Near the end of March our family had the opportunity to get a sneak peek of Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Natural Curiosity. We were prepared to be underwhelmed. We ended up extremely impressed. The place is huge, and awesome, and kids of all ages could spend hours there.
There are four sections of the Museum total, including Rainforest, Waterworks, Discovery Garden, and Kidopolis (a miniature town). Only two were open for us to see when we went in March, but as of May the entire Museum is open and available for exploration.
We spent most of our time in the "Rainforest" section, which has the Mayan ruins look and a "wrecked airplane" to climb in.
There are climbing spaces and stairs on both sides of the "Mayan Ruin," which lead to slides toward the bottom, and a ropes course at the top. We didn't try the ropes course because we had the wee ones with us, but it looked cool (a.k.a. I would have been scared to death because you're walking out in the air above the whole area and I'm pretty sure I would have peed my pants if I'd actually tried to do it).
Peter loved climbing to the slides and going down several times.
Dad accompanied Peter several times and had fun on the slides as well.
At the bottom is a fun market type area, with some fun things for the youngest in your crew, including this "Can you jump as high as a frog?"
Max exploring the baby area.
Me showing off the ethnic dress ups available.
After the Rainforest we went over to Kidopolis, where we proceeded to be amazed by the amount of things you could possibly do, and therefore took very few pictures. Sorry, but it really is an awesome place. Here are a few examples of what's in store:
This is a little laundromat area, with big windows the kids can doodle on with window markers.
This is part of the Magic Show section, where you can be befuddled by illusion.
This was Peter's favorite part of the museum. It's hard to capture the experience in the picture, but they have little trains going around some tracks near the ceilings, and the are propelled by kids getting on these seats and bicycling the handles with their hands. There is a camera attached to the front of each train, so the kids can see where the trains are going even when they disappear into the walls, and sometimes the different tracks are right next to each other so the kids can race and say hello to their fellow engineers. Peter would have spent the rest of the time right here, if his parents hadn't insisted on satisfying their own curiosity about the rest of the place!
My favorite part of Kidopolis was the little animation studio where you can make your own movie by moving cars around a picture and taking pictures of each movement. I didn't actually get to try it out, but if we ever get to go back I will be making a beeline there! I didn't end up getting a picture of it, as it's a little weird to lean over your neighbor's shoulder and snap a picture of their work.
This last picture is taken at the drums area in the music section of Kidopolis. Luke and Peter had a lot of fun with this.
Here's a movie to prove it:
All in all, A+ for Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Natural Curiosity. If we lived closer, or our kids were just a bit older, I would definitely consider getting a family pass. We'll have to go back at least once so we can see the Waterworks and Discovery Garden.
