California Science Center Reviews

This place is incredible is very good place to bring your children

Probbably best place to go in LA. Could spend a week there :)

Free! Fun for all, so many things to do, great way to spend the time in air conditioning on a hot day. Staff are friendly and very helpful. See something new every time we go.

The aerospace artifacts are world class: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Shuttle, and smaller items realted to them. The reef aquarium is amazing. The staff/volunteers are knowledgeable and friendly.

Several activities for the kids are broken and needing repair. Considering the punishment the kids dish out every day, that's not too surprising.

Picnic tables adjacent to the rose garden are a fine place for lunch.

There's more than one day of exhibits to see, so one ought to have priorities in mind before arriving, and maybe a plan to revisit later to see more.

Too much to see in one day! Vast majority of is free. Lot's of schools visit in the morning. Afternoons are definitely quieter. Whilst there walk the short distance to see the Coliseum Stadium.

Excellent family outing fun for everyone must return

Fun place for the kids. Great for rainy days. Its still free. They upgraded their wasting area to include healthy choices. Plenty of exhibits. We rarely get to see everything in one day.

If you have time, this is where you want to stop by with your children again. I was sorry for not having time.

Our table was ready for us when we arrived for lunch so we were seated immediately as we had a reservation.The energy of the restaurant is good, but the tables are so close together and the noise level too high to converse easily.The food was tasty-nothing special and the service was okay but the server seemed indifferent to us.I wouldn't recommend this restaurant as there as so many good restaurants in Lacuna Beach, but if you were to go there, I would ask for a patio table and perhaps go for dinner.

Great place to spend a morning with your kids. There's discovery zones for toddlers and younger kids on all three levels to enjoy

Had a great time! Could have spent much more time there than we did. Very pleasantly surprised by the amount of displays as well as great interactive activities for kids, for free! (Or donation) They also had an eating area that had many options, but also makes it easy to bring your own lunch and grab area table. Perfect for families on a budget. I highly recommend taking kids there for a fun time of learning!

This is a great place to bring the kid's. It's very inexpensive plus they have the space shuttle.

The King Tut experience was Awesome!!! Unfortunately I was expecting the same with their "Dogs" experience. The 2 were definitely not equal which makes me question if we will go to visit future special exhibitions.

My 4.5 years old boy just enjoyed the Cebter. He was so excited! Highly recommended!!!

It s a great science museum but the pride and joy of the California Science Center is getting up close with Space Shuttle Endeavour. It is a joy that the space shuttle is here in Southern California. It was a long journey to get the space shuttle here, an adventure which is recapped in detail by the museum. From a flyby over the Hollywood sign, to towing it down city streets that were barely wide enough to accommodate it, to having it pulled by a sole Toyota Tundra over a freeway overpass, the story of how it got to Exposition Park is fantastic and wondrous. Much of the space shuttles were built in Southern California so it is fitting that the shuttle will live here for the long haul. Seeing the Endeavour in front of me was astonishing it looked larger than I thought it would and left my jaw dropped and a huge smile on my face. I also got to touch a space shuttle tire that had been in space, which was memorable.

This place is amazing!!! So much to see and to do for adults and little ones. We had a blast and cannot wait to come back. Everyone there was super helpful as well.

For the King Tut exhibit it was very busy, but that's to be expected. Also I think the tickets prices are bit expensive. The historical significance and quality of these pieces is amazing. And since there are rumblings that these pieces will no longer tour it was worth it. The last time I had the pleasure of viewing these pieces I was a kid in the 1970s... Was great to revisit that sense of wonder and awe.

It was a great tour that my family and I we enjoined.

Great place to bring kids. So much to explore and learn about.

A fun group trip. Kids enjoyed the hands on displays, just too bad that many were in "repair".

Loved it! My whole family loved it! We can't wait to go again!!

Great science centre - my favourites and the kids were the ecosystem exhibits. Bathrooms were clean and easy to access. Food court had decent offerings. All in all a good experience for a free museum. Parking for $12 was fair for the free admission.

Just went here with kids last week! Daughter enjoyed her first time there!!

A fun museum to explore. It is great for kids, parents, or adults. Anyone that love NASA needs to visit, they have lots of amazing artifacts from the space program.

Went with pack 455 boyscout pack and had a blast. The scouts enjoyed everything but All of the kids were awestruck with the space shuttle exhibit. A great day for the pack. Almost 80 of us there today.

Nice place to come visit. There are some rare finds here to see. Kid friendly.

Great fun place. Didn't like the parking situation very much but we made do. Would highly recommend this place! Wife and I loved it.

Great exhibits! We had a great time at the tutankhamun exhibit for mothers day!!

Loved it!! Very great experience for the whole family, kids really enjoyed. Lots to see and do. Combines education and entertainment in the correct way...

Excellent experience, every time! Kids of all ages love it.

A great FREE museum. You can spend the whole day here. It's a bit noisy and lots of schools come here as their field trip.

The California Science Center and seeing King Tut was amazing my favorite part was seeing the shuttle Endeavor and getting to talk with some of the folks working in the hanger that worked on the heat shield calculations. Bob was full of amazing information we had an amazing time and definitely want to go back to see it again.

Great exhibition and it's free!
Space shuttle is amazing!

What a wonderful place! My students were enthralled with all of it! Loved all the touch exhibits! Great places to sit and eat. Also yummy food.
Only one major complaint was the lack of communication to where we should line up and wait. Tiny complaint was all the exhibits and fun stuff that requires extra money. Would have raised more money had I known.

Perfect place for any science enthusiast and even if you are not the one, this will make you fall in love with science. Practical experience and explanation of many theories to make it easy for anyone to understand the science. Best place if you are planning to visit with kids.

I love being there. Touching sea animal. seeing a space ship.
I learn a thing or two. and it free

Very cool, interactive, and diverse exhibits. We went for the Pixar special exhibit which was excellent - very thoughtfully done, and educational! Some folks had young children with at the Pixar exhibit. Since a lot of it was about animation tech, I wouldn't think it was as fun for kids under about 8.

The Facts:
-Parking is $12
-Entrance is free
-The extra VR rides are $5-8 a person
- Plenty of water fountains
-All bathrooms have a changing center
-Fully Stroller & Wheelchair accessible
-Eating areas available in the food court.
-the food court sells food as well.

The experience:
- great for kids of all ages
- plenty of Discovery rooms for little kids to play and create objects based on the museum theme
-lots of aerospace technology facts
-all-around good experience for families.

it came on a Saturday which would seem crazy to do in Los Angeles but nevertheless I did it. The volume of people inside the museum was not too bad it wasn't very crowded and the staff was attentive and ready to explain whatever you asked.
You can eat indoors or outdoors we opted for eating outdoors there is a courtyard behind the building that does not disappoint and has plenty of shade and benches.
**Please note: no open food or drinks in the actual museum area.**

Enjoy

I loved seeing the Endeavor. Simply amazing. I've never been to this museum before. I would definitely go again if given the chance.

Personally, I HATE science. However, I LOVE the Science Center. The exhibits make it feel as if you're playing a game or having fun, rather than just learning. My favorite exhibit is Creative World where you can test your fears of falling, loud noises, electric shock, and animals! It's very fun! Then right next to the museum is the lovely Rose garden. Plus, it's all FREE! 10/10 overall.

Great place for exploring science, walking around the garden, bring your kids, your wife, your friends, grandparents all welcome!

I remember loving this place as a kid. I took my niece here and it hasn't changed very much. Many of the displays haven't been updated since the 90's and lots of them are broken. It's actually pretty sad, they should start charging so they can update things. Maybe, rich people should donate to them more often so they can make it new and exciting for this generation of kids. All I know is that this place is on life support.

Great museum experience! Nicely sized so it doesn't feel too huge but is packed with enough stuff to keep you occupied all day. The special attractions are well worth the price and are expansive and extremely informative. Was there for about 6 hours and spent almost all that time in Body Worlds and Endeavor exhibits.
General admission is FREE, though any donation goes directly to the Science Center and allows them to keep being great. I will definitely be returning soon to take in all the other exhibits the Science Center has to offer.
Food court has 3 offerings (pizza, tacos, and a grill) and one dessert place. I went to the grill and prices were about $8-12 a sandwich, not bad for a museum food court. The food and quality was better than expected. Got to try the jalapenos ketchup with some fries at the grill!
Topping the Free attractions are the Kelp Forest Aquarium, the Ice Wall, and the Aerospace room! Check them out!

Place full of learning with new exhibitions. Fun and educational

Super awesome space shuttle exhibit. I would absolutely recommend you check it out if you're in the LA area.

Splendid interactive learning experience with variety of content to display for the public.

Love that it's free and children learn so much and you can visit the natural museum that's next door (entrance charge)

Fun and engaging lots of wonderful things for all ages

Excellent science center. They have a space shuttle! What else could you ask for?

Space shuttle, aquarium and some other exhibits are fantastic. A number of the interactive exhibits are broken or being renovated.

The science center is free but they sometimes have special exhibits that you need to pay to visit, overall I would say it s definitely worth the visit, there are fun and educational things to do for adults and kids alike.

It's A Great Place To Visit With The Family , So Much Fun & So Much To See .

I went here when I was a kid its a great experience to have when ur young I think kids should come here more often to experience the wonderful things this facility has to offer

Wonderful time for kids and adults. Food area has really changed and they seem to have something for everyone.

Took the family (all adults) to see the IMAX "Mysteries of Tut" then the Tut exhibit before it leaves on Jan 13, 2019.

The IMAX was beautiful - enjoyed the aerial footage over the Nile. The IMAX camera bring the ruins to life! The story as told by Omar Sharif did a good job of introducing king Tut as well as the place (Egypt) and time in history.

The artifacts are spectacular every one a masterpiece in a different medium.

Recommend adding the audio tour. The tour is 2 separate parts on 2 different levels with different audio.

Disappointed the iconic death mask was NOT part of this tour... guess a visit to the new Cairo museum is in order.....

There is underground parking next to the museum entrance so take Exposition to Figuroa then follow signs.

We went Sunday same day as the Rams vs Chargers football game at the Colliseum glad we arrived @ 10am had no problem getting a parking spot.

Great here. Were here for the space shuttle and looked around a bit. There is a lot of interesting to learn here.

I took my students foe a field trip. There is so much to do we actually ran out of time. I would love to go back with my own children.

Huge and beautiful museum with so many interactive areas. Their food court has a good selection. I came here with my son and his school for a field trip. I recommend checking this museum out.

Very complete, I do not have the time to explore it within my reach and as I like it, but because of the best experiences, a large part of the staff is bilingual and many of the activities within the establishment have the Spanish language.

Awesome place, didn't even have enough time to do everything

Excellent opportunity for those who do not have large children to spend a half day of surplus if you have a late flight, a good destination even if you are visiting the city.

We came here to visit the body museum and it was amazing! I learned so much, and the kids had a blast. I really like how the public is learning through this exhibit. Very informational.. Nice execution.

Free Endeavor admittance with purchase of Imax tickets. Imax theater is huge, make sure to line up early to get a middle seat, 3d works better when viewed straight on.

Very suitable for children, seeing the space shuttle is very moving

If you want to see a space shuttle up close and personal this is a must see place. The museum is free but it will cost you just 2.00 for a timed ticket to gawk at the Endeavor Space Shuttle. Check your sofa cushions or your car ash tray for quarters and go!

It's an amazing place great for the kids to learn. Very interesting place

Very good exhibition about different areas of knowledge. Free entry. Very child friendly. Many experiments that bring you closer to the topics.