Discovery Cube

I don't think the Discovery Cube emphasizes enough that nearly every exhibit is a hands-on learning experience. This works perfectly for kids with short attention spans (e.g. all of them), as there is just the right amount of reading, and a hefty portion of doing to drive home each exhibit. We will be back again! Note that Museums on Us includes this museum, for B of A card holders (but still expect to pay full price for the kiddos).

Highly recommend for family to take kids go there. They do have many activities for different age of kids to play to learn. Suggest buy membership to go many times you want.

The price of admission was not bad after discount from the tiket sale person. This place had a little of everything but mostly for kids five and older. My 2 yr old had fun but my teen had even more fun. We left shorty after my little one got hit with the hokey stick. When two boys were playing around and did not wait their turn. There was no associate to enforce the rules. Therefore, we left upset after my toddlers eye was getting swollen.

For years I had thought about taking my kids here but had never gotten it together to make the 40 mile trek from home. One thing that appealed to me when planning this day out was that the admission price is not cheap ($15 a person and it probably only takes about 2 hours to see everything if you are slow) and so my hope was that there would not be too many unruly children running around with no supervision as there often are at less expensive and free children's' museums. Unfortunately, to my dismay, when we arrived, there were a ton of people in line, and subsequently we realized that it was "first Tuesdays Santa Ana residents get in free" day (if you've ever been to Santa Ana, you'll realize this can be a scary prospect). But since we had made the drive I went ahead and paid what it took to get in (pretty sure we were the only people there who paid to get in). It was tolerable inside about the first half hour but once the place began filling up, it became increasingly unbearable, stinky and loud. But my kids had been having a good time (when they weren't getting crushed) and again, we had driven so far, I tried to suck it up. But finally after about an hour and a half of getting trampled by dirty, unruly children and teens with no supervision, I decided to inquire at the front desk if it would perhaps be possible to get a voucher to come back another day or perhaps even be given a discounted offer or coupon so that we could come back on a less miserable day. The ticket girl made herself scarce and pretended to go speak to her supervisor and upon coming back then told me that there was nothing they could do- that in fact this is the high season and this day was no busier than any other day would be. I find this difficult to believe as what place isn't more busy when it's FREE? (And in fact later on when I asked a gift shop employee and the parking fee attendant, they both told me that it was crazy today and it's not normally that bad.) I explained that I was not asking for a refund and that they would not be taking a risk by offering me a future discount that I may or may not use and her solution was that maybe I should apply what I spent on our admission to getting a full family membership ($100). Wow. So you do absolutely nothing for me after we have a miserable time and then you expect me to shell out another 50 bucks? Sorry but no way.

So, sadly, we won't ever be going back, which is really a shame because the facility is quite nice.

FYI, teachers get in free, but annoyingly, when we purchased our tickets, my sis-in-law asked if they offered any kind of teacher discounts and was told no so she paid full price.

However, if you are a Santa Ana resident who can get in free and/or you are unfazed by dirty places overrun with unruly, possibly lice-bearing children and you don't mind poor customer service, you and your kids might just have a good time.

Before taking my sons there I did read several of the reviews butI've been driving past this Center for close to 16 years and couldn't resist taking themfinally. One of the reviews described the Center as a Casino for kids. I thought that was a great analogy after visiting. It was chaos & mayhem. Another review indicated the ticket/admission process was brokenIT IS! We waited in line for 20 minutes and there were only 8 families in front of usstrangelyour transaction only took about 30 seconds.

As I was trying to teach my four year old to wait his turn and be respectful of smaller children - a larger child would, literally,come and shove a child to the ground to get at a game/station (I saw this happen three times). There was no management or employee assistance when it came to enforcing or creating queue lines for the children/parents to see/interact/experience any of the things to see. So you are constantly telling children that there is a line and that you were next. 50% of the time they wouldn't care. Most parents were hands-off and it seemed as though that behavior was expected and there was no leadership available in the Center to assist with helping change that atmosphere.

We purchased tickets to the 4D movie and arrived for our viewing time (1:15pm) and there was only 1 seat available! We had 3 ticketsso I had to sit and have one of my son's on one knee & my other son on my other knee. I get why airlines overbookI do not understand why the Discovery Science Center oversold the movie times. It was miserable and because my older son couldn't really see the screenwe left the movie.

All of that being saidit had the potential of being a great learning experience. They have a vast array of interactive stations that show everything from the human body/skeletons to earthquake simulation to dinosaurs to a wind tunnel. It's just too bad that my boys weren't able to experience it all. I will not be returning to the Discovery Science Center again. It was definitely a waste of $61 in my opinion.

We booked a party room for our grandson's birthday party recently.

The room was very comfortable for 30 people (adults & children), with food service counter, fresh beverages, flat screen tvs and close to interactive exhibits.

We upgraded the party reservation to include a food order (catering) for both kids and adults. The food was fresh and very tasty!

Instructors offered an informative and interactive activity on dinosaurs for the children, with an additional hands-on activity for the kids - making 'slime'. The kids had an absolute blast!

After the party, the kids (and adults) enjoyed all of the interactive exhibits within the Discovery Cube (included in the party package).

A great time was had by all. Would book the Discovery Cube AGAIN!

Parking is limited. Party packages usually include free reserved parking for 1-2 vehicles. If the parking lot attendant tells you the lot is full, remind him/her that you have a party package. You'll then be directed to the reserved parking area.

We were really impressed. The activites were age appropriate, and interesting for the adults also. There is such a variety from science to history, to activites. I think we did not see it all in over 5 hours. The café had a great innovative menu, not the run of the house fast food -but focused on appeal, nutrition, and taste. I look forward to returning. The kids with us were ages 5 and 7- but there is plenty for all ages here.

If you've driving down the 5 freeway in Orange County, it's no doubt you've seen the big cube. I had driven by so many times I decided to go check it out, it is three stories of interactive fun for all ages. I actually went by myself cause I was curious of what was inside, but if you have little ones, oh my goodness it'd be so much fun. There is also a Pizza Hut and snacks inside which is great, because you will want to play for at least a couple hours. There is even an outdoor dinosaur play area, way cute!

My child and I got to visit the Discovery Science Center for the first time on a school field trip.  We looked forward to this visit, but it turned out to be the greatest disappointment.  The field trip group consisted 4 classes with a total of 100 children,

At the beginning of the "guided tour", we were told that our agenda was to spend time on the first floor, followed by lunch, then visit the second floor, watch a 4D movie, and then finish with the dinosaur exhibit.

We were given 25 minutes to spend on the first floor.  We were told that the children are encouraged to touch and experience all exhibits hands-on, but there are just not enough exhibits nor time for each child to take turns.  On top of that, we were instructed that we were not allowed to go to several exhibits, because they are not designed for group.  In the end, most children didn't get to touch anything.   

Then we were herded across the street to eat lunch at a "park".  We spend 30 minutes walking to And from the lunch site, and then the children had to either sit on tree stumps or dirt ground, both had crawling ants.  According to the school admin who coordinated the trip, the center staff originally told her that we would be eating in the dinosaur area, but the plan got changed after we arrived.

After lunch, the Center staff informed us that there were no time to visit the second floor, and we have to skip it.  We were led to the theatre to watch the 4D movie, which was probably the only part of this trip that was worth while for the kids.  

When the movie ended, we were led to the dinosaur area.  Each adult was give a wand that was supposed to interact with the exhibits, but a lot of those were not functioning correctly.  The children just ended up running around, not knowing what's going on, We had about 20 minutes at the dinosaur exhibits before the end of the "tour".  

When a few of us parents decided to stay with our children, so they can actually get some hands-on time and learn something, we were informed that unless we pay the full admission, we have to leave and cannot stay.  We were informed that the $17/child and $13/adult price we paid was a "discounted group price" for only the 3-hour "guided tour" (mind you, there was no guidance what-so-ever other than telling us where we cannot do and that we have no time for this and that) with our school, so unless we pay another $12.95 for each child and $14.95 for each adult, we have to leave.  We also could not just pay the difference between the so-called groups discount price and the full admission.  When I asked the staff to tell my disappointed child that she has to could not stay, they refused.  They told me that I am the parent and it was my choice not to pay more money to stay.  

So at the end of $17 and 3 hours, my child did not get hands-on time with any exhibits and she learned nothing.  The only thing she got to experience was the 4D movie, which was $3 (according to the admission price).  I went back to school, gave my feed back to the school staff.  All the school staff and teachers that I spoke with agreed that this was one of e worst field trip experience we ever had, it was horribly organized and not suited for a large group.  Our school will not be going back to the Discovery Science Center again for field trips. 

My husband and I were hoping this field trip experience would give us the chance to check the Discovery Science center out before we buy annual membership.  Needless to say, we will not be purchasing memberships.  Currently, we have no plan to revisit the Discovery Science Center.

It was crowded and there was a line to see everything. we found out that it was resident free days nice place to go but not on a free day.