Charles Newell

Review of Carnegie Science Center

Today, the day of the Movie Marathon in honor of r...

Today, the day of the Movie Marathon in honor of renovating the theatre, was a perfect example of inept management. We called at 2 PM about a movie we wanted to see running at 5 PM. We asked the phone receptionist if we needed to book. We were told "No it is first come first served." We arrived at four thirty and found a long line moving very slowly. There was only one person selling tickets which might have been adequate if all they had to do was sell tickets, but obviously more was going on as each person had a long discussion with the cashier. When at 5 o:clock we arrived at the head of the line we were told, "The movies had to be booked". That one cashier was actually handling bookings as well as selling tickets. We were told the earliest movie we could attend was at 9:30. That is five and a half hours later. I have since looked on the web site and it also states: " Admission to all Omnimax movies, Laser Shows, and Live Demonstration Theater shows during the movie marathon is first-come, first-served." I understand why it was changed. At show time it could have gotten really ugly, and may already have done so. The administration was not very good at thinking things through. This very negative experience comes down to 60% ineptitude and 40% inevitable chaos.
Yes The Science center can be a great place for kids to learn, but a large percentage of the kids we see there have either passed the point of intellectual overload, or else they never did care. Whichever the case may be, many are just mindlessly milling around pulling levers and pushing buttons oblivious to what the display is about. Thus a fair percentage of the displays do not work correctly.