-
Wonderworks
9 reviews
Orlando, FL
Category: Amusement Parks
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Rating Details »
Categories: Amusement Parks, Public Services & Government [Edit]
Kennedy Space CenterKennedy Space Center, FL 32899
(321) 449-4444
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
13 reviews for John F. Kennedy Space Center
Just a wonderful place to visit IF you have at least a half day to spend there!! Like a fabulously outfitted museum, the Kennedy Space Flight center offers up a compelling and very engaging park in which to learn about rockets and space travel, and about the brave pioneers who have made our progress happen!
In the park, there are about five huge buildings to visit, along with a few outdoor attractions (like a rocket garden with lots of rockets used in the past.) There even was a wonderful show about the environment and space there!! The buildings house everything from IMax shows to a really fun (if short) ride simulating a shuttle launch - fun!!! Today being a holiday, there were lots of international tourists, and we had fun trying to figure out who was from where!
We only had 2.5 hours for fun, and quite frankly, that was enough. The sun was super strong and hot, so seeing all of the exhibits and missing the bus tour out to the launch area was enough for us.
Nicely done, great historical show and activities to take part in!!! Worth it, even tho tickets ranged from $25 - $45. Go if you have plenty of time to see it all!
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
Yay! I'm a fan....with conditions.
First of all. $38 dollars for an adult and $26 for kids over the age of 4 !!! ARE YOU ALL MENTAL?????? Its not like you have a bunch of characters in costume running around or a bunch of rides that need constant maintenance. I was maybe expecting $26 - $30 for adults and about $17 for kids. I guess I should be thankful that parking was free. Oh, and no Florida Resident Discount. Boo that.
Ah but then I get inside and the security check has more people working there than Miami International Airport on Thanksgiving. And they are more thorough. My video camera battery was dead so I couldn't bring it in. We had to schlep back through the car park to leave it in the car. OH well...that'll teach me to plug the darned thing in at the hotel when the electricity is free (helloooo too much Margarita at Margaritaville in Orlando!!)
OK...back we go and into the..ummm..facility. Its not really what you could call an adventure park now is it? But I have a 12 yr old son who's current form of entertainment is drinking coke and seeing how long he can burp. That and reading every single piece of interesting information he can lay his hands on. Is he a nerd? Possibly. Does he know more about space exploration than me? You betcha!!!
He wanted to see E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.
So we did. Almost.
Try to get here early in the day so that you have time to avail of the free visit to the Astronomer's Hall of Fame down the road that is included in the price. Also, you will want to see the Imax presentations and if you leave it too late you will miss the bus tour, the last of which leaves at 2:15.
I don't know if they let you bring in food but the food there was crazy priced as are all such like places. $2.60 for a bottle of water. It adds up like crazy when you have kids.
The bus ride to the outlaying exhibits is interesting. Getting close to the launch pads is super interesting. But getting into the International Space Station Center where the parts come for "clearance" (for want of the proper word) was just the WOW factor for me. The guard on duty was super excited to show us the final piece of the International Space Center which had just arrived from Italy and is due to be sent up there in February 2010. The majority of the staff here are super friendly and cool until its about 5p.m and they are itching to get home and then some of them become cranky old farts rushing you along and grumbling and complaining.
The Endeavour was out on the launch pad that day. It was there as a precaution as the Atlantis was due to arrive at California that day (which it did). So it was super cool to get up on the observation tower and look through the telescopes and see it close up - just as if it were ready for launch.
Man I would so love to be there to see one of those babies take off.
Maybe someday.
People thought this was:
- Useful (4)
- Funny (4)
- Cool (4)
March 24 2008, I was in Miami and reading the paper that tonight is the launch of the space shuttle.
10 miles before the space centre we see like a red carpet of cars parked by both sides of the road and the people are outside and on top of the cars, anyway we drove miles till the army had the blocked it off, and we parked in the middle of the road right next to army, so did everybody else, and ran out with the video cameras, it was like 2 minutes to go, then.... AWESOME!! looks like.... [I added some photos which I made from the original videos on my pc]
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (1)
I came hoping to see a shuttle lauch, I know the schedule changes a lot... about a month before my trip they moved the lauch up. Just my luck! We decided to visit anyway.
This place is huge!!!! We got there a little after noon and probally should have went earlier. Some of the tours were sold out. It was busy but we got a great parking spot since a few early visitors were leaving.
Tour is well organized w/buses to take you between complexes. I found it interesting that this is surrounded by protected wildlife areas so we saw many birds (including an eagle and eagle's nest), and several aligators!
Some bus drivers were great, adding comments in between the video. Others are terrible barely wanting to speak to us. Most of the staff is very friendly and helpful. We had a few that were strange that gave us misinformation but most were great.
There's lots of movies on the tour, many very outdated. My husband and I started to avoid them since we had limited time. There's enough people around to answer questions so I don't feel we missed out on much.
Gift shops sell tons of space related ship. You can even get your photo taken in funny poses like on the moon or in 0 gravity.
One thing that was disappointing is that I was hoping to see a "real" shuttle. Most things here are replicas, some are kind of fake looking making me feels like a sucker tourist...
We saw signs for the Space Center on our way to Cocoa Beach and figured we'll give it a look. On the way we saw the Disney cruise boats..they're HUGE!!!!
The rockets look even bigger in real life. Anyhow, we got to the front entrance....took some pictures and then realized it's $40 to get in!!! After a red eye flight and arriving at 7am.... I wasn't in any mood to do a tour that would probably take a few hours.
We got to see an air show on the way back too. There were cars just pulled over on the side of the road! What a day! I'll post up my horrible lunch ordeal after I finish this post.
Had a great time here. Didn't get to see everything due to a mistake we made that morning, but that is another story and has nothing to do with KSC - but it did get us free tickets to the space center.
The tour was great. We didn't make it to all the stops (missed the International Space Station Center) because we were running late due to the above mentioned additional story to be told at a later date (or review). But what we did see was very very cool. The launch clock, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB ---Wow, that place is huge), the launch pads. It was very cool to be able to be behind the scenes. Wish we could have gotten the extra tours, but they were already sold out.
You do need a full day or more to see everything. It is worth coming out here to remind you of the wonder of space travel. I remember when it was a big deal that the shuttle was going and coming from space. We would take time out of class (I was in elementary school) to watch most of the launches. Now, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. The only reason I knew about the recent launch was because my uncle was going to be there.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Cool (2)
First visited some fifteen years ago. Couple things that I was happy to see changed since then: your ticket is good for two days (have to use day 2 within seven days of first use) and the Astronaut Hall of Fame is included with admission. Took the bus tour and again was amazed by how far we've come in space. *An added bonus of the bus tour, along the route we saw three manatees, two tortoises crossing the road and one alligator! Space and wildlife...how cool is that?!
The two IMAX films provided welcome relief on a hot, humid day...the Space Station film was excellent! On our way out we stopped at the concession stand and got our daughter some Space Dots: rainbow dippin dots in a clear plastic space helmet...$4.95 well spent!
Maybe this place isn't terrible if you show up the minute it opens, but if you show up at 2 p.m. - it is.
The admission is $38 which seems steep when it covers a bus tour and 2 movies and your told there's no way you'll make the final bus tour of the day (which takes off more than 3 hours before closing time) and you can only see one of the IMAX movies.
Imagine dragging four kids here only to be told that the last bus leaves in 15 minutes and you won't make it - I saw this happen.
Unlike the previous reviewers two 45-minute IMAX movies are not a huge selling point for me. I thought I'd come here to see the things I've seen on TV in person, not watch them on a bigger screen.
There is no general admission fee for those of us who came to Florida to spend time outside and traveled to the space center hoping to just walk around and take a look.
A woman who just wanted to go to the gift shop was denied and directed 5 miles down the road to the one at the astronaut hall of fame.
The ticket window workers were actually kind of rude and offered that the admission allowed us to return the next day as a response when we asked why we would pay for a full admission when 2 of the three attractions they said it payed for were done for the day.
We thought the Space Center would be a cool and economical alternative to the theme park route - it wasn't.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (1)
Spend a whole day here, you won't regret it. I thought it was going to be small like the space center in Houston. Big mistake! There is a bus tour that will take you close to the launch pads, to the Saturn V rocket and info about the Apollo missions, and to the International Space Center. It will take you 3 hours, so plan carefully!
In addition to the bus tour, there are 2 IMAX theaters playing two 45 minute movies. One is about living in a space shuttle, the other is about landing on the moon. There's also a shuttle launch simulator, which is good, but not as good as the one in Epcot. You can also meet astronauts, check out the rocket garden, go inside a model of a space shuttle, touch a moon rock, buy space food, moon soup, whew! That's a lot of stuff! AND if you get your ticket validated when you leave, you'll get free, valid within 7 days admission to the nearby Astronaut Hall of Fame.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (1)
Being a huge space aficionado since, well, the 3rd grade, I'd have to say that visiting Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is one of the coolest experiences of my life! I went to the spaceport on February 8 and 9 of this year, and it was a thrill to see an actual shuttle out on the launch pad. Even though the orbiter itself was concealed by a protective gantry (in NASA parlance: a Rotating Service Structure), I took lots of pictures of space shuttle Discovery on its pad (Launch Complex 39A). I also took many photos of the sister pad, LC-39B, which is located about a mile away from 39A. What is cool about 39B is the fact it was currently being retrofitted for the Constellation Program (which calls for NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon by, hopefully, 2020). Three new 600 feet-high lightning towers were being constructed at the Pad (two of the three towers are now complete), and they will serve as protection for the Ares-1 rocket, which will replace the space shuttle in 2010 and hopefully becoming operational by 2015.
If you're a huge space geek like I am, you need to set aside at least two days if you want to visit every area that you can at Kennedy Space Center. On my first day of visit (Feb 8), I took the tour that comes free with the general admission ($38 per adult, $28 per child). With this tour, you visit the LC-39 Observation Gantry (which is located about 1 mile from Pad A and 2 miles from Pad B), the Apollo/Saturn V center (where you can take a glimpse of an actual Saturn V rocket on display) and the International Space Station Center (technically called the Space Station Processing Facility). What makes this tour pretty cool is that you can stay at any of these sites for as long as you can...until the final bus shows up and you have to return to the KSC Visitors Complex, that is. Till 5:00 pm, buses show up at each tour stop around every 15 minutes to drop off and pick up visitors.
On my second day of visit (Feb 9), I took the NASA Up-Close Tour...which is the best tour you can go on if you want to see actual rockets on the launch pad. Excluding general admission, the tour costs $21 per adult and $15 per child. But what makes this price worth it is the fact you are driven to an area that allows you to take glimpse of launch pads at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Also, you are taken to the KSC Industrial Complex where parts for the space shuttle are fabricated, and where the Space Station Processing Facility is located. After that, you are driven to an area between Pads' 39A and B that give you a great view point of the two launch complexes. Not only that, but you are driven close to the Vehicle Assembly Building...which has been in existence since the Apollo era. You are obviously given time to take pictures of this structure, which is in fact, the largest 1-story office building in the world (to quote my tour guide). And lastly, the Up-Close Tour takes you to one of the world's longest runways: the Space Shuttle Landing Facility. Although passengers were not allowed to get off the bus and step onto the runway itself, it was nice to see in person the landing strip where one of the most complex spacecraft ever made returns to Earth as a glider. A 100-TON glider, that is. The Up-Close Tour lasts for about 2 hours, so take as many photographs as you can while being driven by bus to these various areas.
All-in-all, it is definitely worth going to Kennedy Space Center. If you're planning to go to this historic site, GO SOON...especially if you want to see the space shuttle in person. As of right now, this technological marvel will be retired next year. See it while you can.
check when the next launch is scheduled, pack your bags and go. awesome sight.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (1)
Kennedy Space Center
Cape Canaveral, Florida, east of Orlando. Spaceport U.S.A., Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899-0001, Phone: (321) 452-2121
This is a cool place to go if you want to learn a hand's on lesson of the Kennedy Space Center.
You have the walk on tour and you can see most of the site and how they get the extremely huge (building like) Space Shuttles to the lonching pad that takes a lot of time to transport the Space Craft to.
You should go there and you will feel extremely small compared to huge building sized Space Crafts. Yeah I was amazed to be there in the place that has changed billions of live's around the world. We have advanced the world's technology to present days status, but this is just micro steps compared to what people are dreaming about right now.
Please check out this place and see how we have advanced so fast into today's "modern technology."
Thanks for reading this and I hope you will visit this site to see for yourself what the K.S.C. has to offer.
http://www.nasa.gov/ab...
Kennedy Space Center
Cape Canaveral, Florida, east of Orlando. Spaceport U.S.A., Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899-0001, Phone: (321) 452-2121
* If you've read the other reviews and are already sold on the idea of going to Kennedy Space Center, jump down to the "Tips" at the bottom.
I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little. Growing up near Vandenberg AFB in California (what was supposed to be the West Coast equivalent of KSC), I was heartbroken when NASA mothballed the SLC-6 launchpad after the Challenger disaster. I waited 20+ years to see Kennedy Space Center ... and I wasn't disappointed.
As the other (positive) reviews and the official website state, plan for an all day trip. The main complex itself has quite a bit to offer and much of it is kid-friendly. I particularly liked the rocket garden which allowed you to see the relative sizes of the early rockets - the Mercury Redstone is tiny! There's also a ride which simulates the first six-minutes of a shuttle launch - cool but very "Star Tours"-like in its execution. However, it's the bus tour that makes KSC so special.
The bus tour is listed as taking a minimum of 2 and 1/2 hours, assuming that you don't linger at any of the stops. There are three stops where you can get off the bus and view exhibits during the tour:
1) The International Space Station Center: allows you to view the ISS components scheduled to be added
2) The launch pad observation gantry: a viewing station where you can see the shuttle if it's being prepped for launch
3) The Apollo/Saturn V Center: Features the actual Apollo program mission control room and a FRICKIN' FULL-SIZED SATURN V ROCKET LYING ON ITS SIDE!
Just for the record, the information phone number (321-449-4444) and the website clearly state that the last bus leaves at 2:15 due to the length of the tour. Oddly, the brochures do not state this but you have to call the info number for operating hours (not published because they vary due to season and launch operations) so you should still find this out before you go.
Now, you can stop with just that or you can opt for the additional add-ons. There are two extended tours, Cape Canaveral Then and Now and the NASA Up-Close Tour. I've only take the Up-Close tour but ... WOW! I timed it right and got to see a shuttle on the pad from half the distance possible on the standard tour - the pictures came out amazing! Check out the "Photos" link above to see a sample. There's also "Lunch with an Astronaut" where you and 100 other people enjoy a buffet-style lunch while a current or former astronaut tells his stories. I didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be a really cool experience.
I've been to KSC twice now (including today) and can't wait to go back again ...
* Tips:
1) Be realistic. You don't have to get there right at opening but the more time you allow the better - there's a reason the general admission is good for two-days. Accept the fact that you probably won't see everything in one day and you'll be much happier. My first trip I was there from 9AM-2PM and the second trip I was there from 11AM-4PM. Both times I saw quite a bit of what KSC had to offer but didn't get to see everything. I still haven't seen the Astronaut Hall of Fame (included with the admission) because I spent so much time at the main complex both trips.
2) Pay for one of the extras. Though there is the standard tour included with the base admission, EVERYBODY will try to get on those tours so you might be waiting a while for the buses even though they leave every 15 minutes - especially on a busy day. The extra tours are reservation based so you're guaranteed a seat.
3) Plan in advance. The extra tours are VERY popular and will fill up. Most people buy the tickets at the front gate and so if you don't get there early you won't get one of these tickets. However, you can buy tickets in advance (online at http://www.kennedyspac... or by phone at 321-449-4400) and then pickup your tickets at will-call (booths 1-4 at the left of the main plaza). This guarantees your spot AND lets you skip the massive general ticket lines.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
