Space ctr?

[Taratink]

My kids are 9 and 11. We will be in Fla. in April. Is it worth a trip to the Kennedy Space Center? My concern is that it will be boring and really busy.

 

[chipscamping buddy]

It really shouldn't be too busy in April. As for fun? I went and really enjoyed it, but my DW thinks it is a waste of time. If they are into the whole space thing, there is more than enough there to capture their imagination. Of course it was a lot cooler back in the old days when we had a space program.

 

[Orlando Vic]

My kids are 9 and 11. We will be in Fla. in April. Is it worth a trip to the Kennedy Space Center? My concern is that it will be boring and really busy.

Do you (and they) have an interest in science and technology?

Do you have a whole day to "spend" in this way, or would it be better used on some other activity? It's your call.

 

[vicki_c]

It really shouldn't be too busy in April.

Except for that pesky almost last space shuttle launch on April 19. And Spring Break. And Easter week.

 

[Belle83]

I'm wondering the same thing. My SO loves space/science so I have a feeling we'll end up going. We just watched Apollo 13 last night, so I was looking at the Kennedy website. It says it takes a whole day...I want to go, but not spend an entire day there. Is it reasonable to only spend a 1/2 day there? We don't have any kids, it's just us.

 

[kathy884]

We went last week, and I was really impressed with the whole experience. If your children enjoy science centers, etc. I think they would probably enjoy this. Please note that I'm not that into space stuff and the last time I had visited was in 94. Back in 94, I found the tour super boring and said to my husband, "I can't believe how bad this tour is. They could do so much more with this." We'll it's really good now, 17 years later.

We only spent a partial day there. Slept in, had a relaxing morning at our condo, and drove out there starting at noon from Orlando. It takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there. The main attraction is the tour that is included with admission with two stops. One is a structure you climb up and view launch pads. The second is the vehicle assembly plant where you see how big everything really is. This second stop included two short excellent films. One was about the 60s (A little about politics and the space race with the Russians, clips with hippies, models, etc. from that period too where really fun and my son really got a kick out of seeing that.) Next was a short film about the Apollo program and mission. This was shown in an area that housed real control units from that era. These were educational and entertaining. I loved them.

After spending time at both these stops we went back to the visitor center area, and some in our party did the space launch experience and others just visited the Rocket Garden. If we had been there earlier we could have attended a 25 minute talk with an astronaut, seen an IMAX movie, etc. We, though, were really happy with the activities we did in our short time there (about 4 1/2hours) -- felt this worked out really well for us and were glad we made the day trip.

We didn't think the crowds were bad at all considering that this was a busy spring break week. We only waited about 10 minutes to get on the bus for the tour, not bad at all. And isn't wasn't wall to wall people at all. Sure there were plenty of people there, but just like a typical day at any popular science center.

 

[crazelion]

I love space and sceince and I found a half day would good. I would not spend a hole day there. Actually found it boring and the kids found boring. Did I mention that went on the hottest day. Don't Don't eat there. They have they have some worst food I ever seen. I wondering how h@ll can mess up a salad is beyond me.

Sausage biscount I ate Mc Donalds and salad at 2:00 pm. I could not wait get to the All - Star sports resort food court at 4:00 pm.

IE I was on bus trip with my son boy scout troop.