Pacific Science Center

You should get a warning when you are walking in that this is strictly for children, since the website does not much indicate that. What a waste of money. Three adults, all with science/​biology and technical backgrounds, none of us were wooed by anything there.
The coolest/​only cool exhibit is the Butterfly Room. Maybe go there first so your patience hasn’t run thin by the lameness of everything else. The exhibits online sound much more spectacular then when you actually get there.
That being said I do want this place to maintain funding and better itself because it is a great place to get kids interested in science for the first time.

I really had my hopes up for this visit and thought the kids would have a good time. They had an okay time, but were definitely too young to really enjoy it. My daughter is five and my son is three and a half and I would say that they need to be older than that to really have a good time. I would think at least seven would be good. I also feel like it hasn’t changed much at all since I was a kid, things are very spread out and kinda boring. Oh well…

Good educational experience for kids. Ok for adults. I saw one of the 3D imax movies and that was cool. It was part of my ticket purchase so might as well. I went on a weekday so it wasn’t that crowded. There was a school trip of kids but it wasn’t bad

I didn’t take a single picture, if that’s any indication to how much or little I enjoyed myself. :/
It was okay. Two adults who thoroughly enjoy science didn’t have the greatest of time. I think it fell more on the staff than on the center. There was no direction. Things were spread out very thin, and you had to guess where to go next, and what was an attraction/​location and what was just a random hallway/​dead end. It’s entirely to rundown for the area and amount of people there. The imax theater we watched Jungle book is was nothing to excited about. The glasses have security alarms on them. The nachos and medium soda for 8 dollars was possibly the cheapest I’ve ever seen in the city at a theater. The glass or plexiglas on all of the attractions is old and foggy. They had a bug center attraction, never nice to see a few dead bugs uncared for. It could be worth the price of admission if the staff wasn’t so self involved and made it a better experience, or experience at all. We upgraded our tickets from the citypass imax movie to Jungle book. The Jungle Book was a bust too. We most likely wont return unless we can rent someone’s
kids out for the day.

Yikes this place is run down. What is the $ 20 exhibit fee going to? Because it’s certainly not upkeep. Some of the exhibits sound interesting, but once you get there and see how kid-​centric they are, it’s aggravating — doubly so because they have your money already! With a name like «Pacific Science Center» I thought there’d be more, you know, science. My poor dad just wanted to see a cool museum and we saw this dreck instead. Everything is run-​down, lots of stuff is covered in dust, some displays with moving parts don’t even work. Thought we’d be getting something like Griffith Observatory, or even the Cincinnati Natural History Museum or Columbus, Ohio’s COSI, both of which are still heavily geared toward children (and the former of those is still a little run down) but still much more entertaining and have something for everyone. How can this place take up so much space and have so little to offer? The butterfly house is alright, but not worth $ 20. There are additional money sucks like a $ 6 360-​degree photo booth or a $ 2 «hurricane» experience; it’s like they’re aware of how lame this place is, so they let private companies in to scrape a few more bucks off poor patrons who have already paid admission.
Maybe you’ll have more fun at an IMAX movie, or at one of the traveling exhibits (make sure you get a ticket for that ONLY, and don’t waste cash on the rest of this place). Even if I had kids, I wouldn’t waste my money or their time on this run-​down sad sack play place. I brought my parents here because I thought EMP might have been too touristy. Wish I’d rethought that. EMP might also be full of screaming kids and rude tourists, but at least the exhibits aren’t falling apart.

Perfect place for kids ages 3 – 8 it is an amazing hands on scientific educational exploration and designed to engage kids and parents together as a family! They have a great to center and an amazing butterfly room. A touch tide pool and we were lucky to see an amazing moving dinosaur exhibit which my son went nuts over! The Imax theatre in 3d they have is an experience in itself! Not too expensive and I recommend the citypass! It is right next to the chihuly glass garden, space needle, EMP museum, kids museum and park. So there is a lot of fun all around — However, you can spend all day here just enjoying learning and letting your children play and learn about life, space and so much more!!! Definitely a great stop in seattle, plus 3 and under are free and the prices aren’t horrendous, either!

Place filled with kids as most of the exhibits are designed for them, giving 2 stars because the theatres especially the domed one is spectacular.
They even play a short clip in the beginning that lets you experience evolution of cinematic sound from «Mono» to whichever version of IMAX they are using currently.

We came here in late February with the Seattle City Pass. We were just in time for the National Parks Adventure 3D IMAX movie. It was the best part of our visit here, I would see it several more times. That is how beautiful we thought it was. Which is why I don’t understand any bad reviews of this place, it is totally non profit, they rely on donations. All people care about these days is the money they pay and that they weren’t happy because it’s a little bit outdated. Who cares? We learned a lot about dinosaurs, the human body, music, bugs, butterflies, the naked mole rats were so cool, and lots of things. I put my husband in a hurricane simulator and it was so funny! They have a cute play area for children! Definitely see the National Parks Adventure movie! So beautiful!

Visited here over the weekend and what a lovely place to spend a day especially if you have little ones! There are two IMAX theatres and they have shows of short documentary films, good for learning for the short attention span littluns. There is also an area for educational play and some programs/​events scheduled held.
Pacific Science Center is an independent non profit science museum just right next to the Space Needle and it is a place not just for kids but for adults too.

We really enjoyed the Science Center — in truth, we are Science Center people in general, so if your kids aren’t wowed by gears, giant chess sets, touching a starfish and seeing how a toilet flushes, you may be disappointed. We could have stayed for several hours more and really got our money’s worth, because it was free with our reciprocal museum benefit. If you are a member of another children or science museum in your town, this place’s list is more extensive than most, so do check it out before forking over the entry fee.
We got street parking a block off the main drag for $ 1.50 an hour — it was plentiful and easy to fine at around 9:45 am.
Very interactive and a nice fun afternoon for all. We would definitely recommend the visit for all families with small children.

I wish I had some good things to say about this place, but I don’t.
Parking: It’s started with finding their parking lot and driving up and down their tiny/​narrow structure for 20 minutes praying for a spot. Didn’t happen, ended up parking at a different pay lot 4 blocks away because an «event» had the other street parking blocked off.
Getting tickets: I’m not into Groupon yet, but two adults =$ 40. My first mistake was going here hoping for some grown up science, maybe to see an iMax. We bought our tickets, then found out that the iMax Showings already started, but there’s The Revenant and Star Wars at 4blahblah.
Yeah, not waiting 2 hours for movies we already saw. We were really hoping for the Galapagos, or something SCIENCE-​Y.
First impression: This is a children’s amusement park. Dinosaurs. Outer space posters. Optical illusions. Math and fractions. Toddlers everywhere. Each exhibit area was another zoo full of screaming kiddies. Everything was so old looking, like it’d been around since 2005, and with the kids everywhere, climbing on everything, stuff was just beat up. We walked through this entire museum in about 8 minutes looking for something interesting, that didn’t have a line of 5 kids waiting to play with it, or wasn’t so random that I didn’t know why it was there.
Random: Everything is so misplaced and doesn’t flow at all. Sure, all the crickety old dinosaurs go together, but that’s it. But let’s throw a cancer exhibit two steps from balancing blocks, and a random kids play area off the outer space area. Oh look, an optical illusion ramp completely hidden by another dark ramp I happened upon by accident. Wellbody? Current research? It’s as if over the years they got a new exhibit every 5 years or so, while leaving the old ones to stick around where they were, while still catering to the families with tots that need play areas. No real focus, no one exhibit got the space it needed to actually learn anything from.
It felt more like a play place than a science center. A place where parents can eat popcorn off to the side while their kids climb on everything and rush around pulling the knobs.
Am I biased? Idk. But I’ve been to science museums where I didn’t want to leave for hours because I could actually learn in each area, and enjoy it with my husband. Yes, I’m an adult without kids, but even if I had kids, I probably wouldn’t go here. It’s just too much crazy, too loud, for too much money.
One pro: the water fountain/​jets outside.
Tip for two adults, skip this. Get a Groupon and go to the EMP instead.

Great science museum overall. Many of the displays are oriented toward children and families but there’s enough to enjoy here for adults to have a good time, regardless. They have two IMAX screens which is nice as they can show different showings. If you’re traveling from out of town it’s a great part of the CityPass set of attractions (and that includes an educational IMAX show which is pretty nifty!). We saw a 3D IMAX show on the smaller IMAX screen and that was fun. I think my highlights of the museum were the naked mole rats and the butterfly enclosure respectively. They were really just such neat aspects of our trip!
It looked like there were interactive elements outdoors but we visited on a rainy day and were in a rush so we didn’t really check those out. And the grossology exhibit was really not aimed at us adults at all which was disappointing but understandable. The gift shop was pretty decent and the washrooms included ample stalls so they weren’t busy.

This is great place to spend the time on a north west rainy day. I would say center is expensive in door activity for the family. Parking is insanely expensive as I paid US$ 15 for 3hrs of parking on a Sunday.
My kids enjoyed almost all activities with a exception of Dinosaur exhibit. We did not buy any movie tickets.
The butterfly garden is quite neat experience as we were able to see various kinds and shapes of butterflies.
Good thing is we are allowed, with a hand stamp, leave the building and come back therefore we went out got food (McDonalds within walking distance). In side the center, not much food choice for the price you pay, for example small chip bag is $ 2.

My favorite thing about this place is that you get to pay one price for all the different exhibits. Unlike Balboa Park in San Diego, they have different exhibits going on at once and you pay a straight fee and you get to attend all of them and check out what they have. It does lack and could use a nice update.
One of the cooler exhibits to check out was all the different animals. I love seeing the naked mole rats and how they tunnel. The different aquatic animals, how a beehive is working and the butterfly area was really cool.

Great science museum. More appropriate for kids but still awesome for adults that are into science. I love hands on interactive science exhibits and this museum fit the bill. There are so many of these that interested kids and adults can spend hours. We had to take a break for lunch and come back. Something we very rarely do because our kids have such short attention spans.
The building in which the museum resides does seem old and outdated but I did enjoy the outdoor courtyard with the cool interactive (and scientific) sculptures. It is a little on the expensive side for a ticket, but since we basically spent most of the day there totally worth it. My daughter loved the butterfly exhibit, the marine area where she could touch sea life, and the younger child play area. My son loved basically everything else (yes, he enjoyed the butterflies too).
I’ve been to several science/​tech museums including the new Exploratorium in S. F (which is overwhelming and über crowded). This one doesn’t look fancy, but it sure does deliver.

If you don’t have kids with you and you aren’t going for a specific exhibit or the IMAX then this isn’t the place for you. This is really a hands on museum that’s wonderfully kid friendly with lots of pulleys, things to jump on, push, pull, etc. It was the perfect way to sit back and watch my friend’s kids wear themselves out before nap time. Damn was that an awesomely quiet ride home. For me, the parts I enjoyed were the naked mole rats, the tide pools and the butterflies. Basically if animals are there I’m all good.

I came here mainly for the butterfly exhibit (which was quite fun but the attraction was on the small side).
It was about $ 20 bucks for admission to the center, butterfly exhibit included, but not iMax and some other program.
They say there are hundreds of butterflies in the exhibit and I sure did see a lot, but I only saw about 8 varieties. One of them did land on me when I went in and he chilled on my jacket for a while which was cool.
For the rest of the science center… It was ok for an adult. But if you have kids, they’ll love it here since there’s so many different play stations for them.
Roamed around for 45 mins and was done.

The Science Center is very easy to get to. There’s an assortment of exhibits. They’re hands and we’ll presented. There was a good assortment of artifacts. It was well done as is the rest of the center. It was worth the time to visit. If you have an interest in moon rocks or sea life or other «sciency» topics check it out. The butterfly garden is great to visit ! It was breath taking especially seeing the cocoons. Great for all ages!
There is a play area (complete with water toy spray area), butterfly garden, And it’s educational, too! And now there is a new playground outside that’s fantastic.
My kids really enjoyed it. It’s located within Seattle City Center, so the Space Needle, the EMP, the Armory and more are ALL within walking distance. The Seattle Monorail is there too!
This is an excellent value (and there is more to do here than at the Children’s Museum). Would definitely recommend a visit!

We went here to see the Pompeii exhibit. I had never been to the PSC before so I was kind of amped to explore what was behind the gates. Since the white futurist looking domed columns you can see from outside the gate gives the impression that you’re stepping into the future, I was excited to not only see the Pompeii exhibit but also see the rest of the PSC.
My first impression after entering was somewhat of disappointment but we came for the Pompeii exhibit so I attempted to keep my frown from turning upside down.
Now the exhibit was actually pretty nice. My friend and I were actually taken aback by how well preserved or restored the items in the exhibit were, especially since they were from around the year 100 AD. That was actually really amazing. The layout though was very tight in areas and since people stop and gawk at most points, it sometimes becomes nearly impossible to move through the narrow hallways. Other parts of the exhibit were open enough to view the artifacts and watch the informational videos without feeling cramped. Again I say though that it was a really neat exhibit. It was nice how they set up how the Pompeiians lived their lives prior to the volcano eruption and then you go through a non-​impressive smoke and light show to simulate the volcano eruption and step into life after the devastation and then finally the gift shop.
We went to the dinosaur building after that and the only thing cool in there was the area where you could touch sea anemones and water wildlife. So basically the rest of the Pacific Science Center was kind of whomp whomp feeling. It felt like a place people go on a field trip with school when they’re younger. So it might be cool for kids. The dinosaur animatronics need a bit of updating though. Just sayin.

This was one of the stops on our city pass. Hm I’m not sure if I’m too impressed with this museum.
The butterfly house was pretty neat. One of the best versions I’ve seen so far. Some of the butterflies are really friendly and actually fly right in front of you.
The naked mole rats were cool to see. There’s so many of them in a maze cage.
There’s a free IMAX show too.
I feel this museum lacks appeal. It felt like a children’s museum rather than a science center. There’s not a lot of exhibits and the ones there feel really outdated like the Dinosaur exhibit. Building 4 is labeled «featured exhibit» and when I asked a worker what it was she said there wasn’t one.
This place has potential and needs a major makeover! Bring in some modern interactive exhibits that kids and adults can enjoy.

Ce musée est gigantesque, comme beaucoup de musées dans ce genre vous allez me dire… N’espérez donc pas tout faire en une fois, mais si vous êtes ici en vacances vous passerez quand même un bon moment pour une demi-​journée ou plus (notamment si le temps est mauvais… comment ça, ça arrive souvent?).
La structure dans son ensemble est immense, divisée en sections, avec des expos temporaires, des magasins, de quoi manger, des coffee shops… Les enfants comme les plus grands apprécieront les différents stands dédiés à des principes ou phénomènes scientifiques de base.
En extérieur, il y a quelques oeuvres interactives amusantes qui valent le coup d’oeil. Le laser dome en intérieur vaut le détour également, même si j’avoue que c’est un peu too much pour les yeux et que j’aurais préféré que le show soit un peu plus court et plus soigné. L’expo temporaire «the photography of modernist cuisine» était pour sa part vraiment top, avec des clichés réussis et intriguants, dont certains sont bien expliqués, je la conseille sans problème.