Clark Planetarium

We went to see National Parks in 3D and IMAX and loved it! It was easy to locate and by pulling into summer parking garage we were able to park directly underneath. They validate parking so it was $ 1 for 1 – 3 hours. It’s free for under an hour.
When you walk in there are many interactive exhibits. My son loved it! We didn’t explore the gift shop but it seemed to have alot to offer. The prices at the concession stand were reasonable. It was clean, family friendly and fun!

This place is pretty awesome, it’s free to get in. The only think you have to pay for is the imax movies and the dome theater movies which are totally worth it. If you go during the day the tickets are $ 7 for adults and kids and at night it’s $ 9. We went and saw national parks adventure 3D last night and it was amazing! We will be back for sure. It’s a very fun family place that’s cheap and interactive. They also have the best popcorn around and it’s cheap. You get an entire tub for $ 3. I would totally recommend Clarks Planetarium.

This place is awesome! It has some free exhibits that will take you about 30 minutes to check out, the 3d imax experience was OUT OF THIS WORLD… We saw the «journey to space», it was fantastic both the video and just general content was amazing. Would definitely go back.

Located near the Gateway, you get the 1^st hour of parking for free (but there are some limited street parking. Please make sure to read the signs regarding the parking times and restrictions).
My husband and I decided to check out the planetarium during our visit to Utah. And because of the reviews (at the time of this review and when I had looked at the reviews 1 month ago, the overall rating was 4 stars), I was really hoping this would be a good place to visit. But I found myself rather bored.
If you do not end up watching a movie on their IMAX screen, then you will soon be bored with their free displays/​exhibits like I was.
I think the coolest thing there somewhat reminds me of a Rube Goldberg like contraption that you can see where all of these balls go and eventually make its way back up again (you just have to see it in person to understand). I was memorized by it for a while watching everything.
But anyways, other than that, the exhibits itself are educational and kid friendly. But you only need about 1 hour to be here.
There is also a gift shop in case you are just one of these people who have to pick up something to commemorate your visit here.
This place is not worth a special visit. I wouldn’t come back.

Always great! We love it so much, we are members, and have been before. The displays are interesting, and the movies and presentations are always worth the visit.

I visited the Clark Planetarium during a recent visit to Salt Lake City to see family. We had been to the planetarium several times before. We got a City Pass during this trip, and the planetarium was included in the pass. In fact, the pass also included an IMAX movie at the planetarium. I have two boys, ages 6 and 8, and they really wanted to make sure we made it to the planetarium during this visit.
Today we saw an IMAX movie about humpback whales, which was awesome. During our last visit, we saw a really lame movie about dragons, so this was a major improvement.
As for the exhibits in the museum, there really isn’t a lot to see. There are a couple of hands-​on exhibits, but not much. Not much has changed with the exhibits over the couple of years that have passed between our visits. You can learn about the different planets in our solar system, space travel, physics, clouds/​weather, rocks, the sun, and more. Of course, the gift shop is a big attraction for the kids. Personally, I am not a fan of gift shops, but there seems to be no way to avoid them in museums.
I would be fine returning to the Clark Planetarium to see IMAX movies, but really have no desire to walk through the museum again for a minimum of five more years.

Very small, but FREE admission… so you can’t argue too much. The few exhibits that they did have were intriguing, informative, and fun. Its a one time deal that you say afterwards, «Been there, done that» and then you never return to again.

I almost want to keep this one to myself and not tell everyone how much fun we had… so that swarms of children do not wreck this place. But they deserve a good review! The free exhibits were really fun and entertaining. We spent about 45 minutes just hanging out and enjoying all the interactive «games». We then went to see The Led Zeppelin laser, light show. It was fantastic! I am a Led Zeppelin fan myself, so I really enjoyed that! It isn’t exactly for young kids. It is loud. You have to stare at the ceiling the whole time. And it may make you a little dizzy. So don’t bother bringing super small children. Maybe 10 year olds and up if they can sit and look up for 45 minutes without whining :)

I love this place! Perfect for its purpose. We went to catch Humpback Whales and Black Holes and decided to just purchase the annual membership. Best purchase EVER! Now we can go whenever we want and watch as many shows as we want for free! We’ve been back 3 times in the last two weeks. The membership has already paid for itself and the iMAX quality for Lemurs is awesome! Best thing I’ve seen in 3D period! If you’re planning to frequent the place, it’s best to become a member!

Well, I recently took the family here (first time here since they moved it from State Street). First impression — what a dump. It’s run down and kind of gimmicky. Second impression — wow, they have a lot more here than they did at the old place. Lots of different things to look at and learn (some items were broken though) and a lot to take in for all different ages. Third impression (Hansen Dome) — is wow, this stuff is awesome and man I wished they would have put an age appropriate note on each of their shows because I just wasted $ 30 on a show that my wife and I had a hard time comprehending, let alone our kids. Other than the visuals — they didn’t get anything out of it.
Probably won’t come back here for another 15 –20 years unless it’s on a field trip but overall it wasn’t a complete waste of time and money — they do have some cool stuff here.

This place is pretty awesome!
We were killing a few hours before the Spurs/​Jazz game, and there are so many interactive exhibits and cool things to look at, like pendulum swings (or what kids would call «The Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball») and orbits.
We decided to come watch IMAXes until we felt like throwing up. Mind you, that’s quite a few of them. So if you live in SLC, I HIGHLY recommend you buy the annual pass so that you can IMAX to your heart’s desire every time you come to this mall. It’s affordable if you live here.
Candy and popcorn are also relatively affordable… if you have been staring at movie theater prices in disgust for the past twenty years. If you don’t see anything you like, run down to the Rocket candy store by Dick’s Sporting Goods to find everything your little heart could desire!
Also, check out this mega super pack available for FAMILIES OF 8! I don’t know anywhere else in America that «families of eight» are common enough to get a spot on the sign! Only in Utah???

Definitely doing a lot better with organization here. Gift shop is ultra-​expanded and was quite respectable, other than not having enough actual science books (any one of Dr. Tyson’s would have been more than welcome and in good place right alongside that of Dr. Plait) and actual science-​y stuff. Most of the toys are overpriced, but museums are that way. I get it. The place is in a high overhead location and has to make a buck to keep the doors open. I back it and I pay to support them, but it is worth noting, they want a fancy coin for their gadgetry.
Lots more displays than the last time I was here, but factually, there’s really only enough to stimulate science and astronomy at a fairly low level, which makes it really geared more towards younger children. A lot of the dinosaur and aquatic business seems to have been punted in favor of more space stuff, which is a welcome change, from my perspective. Those things are good as a gateway or tie-​in to the history of the planet on a cosmic scale, but when I see stuff like Cat dump trucks and other toys that can be also obtained easily at a Toys R Us, it makes me think they’re losing their mission a bit. Thankfully, that stuff was all at clearance, as were some very cool shirts that I would have availed myself of if I were a whole lot less of a man… in a very literal sense.
This is still not perfect, but still definitely worth taking the time to check out. Best of all, you don’t even have to set foot in the dying mall to the north of this place, if you don’t want to. It’s still hovering in the area of a visit once per year for me and not much more necessary than that. I personally think it’s location is a bit less conducive to the sort of friendlier atmosphere that I think this place needs… and also, they could thereby increase their budget of cooler inventory, such as high-​powered telescopes and more hard science-​y books to really make this appeal to all ages and all levels.

Went here with a friend on a rare trip to salt lake city and was less than impressed. There was stale popcorn and kids fingerprint smudges everywhere and the feature we ended up seeing «hidden universe» was… not as interesting as we expected. Admittedly both me and my friend fell asleep towards the end.

The IMAX and Dome theaters are pretty great but there’s not much else here. That said, I’m happy to have a planetarium near me in any form.

We ended up here quite by accident! During our visit to SLC, we made the unfortunate discovery that most fun things are closed on Sundays, so we decided to go to a movie. Seeing the IMAX logo above the parking garage, we mistakenly thought we were parking for the movie theater, but we ended up in the planetarium. Kid was immediately entranced and asked if we could skip the movie to stay there and «learn about space.»
Exploring the exhibits was great fun, and well worth the $ 0 you pay! The only part we did pay for – the planetarium movie – was the only real disappointment. The movie that was showing during the time we were there was some holiday music video thingy, and it was just terrible. Bad computer graphics synced to Christmas carols with a laser show at the end. Kid thought it was cool, though, so it wasn’t a total waste of money. I would have rather just seen stars, though.

This is one of the best places to explore if you have children, and it’s a pretty good one even if you don’t. The reason: all of the exhibits are free.
They have exhibits that show the orbit of the earth, what space looks like through a telescope, how black holes work, how weather affects us, the size and other specifications of all the planets, and a miniature model of a moon and Martian landscape you can walk on.
What makes this place really fun (although this part isn’t free) are the movies they show in their Hansen Dome and IMAX theaters. My daughter and I loved the Supervolcanoes documentary narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch and the «Perfect Little Planet» video was adorable.
If you have money to spare, they have some fun little scientific toys in their gift shop you can purchase. They also have the same telescopes you use inside the Planetarium if you’re willing to pay quite a bit for them.

We have yearly membership passes here that we renew every year for our family of 4, this place is just that cool.
Actually, the permanent exhibits get old after the first few times for adults (though my kids seem to love them just as much each time), but the constant lectures and shows they bring in each month are really cool.
If you live in awe of the universe around us and already have a brain stuffed full of knowledge or are just a beginner wanted to whet your whistle, you’ll find a home here.
There have been many times when watching a presentation or a lecture in the dome or IMAX that I have had what could be considered a spiritual experience, or in other words, a deep connection to something much greater than myself. It sounds a bit out there, but there it is. It’s a humbling reminder that the earth is, after all, a single, pale blue dot.
Keep your mind open to new ideas and you’ll never be bored here.
As for the gift shop, it’s pretty cool. Lots of fun science gadgets and nerdy toys. Even if I’m not planning on buying anything, I like to check it out when we’re there. (FYI, It’s a great place to buy unique marbles.)
The staff has always been friendly, some of them funny, and they all seem to be genuinely interested in the Planetarium.

I can’t really review on the cinema part, even though I really wanted to see a actual planetarium movie! But the show times wasn’t working with our schedules.
But the actual venue is pretty amazing. You can walk around for free which I thought was really cool because I’ve been to a museum kind of like this and we had to pay to get in.
There really is a lot of interesting things that you can learn from just walking around. Upstairs, there’s information about the planets. I read about each and every planet and learned something new. There was a replica of Mars and the Moon, which was freakin awesome. We took pictures in it and out turned out pretty epic!
There is a gift shop downstairs that have a lot of fun things. I think I spent a lot of time at the gift shop just looking around.
This place is pretty kid friendly. If you have kids, you should defiantly take them here. If you don’t have kids, oh well come here anyways! It’s adult friendly as well!

This place is free to go in and walk around the exhibits. The only time you pay is if you want to watch the 3D movie. Our membership to our local science museum got us 5 free tickets to a show (through the ATSC passport exchange program), and the only show available at the time we went was the U2 laser light show.
Maybe if you are young (and intoxicated), the U2 laser show is cool but with 2 little kids, it just wasn’t their thing and we walked out after a few minutes.
I’m sure if we had gone on a day where they had a planet/​solar system show it would have been a better experience.
The gift shop is filled with all kinds of things your kids will want to buy and there were a few cool interactive exhibits my kids enjoyed.

I honestly love this place. It’s so close to where I live and there is so much to learn and do. I always end up buying stupid things in the gift shop, but it’s so entertaining.
It’s a great place to take a date, kids or just wander with friends. They have a ton of areas where you can learn about space and the world.
Most of the time I come here for their late night laser shows. You sit in this dome, and project psychedelic images on the ceiling and have lasers and flashes going off. My friends and I will come do this when we are drunk. Lol it’s lots of fun and is better to listen to good music and relax. I recommend the pink Floyd show at 11. Try it