Orlando Science Center

[FLgirl1203]

We are planning a "non-Disney" day on our next trip in the summer and looking for something that we can do out of the heat. Wondering what your experiences have been at the Science Center...it looks very fun and reasonably priced. Please share your day at the Science Center with us!

 

[kellymonaghan]

It's a great rainy day activity. The IMAX theater is AWESOME. The hands on exhibits are a lot of fun for little kids and the traveling exhibits are top-notch. One that I saw on birds of prey was really beautiful. The building itself is pretty cool and I would think a lot of fun for kids to explore.

There's a cafeteria on site, so if you want you can really make it a day. There are two museums (modern and folk) nearby, too.

 

[cofey]

Our family (me, DH, DS age 3) visited OSC in Dec 02 and had a great time.

The exhibits were very hands-on and fun to explore and all were in good repair. It is definitely not one of those museums where everything is behind velvet ropes.

We really liked all of the exhibits. Some of our favorites were:
- Archeological dig in which children use paintbrushes and the like to uncover a dinosaur skeleton
- Race car computer simulator
- Fish and turtle pond

A couple of other tips:

- If you or your family are picky eaters, you may want to make other arrangements for lunch. The cafeteria didn't have much the day we were there and we didn't see any other restaurants w/in walking distance. There is a McDonalds a few miles away BUT the directions the museum guide gave us to find it were wrong (we just lucked out when we glimpsed the big yellow "M" sign). So... you may want to either bring a picnic lunch or figure out in advance where the restaurants are.

- Coupons for OSC are available in the various coupon books

- The museum is located on the other side of town from the parks. If you are staying near WDW, you may want to plan your visit to avoid rush hour traffic in downtown Orlando.

Hope this info helps. We really enjoyed OSC and would heartily recommend it.

 

[Lisa P.]

We really enjoyed this place, a few years ago. I thought it rivaled the better science centers in other large cities, like Boston. If you have an annual family pass at a local nature center, zoo or science center, see if you are granted reciprocal visiting privileges at the Orlando Science Center. We were, back when, so our visit was free (except parking, I think). We also packed a picnic lunch for tailgating and were glad we did. Then we only got an ice cream at the museum.

Hope you enjoy the place - I think it's terribly underutilized by tourists for such a quality center.