City Museum, St Louis

The city museum is fun, but if you have time for only one museum make sure you go to The Magic House, St. Louis Childnen's Museum, it is such an amazing place for kids with imagination and learning.

My husband and I went to the City Museum without our two small children. Had they been along, we would have left after the first 5 minutes. We had a limited amount of time and wanted to plan out our visit. I asked for a map of the place and they did not have one. So we set off, not knowing what to expect. We went to the caves, it was dark and cramped. A small child would easily get lost in there. We bumped our heads several times. Chlostrophobia set in. We managed to work our way up to a sprial stair case. On one level we found a door marked "Exit" - We thought it went to the rest of the museum - it was locked. My first thought was, if there was a fire, there was no way we wouldget out. We kept going up to the very top level. It was very hot up there, we had sweat rollling off of us. We waited 15 minutes to go down the giant slide, because a little girl was scared. Poor thing, I was scared too! I was concerned for my safety and everyone elses safety the entire time we were there. We then went to the aquarium. Once again disappointed. The tanks were dirty. There was a dead frog in one. Four snakes in another small tank. The poor sea turtle had and injured nose. They allow you to touch some animals, but did not provide a sink to wash your hands while still in the aquarium. We arrived just in time for the stingray feeding. The stingray tank is wide open anyone could easily fall in. I feed the stingray and my thumb got in the way. Not a huge deal, but I did get a small bite on my thumb. Because we didn't have a map, I think we missed a few of the attractions. Oh well, probably wasn't worth our while. If you have a fear of the unknown, stay away from here. The whole place needed a serious cleaning. I wanted a shower after we left that place. I will never go back.

I realize I am in the minority with this review since: * City Museum has been voted the number one attraction in St. Louis once again. * Almost all the reviews on this site are glowing endorsements. But before you spent your 12-bucks-per-ticket to lug the family inside here, take a moment to consider these things: * This place is loud. I'm taking rock-concert loud. I'm talking jet-engine loud. I'm talking space-shuttle-launch loud. There are hundreds of kids running around everywhere, and they are all screaming. It's like Chucky Cheese on steroids, man, I kid you not. If you've got kids, you will probably be relieved that you can't hear yours over the din. But if you prefer the quietness of a normal museum, bring your earplugs. And a bottle of Tylenol. * It's dangerous. I don't have any medical statistics to back me up on this, but the place is really a 3-story jungle gym, and portions of it are very dark and full of deep chasms from which your little kids may never return. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration. But I would utterly shocked if a kid had never broken a bone there. And I have to think that an adult or two must have been injured at some point as well. Yes, yes, I realize that people can get hurt anywhere, but this place is different. Case in point: They have simulated caves that are almost completely dark, where the ceilings are low, where all the surfaces are hard and abrasive, and floor is covered in running water!!! And there are freakin' holes in the ground!!! I'm surpised no one has ever died there. I over heard one mother screaming at her two year old, "Come away from there RIGHT NOW! THERE is a GIANT HOLE IN THE GROUND!!!" *On certain days of the week, the place is so crowded that you will need a cow-catcher to mow all the little kids out of your way. *There is practically nothing here that an adult would enjoy. It's a bunch of little kids screaming and climbing, and that's about it. Oh, I have no doubt that you will find plenty of reviews from adults who will contradict this, but I think you have to ask yourself if your the kind of adult who likes people, noise, and danger, or if you're the kind of adult who prefers quiet, intellectual pursuits. If you are the latter, don't go the CITY MUSEUM. Period. *On the day that I went, I got in free. And I still thought it was a waste of money. *There is a section called "Aqua World" Where they actually make you pay to look at poorly set-up fish tanks, like you might see at one of the pet stores in your town. Unbelievable. I was like, "Wow, they've got a Chiclid tank."

The museum is an old, run down building in a run down area of St. Louis. The lighting wasn't good. Inside, there were tunnels with low clearance. Not handycapped friendly. Outside, the tunnels I climbed in the sky made me sick and want a Diet Pepsi or Sierra Mist. Also, it didn't look safe. Upstairs inside, there was even a bar in use for adults. I have seen better museums than this, but this is worse museum I ever been to in the United States.

The City Museum is built in an old loft and warehouse district in downtown St. Louis. I expected it to be an interactive history museum for the city. However, it is primarily a climbing gym for small kids. The acoustics are terrible and one can not hold a conversation in the museum. Slides terminate at odd points resulting in a high probability of people getting hit by those coming down slides - it seems that a safety inspection is needed. Overall there was little of interest for the adults and the 10-year old in our party. In addition, it appears to be poorly run as the parking system was absurd and the ticket window was manned by someone also waiting on customers in the gift shop.

It is a place for kids. A total disapointment. If you do not have kids this is not the place for you. Since it was built for kids. Nothing museum like at all. The aqurium was a disapointment also. A bunch of little fish tanks stuck together.

I just came back from my first visit to the city museum and had a terrible experience. They have a huge outdoor set of metal "tunnels" that goes about 5 stories up and while we were playing in them with our kids, I hear some screams. I go to look and there is a 2 year old girl lying on the pavement that must have fallen from at least 30 feet up! She didn't die on the spot, but she looked terrible and took a minute or more to start crying. I have been to many childrens attractions that are not nearly as dangerous, but had lots of staff suppervision. The city museum had almost none. Whatever you do don't take toddlers.

.........before someone gets seriously hurt. The museum is a very unique place with lots of interesting steel structures that the kids could play on. We went with children aged 2 1/2, 5, and 8. Within a few minutes I realized that safety for this place was one of the last things on the minds of the museum. Our 2 1/2 year old started climbing up a hollowed out tree on the first level along with his 8 year old sister. It probably would have been fine, but there was a gap in the middle of the tree (about 15 feet above the ground) that would easily allow a toddler to get out and fall. I pulled our 2 1/2 year old out of the tree as soon as my wife saw it. I also noticed several places on the third level slides which had raised screw heads on the play surfaces. A lot of the structures are made out of concrete and some had water features. The water tended to make the concrete paths slippery (especially on the 2nd floor cave). I rarely saw an employee in the place. In fact the only area where someone was monitoring the children was in the toddler area. Even then, it was only 1 person trying to look over a large space. This is a place for those aged 12 and up. I read another review here that said this place was best for older kids and now I understand why. We are native St. Louisans and I can certainly say that this was the first and last trip to this place. I would highly recommend the Magic House for a safe, kid friendly environment. My wife and I even joked to each other that it would be a challenge to try to get hurt at the Magic House, but at City Museum, as I said, "it's just a matter of time..."

I took my family of four (wife and 8 & 9 year old) to the museum and was absolutely amazed. This is the most beautiful art museum I have ever visited and the displays were extremely well done. A great combination of historically significant and famous artists. The unbelievable part is it was 100% FREE.

it was Amazing and fun and great and wonderful i had great fun awsome thinngs to do and it was lots of fun and it was a great thing to do with kids and family and people that are not old old but still adults and children