Kennedy Space Station Visit

[AverysMommy]

I have been thinking of doing a quick tour of the Space Station before our cruise......This is our second cruise so its not imperative to us that we are one of the first people on the ship....especially as the weather might not be great at the end of January so the pool might not be an option.

Has anyone visited the station before? Is it worth the money if we only are there from 9am to 1pm??? What about the lunch with an Astronaut?

they sound cool!

kids are 8 and 11

 

[tm2924]

We spent the day at Kennedy Space Center and had a great time. We got there right when it opened and left when they were closing and did not get to see everything. There were 2 different Omnimax movies and a bus tour is included in admission and it is 2-3 hours long. The KSC ticket is good for 2 days @ KSC and also includes the Astronaut Hall of Fame(a few miles east of KSC. We spent 2-3 hours there as well. We didn't do the lunch thing, but it also looked interesting. Good Luck.

 

[Thumper_Man]

We were there back in October. We paid to do the "Discover KSC: Today and Tomorrow Tour." It was awesome. Worth the extra money we paid. We got there around 9:30 AM. Our tour started at 10:50 am. So we looked around at some of the exhibits until it was time to check-in for our tour. The tour lasted for about 2 hours. We left at 2:00 PM, as we wanted to spend some time at the beach, so we never got to see all of it. Next time we're in FL, we want to go back and see the rest of what we missed. Spend the entire day there. We personally think it was worth the money.

We really don't know about the lunch with an astronaut. Sounds like it would be fun. We might try this next round.

 

[pearlieq]

We had a really good time there--the exhibits, attractions, and IMAX films were great.

Lunch with an astronaut might be neat, but if time and budget do not allow, the astronauts do several daily talks. This was the highlight of our Oct. trip. It was very interesting and funny.

One note: the CS food is awful. Terrible awful. Not just mediocre like McDs or something. Bad. Bad, bad, bad. And not cheap. Plan on eating offsite.

 

[insureman]

I have been thinking of doing a quick tour of the Space Station before our cruise......This is our second cruise so its not imperative to us that we are one of the first people on the ship....especially as the weather might not be great at the end of January so the pool might not be an option.

Has anyone visited the station before? Is it worth the money if we only are there from 9am to 1pm??? What about the lunch with an Astronaut?

they sound cool!

kids are 8 and 11

Call your local Congressman's office, they have a limited number of free tickets available for their constituents. We were able to get four tickets for our pre cruise stay at Port Canaveral in February.

 

[Disneyana'sAunt]

Call your local Congressman's office, they have a limited number of free tickets available for their constituents. We were able to get four tickets for our pre cruise stay at Port Canaveral in February.

We also got 4 free tickets for 1/5/11 by calling our congressman!

 

[mlipreston]

We also got 4 free tickets for 1/5/11 by calling our congressman!

We are looking at going as well when we cruise The Dream in September. How far in advance did you have to call for the tickets? Do you call and just say, "Do you have any free tickets for The Kennedy Space Center?" Are there dates on the tickets? This is great info. Thank you guys. If I can get some this will help my budget! Woo Hoo! Hubby will be proud.

 

[txsoccermom]

We are looking at going as well when we cruise The Dream in September. How far in advance did you have to call for the tickets? Do you call and just say, "Do you have any free tickets for The Kennedy Space Center?" Are there dates on the tickets? This is great info. Thank you guys. If I can get some this will help my budget! Woo Hoo! Hubby will be proud.

Search for a thread on this forum "Free Kennedy space center tickets", something like that! A bunch of us told of our experience, what we wrote in the letter, etc. You can request 4 complimentary tix 6 months in advance.

Good luck!

 

[ps17]

No flames please - we are just reporting what we experienced. Bear in mind this was last week during the holidays - a busy period.

We go there arournd 11:00. We stood in line for over 45 minutes to buy tickets (limited number of kiosks open, slow processing time). We waited over 30 minutes to board the tour busses... We skipped the first stop of the bus tour because of long lines to get back on.. we were still stuck at that station for over 15 minutes. It took us 20 minutes to get into the second stop. While this stop was the highlight with the Saturn V, our kids were starved. It took us over 20 minutes to get lunch (long lines), over 5 minutes to pay for lunch, and then no place to sit. Bathrooms were filthy, lines were long.

When we got back to the visitors center, the line was over 30 minutes for shuttle launch experience. By that time, we were "lined out" and decided to skip the lines to visit the shuttle explorer. When we go to the IMAX around 3:20, the next show was filled with the next show being at 4:30.

Needless to say, the day was a fiasco for us. I am sure that others have reported great experiences here, but we are just reporting what happened to us on Dec 27.

 

[mlipreston]

Search for a thread on this forum "Free Kennedy space center tickets", something like that! A bunch of us told of our experience, what we wrote in the letter, etc. You can request 4 complimentary tix 6 months in advance.

Good luck!

Thank you! I found the thread and it is VERY helpful. I have a couple of months before I can try to request the tickets but I sure hope it works. Thanks again!

 

[trimix]

First, as others have already suggested, it is a space center, not a space station. The space station is in a 349 by 356 nautical mile orbit, and getting there and back will take a lot longer than a day!

The one other thing I will point out is that a "quick" tour is not a realistic goal. Four hours will probably be enough time for the short bus tour and to see thedisplays at the main center, but it just isn't enough time for everything you and your kids could do.

 

[Mommb]

As of now (and as of last January) the tickets that Kennedy Space Center sells are good for two days of admission within a seven day period. So, of you are on a three or four night cruise and have a late flight home (or are driving) you could return the day you disembark to see some things you didn't get to before the cruise. I do not know if this is true of complimentary tickets as well.

 

[quentina]

I have been thinking of doing a quick tour of the Space Station before our cruise......This is our second cruise so its not imperative to us that we are one of the first people on the ship....especially as the weather might not be great at the end of January so the pool might not be an option.

Has anyone visited the station before? Is it worth the money if we only are there from 9am to 1pm??? What about the lunch with an Astronaut?

they sound cool!

kids are 8 and 11

We got free tix from our congressman....they have an educational fund that they use for this type of stuff. Call him/her.