Maryland Science Center

Love the Maryland Science Center! Fun for all ages. You can easily spend all day there.
The annual membership is worth the money if you go as little as two times a year. You get a discount in the cafeteria and the gift shop. Also, invites to member only events.

Kids loved this place! But they have limited activities for them to do, so if your child/​ren is very active they will get bored quick!

We picked a Sunday afternoon to go and it was great! Attractions and hands on experiments for all ages! Great astronomy and paleontology areas. The price was good, even for adults, and truly a great place for all ages.

Going on the weekday is great because you can avoid the crowds. There is 3 floors of activities. Admission is free for us because we are members of the Austin Children’s Museum and they have reciprocating benefits. Check your membership level. So we came here two days in a row and just took it easy both days. The planetarium is include in the admission and we saw two shows: Pi Day and Black Holes.
The kids really like the SciLab because there are 7 tables. You can move thru each as you finish the previous. Learn about DNA, blood testing (not really blood used), make and learn about cell membranes, make a polymer and learn about acids and bases at the same time.
This is a good learning experience for both kids and adults. Have fun!

Entry to the museum is NOT autism-​friendly. I took my 7 year old on MLK day at 10:30AM and arrived into massive confusion. I bought tickets online, but you can’t print them out and present them, you have to pick them up at will-​call. But we were still herded into one snaking line that was actually two long lines: general admission and membership. I’ve never seen a membership line that was as slow as the general line. Meanwhile, my autistic child is having a meltdown from all the waiting. When I get to the front, I tell the woman that this is not autism friendly. All she does is ask my name to find my reservation and hand me the tickets. I’m upset that she wasn’t taking it seriously when she received a disability related complaint. I set up everything I can in advance so we can prevent a bad situation. While some problems are inevitable, it was frustrating because most of it can be avoided by better planning and technology. You can’t buy a membership online and you can’t print your tickets online. But on the 3^rd flood in The Shed, they were teaching kids cryptography today. It’s a very strange dichotomy of promoting science everywhere except on the official website. Once the stress of the entrance was resolved, we had a very nice time. The dinosaurs and the planetarium were a big hit. When I read the list of upcoming events, I had been tempted to buy a membership instead of just the one day admission (admin prices aren’t cheap). For now, once is enough. In the afternoon, there was no line at all and would have been an easier time to go.

I haven’t been to the Science Center since I was a kid almost 15 years and sadly it really hasn’t been updated very well. While there are some newer spaces (the shed, dinosaurs, etc) there are many spaces that need to be revamped and updated. The interactive areas are a lot of fun but very dirty, and many were broken or had poor instructions. While I am an adult and I understand the center isn’t aimed at me, I’m not sure it’s all that exciting for kids either. Other areas that were just plain awful were the bathrooms. The bathrooms were run down, filthy, and gross. I also could not find a water fountain anywhere. Everything needs fresh paint, a good cleaning and better lighting.
The whole reason I went was for the planetarium and it did not disappoint. I caught 3 shows and was very entertained. The room was clean, and pretty awesome to star gaze. The staff was overall friendly and handled the crowds well.

Loved this place! My kids are 6 & 8 and they were entertained non-​stop. Very interactive and educational. Wish I lived closer would definitely purchase a membership. My oldest rated it a ‘9’. 1 being the dentist 10 being swimming in chocolate ice cream located right on the beautiful inner harbor.

Strictly for kids under age 5. It’s a small, very small touch museum. Over priced entrance fee and extra for other attractions.

I had a reciprocal pass but I left my membership at home while visiting Baltimore, I called ahead of time and they said they could verify where I work. When I get there the FD staff member told me it was a «one time» thing only. I have had many guests with reciprocal to the Center where I work at not have their cards on them and I’ve never made a fuss over it, I just did what is considered protocol. The center had lots of groups visiting, so it was crowded and noisy, which is to be expected. I was disappointed as it was directed more to children, and a lot of the exhibits looked old/​outdated. However they did have staff on the floor interacting with guests which was cool. However for what it is, I would hate to pay full price for the Center. Giftshop was pretty cool as well. However if you’re looking for more of an adult themed Center/​Museum I recommend the ones in D. C, they are free!

I’m not going to lie I really love the MD Science Center… As a big kid, I too play while there. Not only do my children and I learn something new each and every time we go in. I have a membership so I’m in there a little more than most. With that being said even though the main exhibits are the same they have a hall that rotates exhibits quite frequently.
I took off a star because some of the exhibits are starting to show their age. It seems like the most hands on stuff is just starting to wear out.

This museum is completely underwhelming at best. At least 25% to 50% of the exhibits are broken (particularly on the second and third floors), which is surprising given the admission prices they charge. They also have so few exhibits that a tour could easily be completed in 2 hours time. There are no exhibits that are geared towards adults and few that are geared towards children under 5.
Additionally, they have dreadful customer service. They charged me $ 17 on the day my son turned 3, despite the fact that we had a membership. (My 3 year old was certainly not capable of getting $ 17 worth of enjoyment — definitely no more than $ 2 or $ 3). When we wrote to the Science Center about the misunderstanding, they never even bothered to reply.
I certainly won’t be coming back and I hope you don’t waste your time either.

Fun place to visit with the kids. Imax theatre has a lot of nice movies and short flicks. Science center has enough to do to spend an entire day there. Unfortunately it has been a number of years since I last went to the science center, and it continues to grow. When my kids were younger, we would go and spend time playing and learning all day long. This is a better place to go with younger children, middle school and younger. The Science Center, especially if you are a member, is an excellent viewing location for fireworks on the 4^th of July. Parking is expensive in the downtown area, but plentiful. Plenty of off-​site food, not sure if there is a café on-​site or not. I would say likely.

Definitely worth a visit with a couple of kids in tow, but find somewhere else to go eat. It started with soap bubble making before we entered the center, and it continued with a wide range of hands-​on activities on several levels. My kids even tried to lay on a bed of nails. Whereas the staff outside was engaging, the staff manning the indoor stations could have been more smiling and enthusiastic, but all in all we had a good visit.

I’ll get to the grit right away, this place is a huge disappointment.
I have a family membership to the museum, which I bought prior to my first visit. That was a mistake. I bought the membership because I’m a big olé nerd and I love museums and science and I want to instill the same love of knowledge in my son. Don’t waste your money on the membership. Just don’t do it.
If you really want to check this place out, wait until a living social or groupon comes out. Never, ever, ever pay full price.
Thanks to the membership, I’ve been here a few times over the course of a year. The exhibits never change, except for on small traveling section, which has been empty the last two times I’ve gone. Only about half of the exhibits are truly interactive, especially once you get to the human body section. Probably 1 out of 3 exhibits is broken or barely functioning. Which, when you consider the limited amount of interactive exhibits, makes for a very boring trip.
They have a section where they have various projects that you can pay to do (build a birdhouse, robot, etc with a parent) but it’s only for much older kids, and my 5 year old is always bummed that he can’t join in.
The staff is fairly uninvolved and rude. Occasionally they’ll have the mini-​exhibits that a staff member will roll out for a half hour or so. The staff stand there with sour looks and pissed off attitudes. They don’t even try to engage the kids and get grouchy if a kid goes over to them asks a question.
Like other reviewers said, if you go during the week prepare to be mobbed by school kids. Not unexpected for a science museum, but from what I’ve seen it makes for a total clusterf*** and completely ruins the experience for everyone else.
Thanks to parents who traveled non-​stop as I was growing up, I was lucky enough to visit numerous places and museums. I’d have to say that out of every place I’ve ever been, the Maryland Science Museum is at the very bottom of the list. Don’t waste you time, energy or money.

I’m a come to the science center there’s always plenty to do here and the kids love seeing the place is great things to learn plenty things to do people to see can’t wait to come back always will have fun here. Before even great helping my son at the waterpark smocks for wet.

Visiting from Maine. My son and I had an amazing time here! There was a free place to store your belongings (ground level by the bathrooms, past the entry dinosaurs) and the staff was really nice and accommodating. Lots to see and do! We went late in the day and wish I had gone earlier. The omni-​theater was free which was an awesome perk. The staff in the cafeteria was very friendly, humorous and engaging. When we showed up there were several school trips in progress and it was too crowded. The last hour the Science Center was open was pretty empty however. There didn’t seem to be a happy medium. There was a space center section that took photographs and emailed them to you, which went through successfully, for FREE. If I end up in the area again, we will be re-​visiting. It was fairly expensive but compared to the Boston Science Museum, it was much cheaper with the free perks.

I remember coming here as a child on a field trip-​and that’s clearly their bread and butter. My boyfriend and I-​both in our mid-​late 20’s-decided to go (mainly since I didn’t remember much of the place) since I’m a science geek and he wanted to see the Imax film they had playing.
Be warned-​if you go on a weekday you will ABSOLUTELY be overcome with swarms of middle schoolers. The staff are clearly used to dealing with cranky, selfish preteens all day-​so we were treated like royalty for having some common courtesy. In the movie, the 200 or so kids all were yammering for a good 10 minutes in. It’s mainly no manners, but I digress.
There’s a really interesting exhibit on the effects of drugs. Sociopolitical, economic, on the person neurologically, addiction based behaviors. We both found this fascinating but clearly this isn’t something you would bring the first graders to. The planetarium and biology side was elementary for me as an adult but some of the activities and «did you know» stuff was still fun.
I think if I were coming here with my family (if I had one), I would come (weirdly enough) on a weekend when there won’t be a field trip. I feel like there are more moms and dads with their kids on the weekends or later at night rather than the 11 am on a thursday when we went.

We recently bought a membership only for two reasons:
1. It was 50% off via Living Social.
2. The reciprocal free admission program at other science museums that membership at a ASTC facility affords you.
Without those two points in place would I have come here while paying full price?
No chance
Why? Here are a few points:
1. Indifferent staff that would rather stand around and talk to each other and fool around on their phones than try to engage most people or if they do it’s called the least interaction possible to get you out of their face.
2. Little interaction would I guess be alright if they displays did the talking but many of them particularly in the area of Your Body: The Inside Story simply are not working/​work sporadically and a few have been like that since our last visit last year.
3. The amount of actual science involved is very thin. Sure there are parts at the new display regarding energy that were interesting but overall and especially for what this place charges it’s really a rip off.
4. Don’t even get me started about what’s it’s like when the school groups descend like plagues of locusts. After they left the whole place was deserted for the last 90 minutes that they were open but the proceeding two and a half hours were pure hell.
So if you’re going to go, make sure you’re not a putz that plays full price as they have discount coupons galore available and even then don’t expect a really big bang for your buck as this place is only so interesting and the most interesting part (the IMAX movies) naturally costs even more $$$.

They have great exhibits but you’ll never get to see them. I travelled 1.5 hours to this center/​museum to see the Mummy exhibit back in January and I was turned away. I had purchased a groupon for mummy exhibit tickets and it clearly stated that you do NOT need to make a reservation and that the groupon is good for ANY day. Well, we got there and they told us that the exhibit was sold out for the day.
I mean really? I drove 1.5 hours and spent so much money in gas. What do you expect me to do at that point? Why not book a hotel around the corner for $ 300 a night and try again the next day. So stupid… will never try to go here for any exhibit ever again.
really, really, really disappointing.

Great dinosaur exhibit & the space section is amazing. The guy who talks about our planetary system is funny & informative. Highly recommend!
Main focus though is for kids. Very interactive place and perfect way to spend a cold or rainy day!