Arizona Science Center Review

If you don't have kids or you're over the age of 12 DO NOT bother going to this place. They overcharge for admission and falsely advertise a 3 hour entertaining expirience. The only way possible to stay there for 3 hours is to spend even more on all of their additional events that should be included. Easily their most played game, the brain wave battle, where you put helmets on and see who can move a ball faster with brain waves IS FAKE. I invite anyone to put the helmets on the table and press the play button and see the scam in action. Anyone can get through the entire place twice In 2 hours or less. At least I did. You'll be left bored surrounded by badly behaved kids and employees that don't care about your expirience. Truthfully if the staff decided not to show up one day and let the place fall into disorder and chaos it would be the same as always. The "public parking" will charge you 15$ to park there for 2 hours and claim their rates changed unless you validate parking. 18$ a person? 5$ sounds more reasonable but even then I won't come back. I'd rather tour a trash facility, total waste of time and money!

I've been coming here since I was 4 years old myself and I'm happy to say my kids come here now and love it just as much as me. It keeps my kids entertained for hours. Definitely recommend this place! I've never had a problem!

Super fun place! The mummy s exhibit was so cool! Real mummy s! It was so informative and exciting with lots of hands on science exhibits for kids. A lot of natural minerals that were found locally and some interesting recycling exhibits on the 3rd floor..

We learned so much in one afternoon after going to the Science Center. It was definitely worth exploring.

I wouldn't advise eating here, the food is blah and tastes like a cardboard box and it's expensive because it's proclaimed to be "organic", even so the menu is small and is geared toward children which is great for the science center atmosphere. The service is fast but I still suggest bringing food from home.

1/2 of the exhibits and hands on experiences didn't work! For $12-$18 per person, total rip off.

Not happy paid alot to get to see this and not Alot to see.. Spent 65 and was there 30min.

August 31st 2017, Pretty disappointing for 18.00 a person, really is nothing too interesting. The HAM radio guys are cool, im sure the planetarium is cool but i did not pay the extra 9.00.

This place was fun, went to see the mummy exhibit, the only thing that I didn't like about this place is that I guess I chose the wrong time to show up on my day's off because right when I walked in it looked like an entire 1 through 6th grade school was being bused in for a field trip day, the mummy exhibit was nice and quit but after that nothing but kids and screaming everywhere, so I got out while the getting was good before I could check all the other exhibits out.

Very interesting and fun stuff here. The amount of screaming kids can be a little over whelming.

It was fun and provided a lot of things to do and see. The price was a little high, and the food courts options were pretty limited.

Just awful! Unfortunately, this place needs to be renamed as a CHILDREN S Science Center. It is very misleading and 100% geared towards maybe 10 and under, maybe even younger. However, the planetarium movie was pretty good and the only reason I gave 2 stars.

We kept walking hoping for something cool like dinosaur bones, mummies, or ANYTHING cool since the one in Denver has all of that. Don t waist your money, pretty boring.

I felt that it was pricey to visit this place, and the food is also expensive. Regardless of that i had a good time. I recommend but check the prices.

Had great day with my two boys and the wife the boys were excited and had fun the way the place was played out was nice and interesting for all ages will be going back.

I will admit... museums and co. typically don't do it for me. short attention span, mostly. but this place, pretty much rocks and is worth every penny.

its massive, its hands-on, it's science at its best. with a combination of AZ-specific history (such as how their built homes for the eco) and a wide assortment of science information ranging from health and medical practices, weather-related phenomenons, physics, etc, it is fun for any age. im a kinetic learner (who isnt, really?), so the ability to actually interact with things to understand it is really beneficial.

Highlights for me:

*The synchronized dancing magnetic iron...man i wish i could post a video of it. it was so entertaining.

*Laying on the bed of nails and being elevated. wow did that feel interesting!

*The ping pong balls floating in the air... sometimes you could throw two on the same air channel for a dueling spiral dance in the air. could be a great betting battle between two people!

*The scaled-dam display where you could create your own dam and release water to see in it action.

*Watching videos on neuro surgery. medicine is quite amazing.

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My only complaint is the nickel and diming factor. after paying $15 a person, there are quite a few exhibits and the imax / planetarium that are additional tickets. If you want to do everything the museum has to offer it gets a bit pricy. I wish it was just a set price. We opted to skip the add-on things and still had a very fun time. Allow at least a few hours.

However, after learning about how plentiful turquoise is to AZ, i took a guess i could score some nice earrings in the gift shop - which i did, for $8. yes!

...then go to the ever famous Pizzeria Bianco in the plaza next door! so tasty :)

This is great for big kids and little kids alike. Definitely something for everyone and the visiting exhibits are always a treat.

Love the science center. We re members and my kids love it. I did take one star down because the extra exhibits are always underwhelming. The main stuff is enough for my kids. There is a lot to see and do here.

Not worth it. Over crowded and not fun for the kids. Very outdated setup. If you park in the garage the prices listed are not the correct amount. It is for validated tickets. 2 hours is really $12. RIP off.

its a great start for Phoenix, but can be so much more. its been years and i've yet to see really any improvements.

to me just seems to be a host for bigger exhibits that come into town like Body World, or Dinosaurs, or Lego.

From when I was little till now I love going to this place ! I just wish it was open a little later on certain days.

Victoria the T Rex experience was super cool and worth the money. The science center was pretty busy even though we got there at opening on Monday morning due to the class field trips. There were a few things my toddlers could play with so the trip was worth it for us but it was pretty hectic with all the middle schoolers running around. I was able to maneuver around all the floors with my stroller though. Next time I ll probably wait until they re older and can read and learn from the different exhibits.

It's was awesome!! My 3 year old son and I loved it. Only if we would have arrived earlier, we would have had more time to get to enjoy everything. But the best part was, well, EVERYTHING!! We will definitely be going back soon. Oh and the best part was THAT YOU ONLY HAD TO PAY 3$ WHEN YOU SHOW THEM YOUR EBT CARD!! Great deal compared to 16$ admission.

Great for kids of all ages! Educational fun! We had a great time! I noticed that some reviews mentioned one of the water tables being broken, and it we did see that it was broken when we were there. However, they still had three functional water tables, and so many other things to do! Everything else was working properly, and it's a big place. We spent most of the day there and are excited to return! If you are looking for a way to entertain and teach your kids, I recommend the science center! We even had lunch at the Bean Sprouts Cafe, and the food was tasty and healthy. All the restrooms and exhibits were clean.

Had a buy one get one deal, but still not worth it. Many exhibits were broken or outdated. Only giving two stars because one of the volunteers with the rock collection was very knowledgeable and we had a pleasant conversation with him!

Kinda boring if you don't have kids. The line for the online vouchers was extremely slow. I suggest paying the extra two dollars per person to get in much faster.

I have been there and it is pretty cool to experience how wind, rain, and fire feels like.

Great place for people of all ages. Lots of things to see and do

Very disappointed. Several exhibits didn t work. Had my grandchildren, main elevator was not working to get the stroller to the upper floors. Had several hand sanitizers throughout the exhibits, none of which had any sanitizer in them. Considering everything is hands on, sanitizer would have been nice.

loved it. ist huuuge so may school buses and kids... still we as visitors still fit perfect. our 4 year old looved it.

It was FABULOUS the experience, we were visiting Phoenix and we liked it, You can not stop visiting this place .. We went to see the exhibition of mummies of the world, which is wonderful to have seen and learned, they do not let you take pictures inside, but this is good as they say is for the dead and so it must be .. After we ate in the cafeteria and it was excellent delicious food.
It was FABULOUS the experience, we were visiting Phoenix and we liked going, You can not stop visiting this place .. We went to see the exhibition of mummies of the world, which is wonderful to have seen and learned, they do not let you take pictures inside, but this is good as they say is respect for the dead and so it must be .. After we ate in the cafeteria and it was excellent delicious food.

I booked member tickets over the phone for the new guided experience (~$15 each). I was told when I arrived that my guests and I had only been able to purchase member tickets due to a "technical glitch", that my membership was no longer valid (despite being good through June 30th) and that we would have to pay the remaining cost for GA tickets (~$40 each). Ignoring the fact that I was not notified of the cancellation of my membership, this "glitch" was the fault of the science center and my member tickets should have been honored.

That being said:

I am highly disappointed that I was charged nearly double the regular admission price for the chance to explore less than half of the regular exhibits. The advertisements regarding the planetarium experience were extremely misleading - we did not get a planetarium show, instead we watched an outdated 10 minute ad for NASA. The guides (although very friendly) had very little knowledge about space, were unable to answer our questions, and were spreading misinformation throughout the tour. I expected more from a SCIENCE center.

Several areas the exhibits were out of order: water play area 3 out 5 not working; 4th floor only 1 bike for lighting light bulbs not working and 2nd b8ke missing, "insect display" was only beetles, and all about you area also had 3 out of order. Also too many extra costs for exhibits.

The Arizona Science Center is awesome and there is always something new to learn on every visit.

The Pompeii thing was cool. But the children's displays for science center are all broken. hasn't changed in years. needs to be refurbished.

Pricey. Some employees not the friendliest. And, why would you close snack and drink areas an hour before the actual center closes? Thankful at that point for an information desk person who could think on her feet...wish I'd gotten her name.

I took my kids (6, 7 & 10) here and they said that they had fun but it is far too expensive if you're paying full price and still too expensive if you're getting some sort of deal on the tickets. On top of that you'll probably be paying for parking - parking for the garage to the North is validated but is still about $2/hr. About half of the displays either seemed to be broken or were clearly broken and most of the displays only barely touched on the science behind anything. We took our time with almost every exhibit and it took us about three hours to be done with everything.

There is a large area that contains displays concerning building homes that won't hold much of interest to anyone that has ever been to a home depot.

The biggest display area was concerning the human body. There's a tiny display tucked away in an upstairs upstairs hallway dealing with mining and prospecting, which was the most interesting thing I saw all day.

There's a water play area with fountains and a whirlpool that was fun for the kids but I think trying to eek out some explanation of why that belongs in a science center is a bit of a stretch.

Overall this place needs a huge amount of maintenance, an overhaul of the pricing structure and then add more to it in order to make it worth going.

It s sad that with our $200+ annual membership there are displays that were broken a year ago that are still down every month we have come in. We are not renewing our membership. No maintenance accountability roots from poor management engagement.

My kids love it here. As a parent, it is a little frustrating that many stations are broken and don t seem to get repaired or updated. There is also not much that is new from visit to visit unless you pay extra for the theater, traveling exhibits, etc.

Great place for kids and adults alike. Some things inside require additional payment but there is plenty to keep you busy with just the price of admission.

Greay place for education for kids and adults bought a membership will be back thanks do much

This would be a great spot if you have children but I thought for the price of admission for two adults ($36 plus parking fees) it was a waste of my time and money. The dinosaurs in motion exhibit looked really neat but I was not going to spend another $18 just to see it... It really should have been included in the price as this is not a huge museum. Pretty disappointed.

Me and my mom went to the science center and we loved it.

The Pompeii exhibit, which is why I wanted to go to this museum, is taken down. A mirror maze will be replacing it starting June 30th. There are rooms with lessons about the human body (including a huge replica of a stomach, and information about the human brain), physics (the bed of nails was a big hit), rocks and minerals, technology, bugs, construction, and weather. There are some free shows (we saw one about fire and one about weather) and opportunities to spend more money on Planetarium shows and rides on their SkyCycle bicycle on a wire. Some exhibits could use updating, but overall my kids (11 and 7) and I had a good time. We spent about 3 hours at the museum, moving at a comfortable pace. There's also an overpriced souvenir shop, as in almost every museum. The cafeteria seemed reasonably priced, but we did not eat there.

It was such a great experience. I learned a lot and it was so much fun to do. Great for families!

We have had a membership here for the past 3 years. I would not pay the full price for it, but the Groupon/Living Social deals are way worth it. The kids never get tired of the permanent exhibits. We will purchase tickets to the rotating exhibits, but I think those tend to be a little pricey. Quite often, the price does not reflect what is offered.

I came here once as a child and loved it more then anything. I have since come back not only for school field trips and my high school prom, but recently for a trip with my boyfriend and his little sister and I m pretty sure she was just as excited as I was when I went for the first time.

It can be a fun way to spend an afternoon, but like people have mentioned it is a little pricey and sometimes exhibits are out of order due to the volume of people that go through here.

That being said, they do have some really cool events (and after hours stuff for adults) that add some value back.

Too focused on preventing spread of covid ... full price to visit but many exhibits closed off. And good luck keeping the required mask on your two old! A lot of the closed exhibits look pretty neat and would be worth coming back for, if they ever re-open.

Many very dated and non functioning items. Doesnt seem to be maintained very well. Cost $18/person, way overpriced for what it is and there are a lot of extra charges for other exhibits. Maybe worth $8-10/person. Dont think I will cone again.

Cost $55 to get in.....could not see, hear, read or participate in anything as hundreds of children and their absent minded chaparones were everywhere. Climbing on everything, running in to you, screaming and completely taking over every display.
THIS PLACE IS DEFINITELY ONLY FOR YOUNG KIDS! Very disappointed that fact wasn't made more clear before we paid to go into that frenzy.

Great place to take curious minds. Bright colors on interactive displays to keep kids interested. Big screen theater and planetarium are an added bonus

This place is a fun, interactive and education place for all ages. It's a very interesting place to learn and have a good time. The only issue is I was really bummed that our ticket didn't work for the planetarium, I really wanted to go in! But the experience can really add up $$$$.

An excellent place for kids to spend a hot summer day! The only downside is that it would be nice to have some new material once in a while. If more activities rotated, it would be more likely for people to visit more than once.

Very disappointed. We went with grandkids for the fourth time in about 6 years. The exhibits are the same as six years ago, only dirtier and inoperable in several cases. Made us wonder what the center does with its donations if exhibits are not updated. New technology needs to be reflected as well. We are often in the Oklahoma City facility that has some of the same exhibits, but rotate in new displays and hands-on stations to keep things fresh and up-to-date.

I come here from time to time but i think it's mostly great for tourists

This is a great place to spend all day if you wanted to. You can buy lunch (kinda pricey) at their cafe inside. I love that the exhibits change often to keep kids interested in going back again. I don't know how they keep everything so clean but they do a great job. Bathrooms and drinking fountains are everywhere and easy to find. Parking is easiest at Heritage Garage, but be aware that it gets expensive the longer you're parked there. And be sure to get your parking ticket validated!

I loved the museum. Not sure if it is for children only :D

This place is sorta cool, but kinda overpriced... Actually the most entertaining factor was the wild kids tearing the entire building apart. I finally grew tired of being nearly body slammed at every display that I wanted to check out, and went and sat on a bench to watch the carnage unfolding before me. Kids in this place go by one rule. If the button doesn't work after pushing it twice well then you punch it 6 times and bolt for the next machine. If there's some one in the way give them a good shove... It was nearly as entertaining as the first time I watched an Amish livestock auction in indiana which by the way was phenomenal! The pompeii exhibit was extremely cool though except they kept building you up to the "awesome" movie coming up in the exhibit and then it was as lame as get out...

The first time we came here was when they had the NFL experience back in 2015. We spent hours here and had a lot of fun. Now they have the Pompeii Exhibit and we really wanted to check it out. It was about $89 for 3 adults, that covered the main entrance and the exhibit. It was a trip to look at all that stuff that was brought over from Italy.

Its is amazing and fun and I really loved it. My favorite thing is the airplane simulator where you can control the airplane and fly it through obstacles

Tha most fun you and your kids can have together, learning, creating, and exploring new wonders and Marvel's of SCIENCE! A nice way to remove your family from the video games and iPads that rule the world, at the same time getting some hands on time in the real world. So much to do you have to check it out yourself.

This place was ok. Something nice for the kids. Wouldn't mind coming again

Participating in the program museum for all, you can get general entrance tickets for $3 if you have a ebt card up to four persons... AZ Science Center is a place where all the family can have fun at the same time that you are learning...I totally recommend it, a fun place where you can spend some quality family time!!!!

I purchased my 'Mummys of the World' tickets online and when I went to pick them up at will call I was told I then also had to purchase General Admission tickets. I didn't see anywhere online where it was stated to attend the Mummys exhibit we had to purchase additional GA tickets, and the total for the exhibit and GA was $60 for 2 people. The science center does not have a lot to offer, many things needed repair, and its small. The mummy exhibit was cool

Fun place for kids and even adults. The exhibition are priceless and unique. Is all hands on. It's a great experience. The employees are very nice. Many things to have fun with. We usually stay about 3 hours.

Great interactive place for the family! Gets a little pricey, however.

Tons of broken exhibits, and the elevator was broken when we had a stroller. Also the room with the sand/water smelled awful. These exhibits are the same ones they had when I was a kid, and they're showing age and wear. Every single room we went into had broken exhibits, it was not worth the money.

Exhibits need some tlc because things didn't work. Get the museum pass for two free admissions but special exhibits and planetarium are extra. I rode the sky bike, which was fun, but five extra dollars when it should not be! I loved the Mummies Exhibit, which was worth the extra money! There are lots of mummies and wicked neat artifacts. It was definitely the highlight of my trip there. If you have children, there are hands on learning activities but it's busy! Overall, it's expensive without the culture pass but worth a visit for the Mummies (extra cost). I thought it was nice of the museum to not allow photos of the mummies out of respect for the mummies.

Interesting presentations. Movies with didactic themes and varied temporary exhibitions.

Best place I've ever been to definitely coming back again.

This is a great place for kids. Just fair warning, if you're without children you may be a little bored.

A great place to learn, great place to bring the kids, they will have do much fun.

Good Indoor activity center and very Innovative displays for almost all age groups. Fun place for family and friends group.

Blah, is the best way to sum up this place. It opens at 10am except the water feature outside is at 10:30?? That doesn't make any sense. It cost $75 for me, my wife, and kid to go, that included the Solar System show in the planetarium, I don't feel they need to charge for the planetarium shows or the shark exhibit or riding the bicycle on a rope, greedy place... We were looking forward to the solar system show in the planetarium, it was a huge disappointment. They have such cool technology at their fingertips and the show was a complete let down, nothing more than a power point presentation and some lousy Q&A with a science center employee. My 3 year old has books on our solar system that were more informative. I was expecting something more like a Morgan Freeman narrated tour of the solar system where you would fly to each planet and across the surface experiencing each one. Instead it was a bunch of still photographs and moving GIF's on the ceiling, it really is possible it was made in house on power point. Why charge for it? There was 15 people in the planetarium show, open it up with free admission and attract more people. As for the science center portion there was a lot of non functioning displays, a huge lack of description on why and how something works. I take my family to learn not just experience these places. My kid had fun, but he also has a blast feeding ducks at a pond so it doesn't say much for this place. Fix the exhibits, explain the science behind it all, drop the added costs for the shows and special exhibit, get some shows with real production value. I am sure it is an expensive place to operate but come on, get it together, put some money into the reason it is there.

Been going here since I was a kid and now I take my daughter here and she loves it lots of hands on exhibits and it's so cool to see her brain working and seeing how things connect and come together. They have an awesome planetarium and a huge 4D IMAX theater really top notch, 4 floors of things to see and play with, also every few months they bring in a social exhibit which is always amazing from sharks to cartoons to the titanic and soon Pompeii, recently they updated the cafe with healthier food which I love and the gift shop just reopened Uber new management and it's got really cool stuff they can ship anywhere!

I find it hard to believe that this is rated so highly. Yes, there some good exhibits, brain, body, some physics, and the mirror maze. However, for what it costs to visit this place, I expect everyone of these displays to actually work. Some did, but many did not. The excuse I got was, well, everything is heavily used. Wow. Sorry, I can t recommend this place.

Pretty cool place I visited several times as a kid, which is the demographic they seem to be targeting more. It's relatively cheap though there's usually a groupon out for it too. It's a decent way to do something cool and indoors and kills several hours especially with the younger crowd.

MakerSpace for students, classes, and anyone who wants to learn to Make! Very exciting to have this in Phoenix.

We had so much fun! Great family day!! My daughter is three and she had a BLAST!

Member for about four years, kids love it, many things to see and do, always something new.

I wonder where the dinosaur exhibit is. It felt like this museum is missing a lot of exhibits that should be included in a museum.
It was very small as well, and it look me a little over 2 hours to walk through it. It has a history section on the first floor and I can't remember what else was there when I was there last summer... and then on the second floor they have a section for machines (pulley, levers, etc). Oh, I did like the pulley section on the second floor where you have to pull yourself up- get your workout in ;).

They also have a bicycle sky ride thing which looks pretty sketchy except they do have a safety net in place below and the bicycle isn't really balancing on a rope as it's attached safely to a line above and below...

People working there were nice and helpful too.
Anyways, the museum was a bit small for my liking. I hope they add on more informative science sections in the future.

Very upset right now!! Came for the Pink Floyd adult laser show. Paid for parking. Got in there and told it's sold out. Wasted time, $$, gas grrr

This place should be advertised as a children's museum, it has nothing interesting or educational for adults but they don't bother telling you that. Paid a non refundable $18 to walk around the incredibly small museum with nothing to do. Saw everything they had to offer in less than 10 minutes and saw nothing appropriate for anyone over 10.

I'm always looking for fun things to do indoors to occupy my 2-year-old. Bonus for AZ Science Center - 2 and under are free, which made it affordable to go. The center is amazing, but I found that it is definitely more age-appropriate for elementary and up. But my little one still had a lot of fun pushing buttons to make things light up, etc, even if she didn't understand what each exhibit was about. She especially enjoyed the outside water area. I think it would be awesome if they could have a special area that is made for pre-school and under. I think it would make a lot of parents (and kids) happy.

I had a lot of fun here. It was geared for children more than adults... But I still loved it!

Cool if you have kids. but it was way too small for the price!