Telus World of Science Edmonton

Extremely over-​priced. $ 71 for my husband, myself and our two little ones. A good majority of the «experiments”/displays we’re broken and didn’t work. The bathrooms were poorly maintained and there was a sink full of vomit, that no one cleaned up. The whole experience was over in less than an hour. Not worth $ 71, that’s for sure.
Not to mention… Everything your touching with your hands, that everyone else before you had touched with their hands. Germ city!

This is my second time coming here and I don’t think I’ll be back in a while unless there is an exciting new exhibit I’m interested in. I haven’t been here for a while and when we came today everything looked the same as before except for the Rubik’s Cube exhibit that I found pretty cool. Children will find Telus exciting and enjoy the hands on exhibits and learning experiences. As for me, I have seen what I needed to see.

I do enjoy this place, but mostly for special occasions, not for general use. I love going to the 18+ only Dark Matters nights, which usually have a fun theme like ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ or something. It’s nice to see the exhibits without screaming kids around. The Dark Matters nights usually have access to the special exhibits as well for a small added fee, and it’s well worth it to add on. This time we were going to a Laser show to Daft Punk in the Margaret Zeidler Star Theatre planetarium which was a good amount of fun, for only $ 10. They could use a boost to the sound system in there, but one must remember that’s it not actually a club. LOL Also, they show some fun shows, like Avengers and Jurassic World, on the IMAX after they’re out of regular circulation, so that’s neat!

So much fun! I have taken my kids here many times — serious fun for kids anywhere from toddling age to adults. A little costly, sure, but there are membership options and this is an all-​day, educational day trip.
We went on a grade 1 fieldtrip today and had a special color mixing class as well as tons of fun in the discovery zone and the star theatre. I can say without doubt that every kid LOVED it and was fully tuckered out at the end of the day.
An Edmonton all-​ages gem, for sure.

Has a private tour hosted by Frank Florian (Director, Planetarium & Space Sciences) this evening through a class offered by Central Lions Seniors Center and The City of Edmonton.
So informative and entertaining. There were only 11 of us and we had the place and him to ourselves. It was like a private seminar for grad students although he put it in laymans terms. I haven’t been this enthralled in a long time. I was gaping at the star screen in the Ziegler as he showed us a video of the Northern Lights, a very thorough star map of our current night sky, took us on a trip through our solar system and out into the universe.
We had some great mad science examples too, with liquid nitrogen and things that go sizzle, pop, whizz and kaboom! All to explain the origin of our stunning Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis. Truly a lot of fun!
I think the entire evening reminded me of how much I loved astronomy as a kid. I felt the same excitement watching the night sky appear above me in the Ziedler theatre tonight. Frank, thank you for answering our questions, giving us a great tour and some super information on comets, the International Space Station, the Northern lights and how they are created, and for reintroducing us to our stars, solar system and universe. Thanks Carol Mudryk at CLSA for arranging this outing!
Did you know they show fairly current movies on week nights! Worth checking out!

I have always been a fan of this place, since the very beginning. I can still remember the ‘new’ smell of it as my class gaped in excitement at it all. We’d traveled all the way from Fox Creek, Alberta on a field trip just to check it out.
I disagree with other Unilocalers who say this place needs updating and is getting run down. That’s the beauty of this place. They’re always reconstructing and adding new things according to new exhibits. This is not the same place it was in the eighties or even two years ago. I feel they work hard to keep things interesting, and I appreciate that. It’s probably pretty hard to stay fresh after 30 years.
Today we went to the Dinosaur IMAX for something to do. Love those swanky seats! Unfortunately, the popcorn machine was out of order – so disappointing – but we grabbed other snacks. Pop, chips and trail mix bars. I like munchies with my movies and was so glad when they started allowing food in the theatres.
IMAX shows like this are geared for kids, but we enjoyed it anyway. I must say, it was probably a little intense for smaller children. The little guy beside me spent a lot of the show with his hands over his ears.
I’d like to see the show about the history of airplanes. THAT should be really cool.
I still really love the gift shop. Sometimes, if we can’t find something we want to see, we just go there and hang out. I love to shop here for Christmas toys and stocking stuffers. I got my best friend’s boy a compass, sour candy rocks, and a «Break Open Real Geodes» Starter Science Kit today. I wish I knew kids who were into robots, space books, stuffed animals and Star Wars. It would have been a one stop shop.
It is also noteworthy that if your family or a family you know comes here often, memberships to the Telus World of Science are a great value and a great gift.

As I grow in disenchantment with each passing day in this city, I desperately needed to find something worthy of praise. My positive childhood memories of Edmonton were being marred by modern reality. I was almost apprehensive in returning to the local science center that I had loved so much. It had been so long, I had a full head of hair back then and this place was called the Edmonton Space and Science Centre.
I considered turning around and returning to the car, allowing my memories to remain untarnished, but the girlfriend encouraged me further. And good thing to, because the TELUS Science World is still amazing. I returned to my youth, ready and willing to being enveloped in the science I fell in love with, the science that awoke me to the truths of the world. Not going to lie, I felt a little out of place… the majority of the exhibits are for children, and despite wanting to channel my inner-​toddler, I was forced to avoid them. However, I still must praise the polish of the exhibits themselves, especially one particular display of an active representation of stellar bodies by projecting video upon a spherical surface. The illusion was fantastic in recreating the Earth, Sun, Moon, and Mars, only slightly marred when my towering frame walked in front of a projector.
The permanent exhibits are appealing, and I appreciated that old wireframe moon lander simulator was still here after thirty years. Damn you girlfriend for making me remain an adult. I wanted to play! No, I don’t want to leave early. I never wanted to be a child again more, not that I needed much of an excuse to act like one. Hell, I’ve always considered myself just a cheap facsimile of an adult poorly controlled by an immature mind fumbling over controls, ever vigilante for those brief moments when no one was looking in order to play with toys again.
Perhaps my positive experience was fortified by the seasonal feature, Dinosaurs Unearthed. For those who need reminding, Dinosaurs are always awesome in any form they take, scientifically accurate or not. Whatever device you employ, be it genetic cloning, time travel, or alien transplantation, there’s no reason dinosaurs should not be included in a story. I always though E.R. would’ve been more interesting if George Clooney had been replaced by a diplodocus. You would think considering our visit was a mere three days after touring the Royal Tyrrell Museum, that I would’ve been tired of dinosaurs, but clearly you don’t appreciate the appeal of giant lizards roaming the Earth millions of years before man. I think that fact alone is what turned me away from religion… well, that and Star Trek. Man they need to put dinosaurs in Star Trek. Well, I guess there was the Gorn, but that hardly – ahem, where was I. Right.
In fact, the variations between the two exhibits is worth noting. At Royal Tyrrell, the majority of exhibits were skeletons, while the exhibits at the TELUS Science World were animatronic representations of living animals – beautiful, colored, feathered dinosaurs. That alone should be enough of a draw, but no, because The Margaret Zeidler Theatre is still functioning.
One of the largest and coolest dome theaters you’re ever likely to see, the Margaret Zeidler Theatre is the dominant reason I come to Science World, and now soon to be the only real reason to visit Edmonton in its entirety. If allowed, I would sit for every film, twice even. I miss the old Zeiss optical-​mechanical projector – that thing in the center that looked like the chaos gate-​creating warp drive from Event Horizon. Alas, the increasing failure and cost of parts, and the efficiency of digital projectors made maintaining the old goliath uneconomical, but it didn’t appear to affect the resulting experience.
The Digital Universe film almost brought me to tears given its epic scope and masterful presentation. Unlike the IMAX film, you can watch as many dome shows as you wish. Our ticket actually included the aforementioned IMAX, so we opted for the must-​see Walking with Dinosaurs Prehistoric Planet 3D, a shortened and unequivocally superior variation to the feature film massacred by 20^th Century Fox by adding annoying and unnecessary voice overs. It’s a damned shame this version is not available for purchase.
I am going to miss the TELUS Science World, as it was the only spot worth visiting in Edmonton. Although still remarkable, and remaining the top of a very short-​list of places to visit in Edmonton, it’s simply not enough for me to make the diversion in future trips. Thank you TELUS Science World for influencing my childhood and remaining steadfast in your quality against the depreciating value of the city around. I could finally be a kid again.

I hadn’t been to the Science centre in over 10 years, but decided to take my 4 year old nephew.
I wanted to take in the dinosaur show, but my nephew is still terrified of dinosaurs (which was proven when he was scared of the model just outside the doors haha). So we just took in the different exhibits.
Even at his age, he enjoyed the interacting exhibits in the Body Works and the Space areas. He ended the day at the play area, a big hit for the kiddies under 7.
The only complaint I have is that some of the interacting exhibits were not working. It would be nice if they updated some of the things, as I do remember a lot of the things from my visit from over 10 years ago (some things are worn out and just old).
The cost for the general areas isn’t cheap though. For 2 adults and 1 child it was $ 49 (a little bit more if you want to take in an IMAX show or a special limited time exhibit like the dinosaur show).
All in all, it is a fun place to take the kids to at least once.
I would only go back myself if there was a special exhibit that comes along that interests me, but wouldn’t for the general areas. Once you have experienced it once, I don’t think it would be as interesting the second time, unless there are some newbies you want to bring to check it out.

Love to take my kids here and usually have no issues. However if you want to purchase tickets to their feature exhibit, go through reception and have them put you through to the box office. Their booking office, which their website says is suppose to be open at 8am, doesn’t actually open until 8:30am and close at 5pm. Even if you call between those hours, you will sit on hold for 10 min before getting a machine, but even if you leave a message, you will not get a call back and will have to call again.

Fun place to go on a date night or to take the kids! Feature exhibits and IMAX movies are a a big draw, however the facilities need a huge upgrade… they are the same since I have been in school going there on field trips!

Imax theatre was great, but our group had to wait over an hour for lunch, some of the exhibits were closed, not very many hands on activities. The gift shop is even more over priced than expected for a place like this. Would not recommend for large groups.

Boy these folks know how to throw a party!
Darkmatters is an 18+ Adult only night at the science centre. There’s a theme, DJ just bopping the house with a light show to boot, and they bring out local businesses to demonstrate their products and the science that goes into them.
NAIT was out this time sampling products of their Charcuterie program, and the Food sciences gents were making nitrogen caramel nuggets. Both winning tastes.
Ian Treuer (
) and associate Rick were there demonstrating how mozzarella cheese is made… and I’ll be, it’s not recommended as a beginner’s cheese to make! THREE demonstrations — amazing, and samples at the end!
Alley Kat beer and the folks from the Olds College Brewmasters program as well as the Craft Beer fest folks were there sampling the creations of the students. I wasn’t able to taste, but the folks I spoke with were impressed.
Local Food groups were well represented by; Alberta Avenue Seedy Sunday, Lactuca Farms, Slow Food Edmonton, Patricia sampling honey, and another chap — shoot I forget, my apologies, demonstrating honey beekeeping and hives. Operation Fruit Rescue was there with their manual macerator and apple press handing out samples of fresh pressed apple juice and a spin on the bicycle powered munching machine.
The Science Centre also hosts their own demonstrations — there was a nitrogen veggie smashing zone and she mixed up some delicious nitrogen buttermilk ice cream. Another table demonstrating taste.
As well, all of the main exhibits were open, plus you could purchase tickets to see Indiana Jones Exhibit. Let me tell you I visited Indy on the previous Darkmatters night and it was a definite DELIGHT to wander through the exhibits on an adult only night. It’s a spectacular show that closes April 6^th, and no, I don’t expect it will be held over.
Gift shop is also open all evening! Always stuffed full of interesting things from experiments to trinkets, rocks to stuffed animals, kaleidoscopes, kits to assemble… you get the idea. It’s mind boggling how many great things are in that little shop.
The event begins at 7pm sharp and latecomers will not be admitted (so say my tickets). Be prepared to show your ID with your ticket to gain entrance — the venue is licenced for the evening.
Food — well, there was popcorn, but the café was closed.
I’m still reserving a star for the next time we try for an IMAX movie. Can’t judge if there’s been any improvement in staffing & food service yet.

Wow, what an amazing exhibit! Something for everyone… Indiana movie buffs will be thrilled with the costume and prop collection… not to mention the film clips and behind the scenes footage explaining how they make the magic. The tie in to archeology is also wonderful with fantastic historical artifacts coupled with videos and stories that are amazing. I love the set up. each guest gets their own pad (iPads maybe?) which allows you to choose which parts you want to explore when you are ready to explore. Plus, there is a treasure hunt too! Indiana Jones and the temple of Telus… well done! If you’ve not been. you need to!

Telus World of Science is such a happy place!
Every time we’re there, the experience is above and beyond our expectations. Last time, we took in the Indiana Jones exhibit during Dark Matter, the adults only eve — a great way to experience TWOSE!
The staff go above and beyond — they take total ownership over questions. We had a staff person walk over to ask another employee a question, rather than sending us over.
The gift shop is a favourite stop for unique and fun gifts for everyone young and old — it’s fun to loo through so make sure you find out what time it is closing so you can include it as part of your visit.
We love most of the displays, especially the special exhibits like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Star Wars — can’t wait to see what the next one will be!

I really enjoy the Telus World of Science (formerly the Edmonton Space and Science Center among other names). That said, some of the exhibits are getting rundown and/​or need updating. This facility sees a lot of use every year, from families, to school field trips and everything in between. Featuring great feature exhibits (which occasionally draw me out) to the old standbys of the Star Theatre, the IMAX theatre (which apparently shows big name movies on occasion now too) and the permanent exhibits.
I recommend eating elsewhere before arriving here as the food options are limited (unless a special event is feeding you), but otherwise this is a great place to visit, particularly if there’s a special exhibit you are interested in, or if you’re bringing kids here for the first time.

My husband and I have maintained a TWoS grandparent’s pass for a number of years and have had a number of grandchildren’s birthday parties there — for their kindergarten year and so they could invite their entire kindergarten class. Unfortunately sometime over the last two years, they changed their party attendee maximum numbers making it impossible for us to include an entire class, so for our last party we booked at the John Janzen Center.
That said, we visit regularly over the year and having an unusual number of grandchildren, we normally bring two or three of them with us. The areas which have been renovated recently are awesome: Discoveryland for the younger ones, but be prepared for the kids to get wet (water aprons that actually velcroed would be an improvement); the new environment area, especially the disappearing ice feature (a new way of playing hopscotch); the robot lab (program a little robot to dance); and the recently reopened IMAX.
The TWoS has started showing current movies in the IMAX theatre on weekends. We took three older grandchildren to Captain America, The Winter Soldier last weekend. As one of them stated, it was the most 3D movie he has ever seen and the price is great for members at less than $ 5 each.
Additionally, an annual membership gives you entrance into other science centers, like SPARKS in Calgary and the children’s museum in Houston.
It was through the Telus World of Science member’s newsletter that I first saw information about Unilocal and it’s upcoming event at the science center. That information motivated me to join Unilocal and start reviewing establishments that I have already done business with.

While the main part of TWoS has neat exhibits, cute little science booths and a room where they have scientists that do experiments every hour or so, DONT EVER GO TO THEIR CAFE.
There is a huge lack of management and they never have a set time that they close at. They can close their grill at 2 one day and 6 the next. The employees there don’t even know when they close. In addition, their pizza slices just come from Panago’s (there’s one just across 142^nd street). They jack up the prices for the pizza and sell it as their own as well. They’ve lost our orders multiple times and it’s always such a long wait to get any of your food, even if all you ordered was French fries and when you get them, they’re cold. They recently got a new manager who is extremely rude to customers and doesn’t seen to know what’s going on. The café almost ruins the entire experience.
Side note on the harry potter exhibition: the Harry potter gift shop will let anyone back in! It’s the telus staff who has a problem with letting people back in, even if it’s just to the gift shop.

The Telus World of Science has gone through many name changes over the years (I still call it the Edmonton Space and Sciences Centre), but it still remains as one of the best places in Edmonton to have fun indoors year round. I have always been a science nerd, and have many fond memories of visiting here as a child, and also now enjoy visiting as an adult who is a scientist by profession. Bring comfortable shoes, and hand sanitizer; there is a lot to see, and a lot to touch and do.
The TWoS has a number of permanent exhibits, as well as a two sections for travelling exhibits and two theatres. The IMAX theatre is the largest in Alberta (so the advertisements claim), and recently underwent a renovation to update the screen, sound and seats. IMAX tickets are purchased separately from general admission, so if you want to see a movie, you’ll pay extra, and on the flip side, you can go see a movie without paying for admission. The second theatre is the Margaret Zielder star theatre, and is a completely domed screen. Shows in this theatre are included in general admission, and are delightful — being surrounded by a screen is a neat experience.
The permanent exhibits are starting to show their age a bit, but are still fun. There is a weather and nature gallery, a space gallery, a human body gallery and (my favorite) mystery avenue, where you get a sheet and collect clues to solve a crime. The crime changes every few years, but they are usually lighthearted and very kid friendly.
I went recently for the Harry Potter Exhibition and will add my thoughts here as well. The exhibit was fun, but really just movie props and clothing. There wasn’t a large interactive component, and we were done in under an hour. We tried out a couple of audio tours and found the sound bytes to be short, and in most cases, uninteresting. I wouldn’t recommend bothering, but if you do, bring your own headphones, or a headphone splitter if you want to share. The Harry Potter gift shop was incredibly expensive. I have been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, and found the gift shop with this exhibit to have lower quality merchandise at 2 – 3 times the price. Example: $ 6 for a box of approximately 15 every-​flavor jellybeans, or $ 35 for a metal pen. If you aren’t able to go to Florida though, it’s worth the visit.
The admission prices for the «special» exhibits are high, but there is plenty to do and see with general admission, and it’s hard not to have fun checking everything out.

We FINALLY made it to the Body Worlds Exhibit last night for what was our very first experience at the Telus World of Science.
First things first, if you can get here before this exhibit moves on, it is absolutely worth it! What an incredible view into the fragile yet oh-​so-​powerful body that each of us inhabits!!! While it is a very graphic exhibit (Insert disclaimer here) I marveled at the things to see, the fantastically fun facts, and the intricacies of how our many parts work together!
So now on to the museum itself: while the Body Worlds Exhibit caters to an older crowd — there are plenty of other exhibits where I found myself wishing we’d brought a ten-​year old along to TRULY appreciate the experience. We enjoyed the hands-​on weather stations where we created a tornado. We loved looking at the tropical fish. And we appreciated the artifacts and photos detailing the history of law enforcement officials. While we’re far from being ten-​years-​old, there was plenty to see and to interact with! The best part for us, is that on a Friday night at approximately 8:30, there weren’t any school field trips and for the most part the exhibits were quiet.
Although we absolutely enjoyed our visit, and may go back for free entry to the observatory, the entry fee of $ 26.00 per adult means we’ll be finding something else to do next weekend.

I have only had the chance to visit the observatory but that was enough for me to fall in love with this place. The outdoor location with 3 – 4 large telescopes really makes the world of astronomy personal. Bringing planets, stars and moons so close that you can really appreciate the beauty of their existence. Although the observatory officially closes at 10pm the staff really seem to enjoy their jobs and will stay long afterwards if there are curious amateur astronomers there to listen to their every word.
It was a clear night and we were lucky enough to have a crystal clear view of saturn and it’s rings. But the real star was the full Harvest moon. Appearing low over the horizon it filled the lens of the telescope. So close you could see every crater and almost watch it move through the view of the scope. You can even get some shots of it through the lens on your smart phone. I don’t recall ever seeing the moon this up close and personal.
All this was provided for free so you really can’t get much better!