Wow! I love Frank Gehry's architecture, and the MoPop building just reinforced my admiration for his flowing designs, featuring undulating metallic surfaces.... Inside this museum, founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, lie tributes to past and present music artists. A major attraction is the IF VI WAS IX, a guitar sculpture consisting of more than 500 musical instruments and 30 computers conceived by UK exhibit designer Neal Potter and developed by sound sculptor Trimpin. there are several interactive activities, including a Sound Lab and On Stage where visitors can explore hands-on various musical instruments, and perform before a virtual audience, and even record themselves. A giant LCD screen plays various short films and animations continuously, and the downstairs theater features various films including a recent synopsis of the the Seattle Seahawks rise to fame. Another must-visit Seattle site
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Very interesting and different from most museums. Great for music/movie/tv lovers. Constantly changing exhibits that balance educational Museum feel with interactive and entertaining activities. Would definitely recommend to anyone in the area.
Awesome, it was a great experience visiting this museum, lots of stuff to see 3 floors full of music, movies and entertainment. Make sure you plan your visit right it closes at 5 PM so if you're driving from afar take this into consideration, so you can see and experience everything there is. Make sure you go to the shop there is two inside lots of cool stuff and exclusive items.
Feels like there's not a lot of content here for the price. Kids had fun with the indie game exhibit and mine craft, but the rest was boring for them. If you REALLY want to see actual props and costumes from movies and actual instruments used by musicians the I guess it's ok. But I personally would rather have seen more informational exhibits than just displays.
We visited the MoPop as one of the attractions on the Seattle CityPASS. It was a bit eclectic with a bunch of different exhibits. Displays on SciFi, Horror movies and Pearl Jam to name a few. I wanted to enjoy this more than I actually did. The layout of the galleries is a bit confusing and at the end of the visit, we were asking ourselves "is that all"?
Interesting but I don't think I would go back anytime soon.
Our family loves to explore MOPOP. The building is amazing inside. The displays are well curated. We love the temporary exhibits like Star Trek, Marvel, and Minecraft.
Eclectic selection of pop memorabilia. Everything from guitars from Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix to Gimli's axe in the Fantasy room and Aliens in the sci-fi room.
A really cool place to visit they have a lot of stuff to do and a lot of information. I definitely recommend checking it out, the whole family will enjoy it
I really loved this museum! Although the tickets were kind of expensive it was definitely worth the money because of how amazing all the exhibits were. My two favorite exhibits were the Minecraft and sound cloud ones! The museum is perfect for people of all ages.
I love this place because you get to explore music and theater in a different way. The set ups for the horror, Science fiction, fairytale etc are very well done jn a realistic manner. You get to see props from the movies such as star wars, terminator, gostbusters, princess bride, Narnia, Lord of the rings, and much more! Upstairs on the top level is a favorite of mine because you get to play instruments (guitar, piano, drums) and there's even a recording room. In another exhibit you get to see things like the history of rock bands. They have cool exhibits that change periodically like the indie gaming and once there was a place with virtual reality called the Drop or something and it was from Game of Thrones.
The perfect place to spend an afternoon! They have an amazing variety of hands on exhibits that are sure to keep you entertained for hours. Do yourself a favor, go sign up for a later time at the space Needle across the sidewalk and spend a few hours exploring this place!
Fun! We went on family vacation with our 20 month old and 4 year old. There was fun and excitement for all of us. Our 4 year old tells people about it all the time and it was 6 months ago that we were there. So it made a good impression on him. (We purchased the City Pass and went to multiple attractions with it.) We would definitely go again.
Pretty cool museum if you're fascinated by the background stories of props and interested in seeing the real things that were on the screen. I'm not so much into it. But it was cool nonetheless.
Like Nirvana and Hendrix? No? Then STAY AWAY. And even if you DO like those two acts, I'd encourage you to think twice about forking over an outrageous $23 a head ($17 for children, no less!). Once inside, you'll discover the museum is ludicrously small (funny thing about Frank Gehry architecture is it's like dyslexia meets crack cocaine -- you end up with an architectural abortion and a lot of wasted interior space), with a handful of puny exhibits populating dark, crowded, and confusing corridors.
If the overemphasis on Hendrix seems like a weird choice for an experience MUSIC project, the answer lies in the EMP's roots. Local money bags (and closeted imbecile) Paul Allen, who singularly kept the institution afloat as it hemorrhaged money for its first decade, originally envisioned a Hendrix-only museum. And so it might have been, except that somewhere midway through the design stage, someone with half a brain in their head must have dared whisper in Allen's ear that such a museum would fail. Colossally. Hendrix burnouts, you see, tend not to be big museum-goers.
As it stands, rumors abound that the museum nearly went under a couple of times during its dark initial years. And this explains the downright schizophrenic 'catch all' line-up of exhibits. Rather than risk having a museum about something, Allen apparently eventually decided to have a museum about EVERYTHING. And so you arrive at the present day: the EMP WORLDAPALOOZA.
But the problem with that approach is that people, generally speaking, have individual tastes. And these tastes are rarely eclectic in nature. Thus, your average patron is going to be interested in perhaps 2 or 3 exhibits in the EMP, more than likely snoring their way past the remainder. This isn't unusual -- people like certain things. And since EMP attempts to cater to every whim of popular culture in the past three decades, chances are solid you're going to dislike more than you like if you step through those doors.
But hey, what the **** do I know? I only worked there. I only heard patron after patron walk out the doors complaining that they were ripped off. You wanna blow $100 to take a family of four through this tourist trap? Be my guest, you stupid yuppie.
The exterior is ugly and the interior is somehow claustrophobic even though it's a huge building. Some of the exhibits are cool but others are dated. I know others like this place, and maybe I am missing something, but for me it's not worth the hefty price of admission.
Is nice, not very special. Unless you are a Jimmy Hendrix fan or really love guitars. I have been in it for free, but would not have to pay an entrance fee myself.
Super cool exhibits all over the place. Good for bored friends, families, tourists, and everyone in between! Prices are a little bit hefty, but teenagers can use TeenTix for super cheap entrance.
If you re into sci-fi and horror like me; you ll have a geek-gasm exploring this museum! Original props and costumes beautifully presented with interactive information pads as well as experiential components! 4 years ago, the special exhibit was original Star Wars costumes - today, it was Marvel - wow! I was in absolute heaven!
This place was worth every penny, not only was it FUN, but it was over the top cool. We didn't really interact with the employees much or eat at their restaurant, so I can not attest to those things. But what was inside was incredible, highly recommend.
This museum is awesome! There is something for everybody to love here, between movie props/costumes, relics of music history, an indie gaming room, and an area with lots of guitars, keyboards, drums, and more for you to play! You can spend a huge portion of your day here, as there are lots of exhibits with lots of awesome things to see. You're bound to see awesome relics from some of your favorite movies here. If you're in Seattle this is must see!
If your going to visit make sure you print your tickets ahead of time. We waited in line for about 40 min just to get in. People who printed their tickets still waited in line but got to drop it off a bit sooner and were let into the museum. The museum is beautiful but each section is small, it is so crowded you can't see anything. After a while you get tired of smelling other people's b.o and you lose interest. We paid extra to see the Marvel exhibit but didn't stay for it. It was an additional hour wait and after being into small room after small room we were over it.
mopop.org
