Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

My son liked playing with the Keva wooden planks. There is an upstairs toddler area which is okay (a bit outdated).

Even after preparing myself for the crowded mania that is Free Museum Day, I was surprised by how low-​quality and dumpy the exhibits were here. I would say 3 out of 4 interactive exhibits were broken while 1 out of 4 were outdated or uninteresting.
The work force is a fleet of senior citizens who were overwhelmed by the crowds (understandable) and very cranky. On two different occasions we overheard some workers squabbling and yelling at each other. I would have to loved to have overheard the drama, but I was in a hurry to escape, never to return

I’ve been coming here since I was a child. They’ve done and awesome job with the remodel and new exhibits.

This place small and dirty, the exhibits are dated not very interactive. The mantra of the staff is don’t have fun. The best exhibit is on loan from the OMSI in Oregon and they could probably take a few pointers on how to treat kids and help them learn and be excited about science. This place is sad. My kids kept saying why is it so boring and where are experiments and fun? Staff are really young or really depressed to be there.

This museum was my kids’ favorite when we visited San Diego over Christmas week. It’s a completely hands-​on concept museum, with engineering, physics, chemical and biological principles displayed so you could touch and feel. This was a huge hit! My kids especially liked the computer-​based exhibits, as well as the flight exhibit. I’d say this museum is best for kids ages 5 – 12, with emphasis on the middle to upper end of that spectrum. We also saw an IMAX movie and of course the kids loved it (movie!).
One negative was that the museum was *very* crowded (obviously we were there over a holiday week, but it was seriously crazy), and because of this, many of the displays were messy and missing pieces. I didn’t see any staff on the floor to help (perhaps they were understaffed due to the holidays?). Not that I expect things to be totally clean, but it was kind of a madhouse.
Parking was challenging, so get there early!

Birthday Party Review:
My wife and I decided on this location for my 5 year old’s birthday party. The price is $ 700 for 20 people; w/​admission, pizza, drinks, cupcakes, goody bags and an IMAX movie included. My total count was 37 people.
We paid extra per person and ordered:
* 4 extra pizzas — $ 15 each
* 1 sandwich/​wrap tray (12 whole sandwiches) — $ 48
* 1 salad (serves 15) — $ 34
* Extra order of beverages — $ 18
While the price is steep, we wanted to provide my daughter’s cousins and classmates with a great experience in an educational environment.
We were assigned two birthday hosts to direct our guests, direct the flow of the party and provide assistance with the food/​cake activities. We were very pleased with our hosts, the science center and theater experience. My daughter had a blast and she was in aww during her first IMAX movie. We chose to watch «The Secret Ocean» and were happy with our early entry into the theater.
The two items that did not meet my expectations were the food service and the room. The room is used for their day camp so it had very dirty carpet, a dry erase board and an unplugged tv that was an eye sore and could not be used for the party. I was only able to view the room a few weeks prior by looking in the window during their day camp session (lesson learned).
The kitchen service staff delivered the food and drinks but failed to provide forks for the salad, sandwich condiments and the extra pink lemonade we had ordered. The Sprite we ordered was in a nice drink dispenser but looked like water so no one bothered to drink any. We had the poor hosts running down to the kitchen to make up for the kitchen staff’s poor planning. It could be that we’re being a little critical, but we expected more for our 1k.

Cool for kids. My son had a great time. The films were old. Too bad they haven’t been updated in decades. But for me it was a great trip down memory lane. Fun stuff. My son still enjoyed it and he’s 2.5 years old

Pros
–hands on
–educational
–new exhibits to keep it fresh
–café salads are good
–dome theater is fun
–kids city is fun but i wish it had a gate
–nice for elementary aged children
Cons
— workers are mean spirited
— would not let my friend use the bathroom when leaving
— parking is atrocious– (not really their fault)
— worker seemed to enjoy refusing bathroom entry
— no indoor eating area– it’s cold outside!
— kid city needs gate to keep kids in area
— hard to watch more than one child in the place
— kid city leads right out to dangerous stairs
I went to the Science Center today with a group of 4 other moms today. We have been members of this museum 3 years. As we were walking out to the car my friend realized she needed to go the the bathroom so she turned around to go back inside and use the front restroom. She showed her hand stamp and let her know she would be quick. The museum employee brusquely told her that the museum was closed and she could not use the bathroom. This is ridiculous, the museum STILL had patrons inside watching the last 6:00 movie and the doors were open because they were still clearing the place out.
This is not a fair policy for a place that is a kids center since little bladders often need to go to the bathroom at inconvenient times and can not hold it. It isn’t too much to ask to use the bathroom 5 or 10 minutes after 6:00 pm. I did come in to voice my concern over this matter with that employee and was told directions to public bathrooms which should have been stated when denied bathroom use in the first place (at minimum).
Unfortunately, it was cold and dark and the public bathrooms we the opposite direction to our long walk to our cars. So my friend uncomfortably held it until she got home.
This is not a fair or kind way to treat your patrons who spend their hard earned money at your facility.
I have also been a member of the Escondido Children’s Museum for years and the workers are compassionate and caring to their patrons. It is a wonderful and safer place to take young children.

This is a nice museum to take kids to but other than that it’s not that interesting. The day I came most of their displays were either broken or under construction. Overall, I feel that this museum needs to go under construction & come back with a bang.

I got a really grown-​up response from this museum but still — be warned! This excellent museum is known to harbor feral children on the Free Tuesdays. Those warchildren will show you no mercy.
Savages.

Don’t recommend for toddlers, my 3 year old son had a hard time understanding the concept of a majority the exhibits. The only time he did take an interest, was at kid city. But had I known, I would of just taken him to a nice big outdoor playground for free. I gave it 4 stars because it’s great for older children. I just don’t think thank $ 30 is reasonable for my 3 yr old son and I. Also we have to pay extra for the IMAX theatre, and we couldn’t stand in line to have first pickling of the seats, we had to stand on the side, families with children under 3 had to wait on the side. :(Maybe if it was $ 10 cheaper, it would be worth my time. I don’t think I’ll come back here until he’s 5. Meanwhile I just threw alot of money down the drain. Now I know.

Went here for the besties and had lots of drunken fun with the science stuff they got. review over

This ‘museum’ is pretty expensive. As for as educational functions go, I don’t really want to worry about getting enough bang for my back – college is bad enough. There are tons of hands-​on stuff, which may be great if you have enough hand sanitizer on you. There are usually science demonstrations, too, which usually seem geared toward younger kids. There’s also a IMAX theater, though I forewent that extra cost. Lots of school groups come by. It’s at a nice location, like all other Balboa Park museums. Bottom line, I think this is a good did-​it-​once thing for your kids, but totally skipable for adults.

Came here for the SDmakerfaire. Took my niece and nephew here. Had such a great time with them. Nice to see the kids getting involved with science, DIY, go green/​blue ideas to do at home. Learned a lot at all the museums. Very educational and entertaining for all ages.

I was born and raised in San Diego. Be sure to visit the Reuben H Fleet science center in Balboa Park… 20.00 gets you an Imax movie in giant dome theatre. and the most incredible hands on science area with activities and live experiments. It is an educational, entertaining experience for visitors of all ages.
Kids 3 and under are free. seniors and jrs are 16ish. And membership has great value. Do not miss this. an all day, kid friendly place where they or you will not get bored!

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center manages to justify it’s twenty-​dollar pricetag. There are lots of temporary and permanent exhibits, a café, a gift shop an IMAX theater and more. Employees here are friendly at this Balboa Park masterpiece. This truly a wonderful place to be.
My visit was to see the Circus exhibit. It was full of nice interactive features, helpful explanations and a sense of adventure. The film I went to was on Humpback whales, captivating me in their beautiful dome theater with wonderful tech specifications. Their permanent collection has some discussion of the brain. I only regret that I didn’t have more time to spend here.
It will eventually be time again to go to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

Ok, so being an east coast transplant, may have clouded my judgement. I’m used to visiting much larger museums. This is a neat little museum. My 13 year old enjoyed parts of our visit, other parts not so much. We were able to breeze through the whole museum in just a couple hours. That’s a little disappointing. The circus stuff was kinda neat but unfortunately there was no one working the trapeze thing or the tightrope, so we couldn’t do those if we wanted to. That was disappointing.
It is a very small museum. I’m glad we had free admission with a group because otherwise I would have been disappointed we paid to go there.

Rating it as just a science center, it’s pretty good.
Rating it as a big city science center it was not as expected. It was not as big or have as much as I would think for a large city science center. For example, in comparison the Phoenix science center has many floors and you need at least 8 hours if not more to explore everything.
This one has one main exhibit area, a child area, a small body area, and upstairs a smaller exhibit area.
+ Alot of hands on items
+ It has a dome theater and live shows, which is a plus.
+ I really liked the child area though, I have not seen that before in a science center and they had many science activities for toddlers and young children.

Touch everything with your grubby little mitts. It’s that type of place. Hands-​on exhibits everywhere. When was the last time you got cultured? The sights & sounds museum kind, not the petri dish virus kind, ya germaphobe! Actually, there are sani-​wipes at the entrance and you can bring your antibacterial gel as a precaution. I like to live dangerously, so no gloves, filter mask, or hazmat suit for me.
February is theee month to check out a number of San Diego museums, when admission is 50% off with a Museum Month pass, available at no additional charge from a local Macy’s store while supplies last, or via free download from the San Diego Museum Council web page. Regular adult admission is $ 17, but there are discounts and special offers available. Not into swarms of kids? Then pass on this place, especially during schoolday field trips and Free admission 1^st Tuesdays of each month. Willing to spend a few bucks to «babysit» here instead of the McPlay Place? Consider the museum as an option. That link to the Museum Month pass. Here ya go, kiddies!
We enjoy the variety of Reuben H Fleet Science Center exhibits to keep Mini-​me edutained™. Similar to getting excluded from another Elite event, Mini-​me was disappointed that she wasn’t picked to participate during the «Don’t Try This at Home» live science shows, located upstairs towards the south part of the building. There are a variety of presentations scheduled and sometimes kids from the audience can help out (safety gear included, of course). We sat in on a show with demonstrations of liquid nitrogen, Mentos in a 2L soda pop bottle, and the show finale was kids aiming leaf blowers rigged with toilet paper rolls at the audience. Mini-​me said the show was cool and fun to watch.
I was intrigued with the Kugelbahn, a contraption of rolling balls and kinetic art. It reminded me of a toddler activity board, pushing beads along a curving wire, except this one is on laboratory approved steroids. You turn a mechanical wheel, which releases a billiard ball and gravity does the rest. Quite clever that there were alternating paths that the rolling objects traveled and turning the wheel also affects other moving parts of the sculpture.
Everyone had fun messing with the «Block Busters!» exhibit. Thousands of precision cut, wooden KĒVA® (Knowledge Exploration Visual Arts) planks. At first glance I thought, «meh. Jenga for kids,» then I find an open table and start arranging. This building stuff can go on for a while. I noticed pictures of the unique UCSD structures as an applied science. I see more intricate wood block displays not to be touched. My glorious tower comes crashing down along with dreams of becoming an architectural engineer.
Some exhibits can be hit or miss with capturing attention. The general vibe of the museum doesn’t exactly scream cutting edge or state-​of-​the-​art. Some seem like hokey things to fill an empty space and others are plain worn out and depleted. You’ll read and browse, then try it out, and ho-​hum move along. Others might be mind blowing wonders of fascinating omfg science because you just got learned. Definitely exercise your ADD, wander around, discover stuff, and check everything out at least once at the Science Center.

I was pleasantly surprised after visiting this museum. Spent the weekend babysitting and took a trip to the science museum for an outing.
This is a hands on museum. Kids and the big kids can enjoy this place. My ticket price included a movie that was in their dome theater. Impressive.
They had the Illusions Exhibit on display. Which was neat. What I truly liked the best that this place was educational and was a place where it was interactive. You could constantly touch the displays to make them move. Or make sounds. Having a little kid with me this made a big difference as it held it his attention.
We learned about electricity and even had a chance to pedal a bike to see how much energy we expanded to make a light bulb light up.
I plan to go back again. Or actually am thinking about getting the Balboa Park pass to be able to visit this museum again. the Balboa Park pass allows a person to be able to visit all of the museums for one price. Not a bad deal. The family plan is an even better option.