WARNING! RIP-OFF!!!!!!
Please consider visiting this place before you go! We just went yesterday. Myself, 3 boys, ages 9, 5, and 1, and my Mother. Something for everyone, right? That's what the ad says.
So, we embark on our journey to astronaut life and space treasures. First of all, there are no space treasures, for real. Everything was a copy! Nothing was actually used before and they didn't even care that it looked fake! NASA, come on here. From the paper mache replica shuttles to the robotic arms that don't do anything. This was a JOKE!!!! We took the tram tour after I asked an official "space center employee" what is the best thing here. It took us to the "astronaut training facility". NASA should be ashamed for misleading people into believing that ACTUAL astronauts would be there. We fell for it, and after 30 mins waiting in line we were on the tour. We saw, copies of astronaut training equipment in a huge hallway, behind thick glass, with no A/C in July, in TX!!!!!!!!! We then followed our less than eager tour guide on the tram to "Rocket Park"...Sounds cool, right? Nope, 2, I am serious, 2 rockets, that you can see from the street on your own in a field. I thought surely this wasn't it.....as we returned to the building I realized it was. We went to "Blast off theater" trying to redeem myself to my son's, one of which would like to be an astronaut. The brochure states, experience the spectacular sensation of a blast off. They take you to a room with NO SEATING. You are instructed to remain here while you watch a video. This was it. The video was something circa 1985 showing a rocket launch and a puff of smoke came out at the end. Then, we got a 30 minute lecture, a lecture in a room with seats. We could have seen this at home, on tv.
Everything in this place is outdated, except the price. It was totally disorganized! The people employeed here are less than enthusiastic and some actually looked sketchy. Most of the "attractions" do not allow a stroller, so be prepared to lug the little guys around all day. It WAS HOT everywhere. The lines for the "attractions" were too long, and we didn't actually get to experience anything else in a 6 hour trip!!!!!
The highlight of the trip was that my sons got to meet someone in a storm trooper suit. But, that was for a special clone wars movie thing, so don't hold your breath. There was other stuff to do there, but you had to pay more, $4 here and $3 there, per person!
SAVE your money and go to the houston museum's downtown, even the children's museum has more to do than this, and that is saying a lot.
Costs:
Entry: 64.25
Food: 47.00 (hotdogs, fries, chicken nuggets, nothing special)
Parking: 5.00
Astronaut Ice Cream souviner: 9.00 (they gave this away when I was a kid)
Totaling: $125.25
You have been warned. This place takes itself really seriously and it was actually comical on the way home. That we spent that much time/money/and effort into A BIG FAT JOKE!!! To top the day off in true comedic form, my mother backed over my stroller, fortunately the baby was safely in the van. LOL!