniques such as underwater choreography. Many times, a course or birthday bash will conclude with a photoshoot, so mermaids can immortalize their new moves and prove their mermaid pedigrees to skeptical seagulls.