Whitaker Center For Science & Arts

Went last night to see Star Wars with 4 friends. It’s been years since I saw a movie there. The seats were uncomfortable, the popcorn was stale/​cold, and extremely salted.
Another friend got a hotdog and it was overly hot and tasted terrible. A group in front of us heard him and offered gum.

Took my son here as a nice suprise on a hot day. This place has gone down hill over the last few years. What was once an inviting and fun science center is now a broken down, non-​working, sparse waste land of stuff that kinda works, but is more than likely broken. The price doesn’t even include our Imax movie tickets!
After being let down by the Science center, we saw a nice film about pandas. The Popcorn was dreadful, and I think they may have accidentally spilled industrial glue onto the floor of the theater. yuck! It was hard to enjoy the show between the bad smells in the theater, the sticky floor, and the HEAT! Did they even have a working HVAC system?!
All this fun for the low price of your first born son!

The kids had a great time and this is comparable to the one at Franklin Institute. We like the little Shocking Show at the end of our visit.
The price is a bit steep though. It would be reasonable if the IMAX movies were included. 2 adults and 2 kids with AAA, you are looking at $ 51.
All in all, the kids had fun and it’s comparable to most of the kids museums that we’ve been to.

Recently saw a show at the Sunoco Performance Center. While the show was awesome, I give the theater 2 stars. I’ve seen a lot of shows at a lot of theaters, and I’ve never witnessed such blatant disregard for the rules, and a complete and utter lack of caring on the theater’s part. Despite an obvious announcement at the beginning of the show that no pictures or videos were allowing, people were taking pics with their smart phones throughout the show. It got worse and worse at the end, as one person and another decided that if THAT person could do it (and get away with it), then why not? The theater staff did NOTHING about this. It was incredibly annoying and distracting from the show. I’m seeing the same concert again in a few months – at the Hershey Theater. Sadly I’ve always deemed Hershey a bit snobbish and overpriced, but they’d never put up with *#%# like this.

This review is for Sunoco Theater only. The acoustics were very good. A small theater with no bad seats. The first balcony had a very nice view. Along the mezzanine, on the first balcony level, were several seats and these had nice views also. A very well designed theater and a great place to see a performance.

Wow, we had an amazing time at the Whitaker Center… almost had to drag the kiddo out kicking and screaming because he didn’t want to leave. It was well worth the price and Dino’s 3d was excellent!!!

Went with my family including my younger sister and it was mug different than I expected. After reading reviews on here we decided to hit this place up before we left PA. I felt the price was a little too much for what try had to offer. We decided to do the double visit with the IMAX movie and the science center. We enjoyed the movie it was great ! However the science center wasn’t that great 17 $ for 3 floors of scientific inventions and at least 2 machines in each floor were out of service. There aren’t many inventions in the science center only about ¹⁄₃ of them were intriguing. The 1^st floor is great for kids but as you go down to the lower levels there’s not much to see. The service of the workers were great though very helpful !

There’s lots to do for the lil ones. There’s a kids space with a storytime stage, splash area, big market with tons of play food, mini slide and a crawl space for the tinier ones. There’s even a nursing room with a rocking chair. They have a small gift shop next to Starbucks. On the lower floor there’s Carnival of Health with a small climbing wall, bicycles, basketball shootout, wack a mole like deal, etc.
My son’s favorite part of the museum is where he can build his own car and race it. I personally like the airplane station and flying it. There’s a lower level… which is also pretty neat but not as grand. You can see and experience a tornado, wind, sand.etc. The membership is awesome because not only does it cover my lil family for the year but we can also use the membership at other science museums all over the world.
$ 100 for year membership. Get it.

Worth it for the paper airplance launcher/​machine on the first floor.
A good place to spend a few hours with the kids.

Every town should have a place like this.
Part performing arts/​concert venue: I’ve seen several shows here since the year they opened and have never been disappointed by the sight lines or by the sound. Whomever does the booking also does a decent job of getting a fairly diverse group of acts booked that I don’t think would be playing central PA without a venue such as this.
Part IMAX Theatre: The IMAX theatre is now starting to show it’s age with some nicks and dings on the screen, seats that have mysterious stains on them along with the occasional tear and sticky floor but again for central PA and with needing to go either to Philly or Reading for the nearest of IMAX experience this place is still more than good enough.
Part children’s science museum: My kids have been here once or twice and while it’s not on the par of a Please Touch Museum or Franklin Institute it gets the job done and will provide a few hours of interesting learning and activities at a reasonable price.
Overall the Whitaker Center is a winner in all three of its capacities and is more than worth a visit whenever you need a fun and interesting diversion in Harrisburg.

While working at Williams Sonoma we had our Christmas party at the Whitaker Center. I preformed along with a few other employees for Chuck and the head honchos. The center itself is a great venue with ample seating and staff. Catering was brought in for all 700 of the employees and everything was fantastic. They worked like a well oiled machine and kept everyone happy. They opened their gift shop for us but unfortunately didn’t have the IMAX theater running that day, however I did see The Dark Knight and the sound system and seating were awesome. If you got some time to spare, hit this spot up.

I came here several months ago to see a 3D film at the IMAX and it was a very popular new release. We waited for a while, but the place is nice inside and spacious so we actually had a choice if we wanted to sit down or not. The vendor had some options besides just coke/​popcorn and I found the seating to be comfortable event though the theater was packed — I will return hopefully soon… just need to get a babysitter lined up.

I’ve performed and been an audience member here many times! No matter which side of the curtain I’m on, I love the space each and every time!
The seating is nice. The décor is fresh (by HBG standards). The acoustics make performing and listening here a breeze. Most of the staff are very helpful. The dressing rooms, backstage areas, rehearsal rooms, and green room are immaculately clean; everywhere is, for that matter.
I highly recommend checking out their events and treating yourself to a nice evening out!

So we went here to see an IMAX film. The fat pig monster at ticketing/​will call was about as pleasant as a heart attack. My wife went to use the restroom which was apparently filthy, something out of a horror film in true 3D and there was no toilet paper. We informed the fat pig monster at ticketing who was laying on the counter with her head in her hands, she did not respond other than to grunt (or perhaps snarl). Similarly, at concessions the workers were rude with attitude.
This visit was about as much fun as a prostate exam.

I saw Rufus Wainwright at the Sunoco Perfomance Theater the other week; the sound was great and I love how intimate it is inside. Definitely a neat place to see shows. It’s beautiful inside when all the lights are turned down except for around the balconies and on the stage!
I’ve only been to one show in the IMAX theater. Is it just me, or is it weirdly cramped and small for being IMAX?
The museum is fun. The bodies exhibit last year was neat, albeit disappointingly small for the admission price. They also have a pretty cool gift shop!

Sunoco Performance Theatre review:
Great place to see a show. Great sound, great sightlines. Seen many concerts here and always had a great experience.

Great addition to the city, I really enjoy the IMAX theater, science exhibits, galleries, and shows that the Whitaker Center brings in. I recently saw the bodies exhibit here and it was amazing, I would recommend it to everyone.
The science galleries and exhibits aren’t just for kids either, you’ll find yourself pleasantly entertained with all educational activities in the place. I recommend you check it out for yourself.

The Whitaker Center was introduced to Harrisburg in the summer of 1999 and has been a top attraction drawing in both locals and visitors. It has both permanant exhibits and limited engagement exhibits on display. In the past I’ve been to the Sunoco Performance Theatre, to see a comedian. It has an onsite starbucks coffee as well as a large gift shop. The Whitaker center has free admission like twice a year, usually on holidays. Hours are Tuesday-​Saturday 9:30am-5pm & Sunday 11:30am-5pm
Fall 2009 Update: After visiting a 2^nd time I think Im going to have to re-​rate it at 3 stars. When I went to purchase my tickets (for the IMAX showing of Animalopolis & KidsPlace) inside the cashier seemed like she didnt care about us at all. The only help I got was from the volunteer desk at the Whitaker.

Harrisburg’s little enclave of culture.
The performance theatre:

The IMAX theatre:
The science center:

There’s even one of those coffee joints — you know, the one that rhymes with «upchucks»

Great place for the kids or for an unusual date. In fact, a night at the IMAX theatre is an excellent date or goup activity for young and old.

This is strictly a review for the IMAX:
Went to see I Am Legend on IMAX (supposedly), turns out they didn’t use the whole screen when the actual movie played, it was middle ¹⁄₃ of the screen which the movie was displayed on– obviously not true IMAX. Pretty misleading and the visual awe was just not there as it is with real IMAX movies. With that said, the Dark Legend preview WAS in full IMAX mode and it looked amazing. Who knows why there was discrepency. But it felt like a waste of $ 13 to watch a regular sized movie on a IMAX screen.