Many questions about Kennedy Space Center

[sportbettor]

Can anyone help with planning a trip to Kennedy Space Center? I have many many questions:

1) Where should we stay? Id prefer to pay sub $150 a night and have an area with a nice beach. Is it better to stay near 405 or to stay off 3? It seems that 405 is closer but you have to cross a bridge? Is there a lot of traffic going there in the morning (we want to go on one day when there is a rocket launch)?

2) I read on some post that there are a ton of Mosquitos everywhere. Will this be the case in July? How bad is it really? If its really bad we might pass on going.

3) Where is the best place to watch a rocket launch? Do we have to buy tickets like for a shuttle launch? Will this burn up a whole day? Or can we do stuff at the Space Center the same day we see a launch? Any tips here would be greatly appreciated.

4) What are the must see things to do? Are The NASA Up Close and Cape Canaveral Then and Now tours worth it? How interesting are these for a 7 year old boy?

Any other info any can think of is greatly appreciated.

 

[spiceycat]

it has been a long time since went to Space Center

the closest is Coca Beach - but the nicest beach is Daytona Beach - it is further away but not alot.

Florida has insects all over the place. and yes mosquitos will be there. Now when you are doing the tour itself - they spray - so it won't be that bad.

but waiting in the swamp like area - yes you will have mosquitos.

liked Huntsville better than Cape Kennedy. at Huntsville you could go in and see the stuff that at Cape Kennedy they have armed guards.

now have not been back to Huntsville since security took over - so you might not be able to do that Huntsville any longer either.

 

[Doogan]

We stayed at http://www.countryinns.com/hotels/flcape and it was convenient to the space center and included a decent breakfast. The management was very helpful. There's also a Hampton Inn that TripAdvisor rates very highly and I've always found them to be accurate.

This web site has the best information on launch viewing that I've found - http://www.launchphotography.com/Launch_Viewing_Information.html

There is also a sticky on under the Theme Parks Community board http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1647123 which is where I found the link above but it's a lot to dig through. The link above is distilled down and they guy that wrote it has a lot of experience.

Basic advice, if you want to view the launch from the KSC you have to buy tickets as soon as they go on sale. They go quickly. There are 2 view locations on KSC: the causeway, which is direct line of sight and is the closest viewing location you can get; and the visitors center, which is not a direct line of sight. The one shuttle launch I went to was pre 9/11 and I was on a VIP pass so I had a really good location.

We didn't do any of the extra tours beyond the bus tour. We were rushed to get that done in one very full day. The bus tour is at your own pace. The buses run from one location to the next. You get off, tour that location for as long as you want and then catch the next bus. The buses run very regularly and are air conditioned!

We didn't even have enough time to view the IMax movies. We have 2 girls who were 9,8 and a boy who was 4 at the time, so I think your 7 year old boy should love it. We constantly felt like we had to keep pushing along rather than taking as much time as we would have liked. I could easily have seen us spending a second day without spending any extra for the extra tours.

That said, it really depends on the family. Other people will tell you it's really boring and not worth the trip. To be honest, I was kind of surprised my girls enjoyed it as much as they did. I'm kind of a space geek. I saw the first space shuttle when it came into FL on the back of 747 when I was in Jr High while I was working in the orange groves and I've been in love ever since. I guess some of that excitement rubbed off on them. I mean, who wouldn't get excited at getting to walk inside a real space shuttle or touch a piece of the moon?

 

[TheresaNY]

How many sops are on the bus tour? Is there staff at each site to tell you about the site or is it plaques to read? Is this a rain or shine tour? Is it really bad in the rain? What is there to see and do in the Visitor's Center?

 

[Doogan]

I think there are 4 stops.

There are staff at the stops, but they are pretty much self-guided tours. There's more to do than just read plaques. There are movies, interactive shows, radio-controlled robots (which we had to tear our 4 year old away from), theater-type shows, etc. There are also life-size replicas (or the real thing?) in some cases that you can tour. For instance you can wander through the International Space Station and also view the work being done to prepare components that will be sent up to the ISS. Uhh, there's also lots of plaques to read.

I wouldn't let rain stop me. Most everything is inside. You'd have to get from the pavilions to the buses but that's about it. Even the shuttle launch pad viewing platform is covered. The tour continues while you are on the bus ride between stops.

The visitors' center has the Shuttle Launch simulator, which my kids loved. Think Mission to Space without feeling sick all day. There's also the rocket garden (one of my personal favorites). You can see various rockets used throughout NASA history. There's the IMAX theater which shows 2 space related movies during the day. There's a playground for the younger kids. Lots of souvenir shops (of course) and restaurants. There's a full sized Space Shuttle orbiter and solid rocket booster/external fuel tank (which is awesome!).

The visitor's center is probably only a couple of hours worth of stuff by itself. My favorite stop, by far, is the Apollo building (2nd stop on the bus tour). They have a full size Apollo rocket suspended horizontally in the building. It's breathtaking. As impressive as the Space Shuttle is, the Apollo just blows it away! It's hard to believe we ever built anything like that. It really drives home the old saying about "being a rocket scientist!"
That's also where they have the moon rock that you can touch!

 

[TheresaNY]

WOW ! Can't wait ! Thanks so much for all the info ! Sounds like we shall plan on two days !

 

[sportbettor]

Thanx for all the great info. How long did it take to get to KSC on the launch day? That hotel is farther away than some of the other hotels I was looking at. Someone told me there is an insane amount of traffic on launch days. We are going on a rocket (non-shuttle) launch day so traffic would be less than a shuttle launch day.

My son loves Mission Space but we always take the non-spinning green one so I think he'll like the Shuttle simulator as well. As far as the tours go, I think we will only take the normal tour like you suggest.

 

[Doogan]

The shuttle launch I went to was a separate trip from the one I was telling you about. It was about 8 years ago. We did a VIP tour one day and then the launch viewing the next. Traffic on launch day was insane and really made it such that viewing the launch was the only thing we were going to be able to do. It was worse after the launch than before, though. We were trying to get out to drive back to SC. I think it took us several hours just to get off of the space center grounds.

By the way, when we went 2 years ago the tickets were good for 2 days, so it's a great deal if you can do 2 days. They didn't have to be consecutive days, either. I think you could do the second day within 14 days of the first use, or something like that. There's also an astronaut museum in Titusville that your ticket will get you into.

 

[Quilter007]

We did KSC when DSes were 7 and 4 -- paid extra for "lunch with an astronaut". That was really cool. DSes don't remember much of the speech, but they know they met an astronaut & love looking at the scrapbook, reading his bio, etc. I'd like to do that again when DSes are 9 & 13. Loved the rocket garden -- you can climb in the capsules! DH was so amazed to be there that he cried! The Space Station stop is fun as well -- it's the last stop on the bus tour & gets missed sometimes. We always think that we'll go a second day because we didn't see everything (been twice now), but we end up deciding to go to a WDW park instead. The second KSC day is free, but if you've got DDP credits to use, it's hard to let those go & pay just as much for mediocre food @ KSC. Loved KSC -- just don't go there for the food. There's a reason the astronauts are all trim!