We visited the museum on a weekday morning. We enjoyed the displays of rocks from various parts of…read morethe earth, the Arizona-Mexican artifacts, and of course the dinosaurs, especially the aquatic dinosaurs. This museum has an active dinosaur fossil dig - you can watch and even talk to the paleontologist working on it! There's lots to see and enjoy here, including real elements from a jail that held prisoners from the 1830s to the 1970s!! The gift shop is reasonably priced and you can even purchase a "memory bag" filled with pencil, notebook eraser, etc, for only $2.50 each.

Paid $14 and only stayed about 40 minutes. There were multiple groups of school children that were…read morerunning around, screaming, jumping and bumping into everything. I expect that behavior to be tolerated at a children's museum, not a public museum where a basic level of respect and decorum is expected for EVERYONE inside. Wish I could say I enjoyed it but the hundreds of screaming children ruined any experience I could have had and left with a migraine. **Would appreciate museums to have specific days for "field trips" or hours for school days. Unfortunately many museum experiences are ruined due to the behavior of unruly children, and I'm still the one paying full price.

It is so fun to visit and has good historical significance and brings good educational experiencesread more

Was in the area from out of town and I wanted to see this beautiful house in person. I wasn't able…read moreto go inside but the outside is so pretty Love all the details. It's truly breathtaking

I grew up in an old victorian house and thought it would be fun to bring my dad here for a tour…read morewhen he was in town visiting. We ended up being the only ones on the tour which was nice. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny. The entire house has been restored to represent how the original owners would have it set up as closely as possible. The inside details are gorgeous and intricate. Our tour ended up being more like 45 minutes because it was just us and we didn't ask questions. It was a great way to spend a little bit of time before our next activity.

We visited with our kids and were blown away by how much we enjoyed this place. The trains are…read moreincredibly well preserved and beautifully restored--you can tell a lot of care and pride goes into maintaining them. It was way better than we expected. This is a fantastic winter activity, especially for families. There's plenty to see, lots of opportunities to walk through the trains, and it kept our kids engaged the whole time.

You are never too old, (or too young) to check out a Railroad Museum. This one has real moving…read morestock, from many different lines. The Pullman display is a walk through history of the way Train travel "use to be." There are (5?) cars coupled together in fully restored shape. . . several historically famous For Locomotive fans there is a cab you can climb into and learn what all the valves and levers do, plus "Ring the Bell!". Larger Kid groups might want to rent the "Party Caboose". Rental $ also covers the cost of admission. There will be knowledgable Docents to answer any ??'s, plus a gift shop. If you are lucky you might run into Steve, and get the 5 Star tour. The only down side, is that they are only open on Saturdays, and Sundays.

This is an extremely well-curated museum of the Town of Gilbert's history…read more High praise to the curator(s). The grounds and the building too are lovely. Take your time and wander through. I hope I've captured the essence of this site in my pics. Thank you for having us!

As the name implies, this is a small museum dedicated to the history of Gilbert. It's located in a…read morebuilding that used to be a school hence why the place itself feels so creaky and old. It costs $6 for adults. My personal favorite part of the museum was the train room. There's also a small art gallery where you can buy pictures as well. Most of the gallery is reading. There is also a room dedicated to a small quilting club. It isn't mind blowing, but note that you can get a free 2 person pass from one of Phoenix libraries so I suggest doing that.

We love the i.d.e.a. Museum and have been going for years. It's been really fun watching how the…read moreexperience changes as my kids get older. They've aged out of the soft play areas, but now they can spend hours at the stop motion video station and exploring the newer exhibits. The recycling area is also one of their favorites. It's such a quaint little space and incredibly affordable for what you get. I also love seeing downtown Mesa continue to grow, and the museum feels like a big part of that energy. From a parent perspective, it's really easy to visit. There's ample parking, it's very stroller and diaper bag friendly, and it's a perfect place for a playdate. You can actually have conversations while the kids explore and move between activities. The mural in the courtyard is gorgeous and the puppets are always a hit with my kids. It's one of those places we keep coming back to.

IDEA museum is such a great little play museum for little kiddos. My son has gone here at age 3 and…read more4. He loves it every time. They have a bunch of different rooms for older kids to explore- music, crafts, and the middle room always changes with different displays they can play, the other big room has the scarf and air toss, building, crafts, puppet show, ball drop and more. The baby-small toddler room my son still enjoys, it has a big soft middle area, play kitchen, play vet, play theater, a very small enclosed area for babies to crawl around which is great. And another area with magna tiles and other toys like that. I also saw the reading story time area in the back of that. They have a room for eating and also an outside patio which is huge for play and eating. Would recommend to anyone. Very affordable!

What a surprise -- this place was absolutely amazing! We honestly didn't know exactly what to…read moreexpect, and it ended up being such a fun and memorable experience. Every room and installation was completely different, creative, interactive, and made you stop and look at things in a new way. Liam and I both loved exploring everything and finding our own favorites. Definitely one of those places that is much more impressive in person than you expect from the photos. Such a unique experience -- we will absolutely be back!

A nice unique thing to do in Scottsdale when you want to cool off from the oven-like conditions…read moreoutside but still want to wander around on your feet. Wonderspaces is basically a poor-man's TeamLabs. Large scale immersive and sometimes interactive artpieces arranged in a minimal modernist setting. When I first looked to go here it looked like it was only operating 5 days a week but to my surprise and delight they were open on the Monday that I was in town, so naturally I grabbed myself a ticket for a mental diversion from my workcation otherwise holed up in my hotel. When you check-in, a nice old man explains all the exhibits and points out a few highlights, one of which is a piece where you have to sit still for 20 minutes and let "3 robuts" draw you - cuz when else do you get drawn by a robot? (Well, in the age of AI, is it all that different?) Thankfully it wasn't too crowded when I went otherwise it could get quite backlogged waiting to sit for a digital caricaturist! This was probably the most tedious of the works, so I'll start here, as I had to get the host's attention and he came over and did some set up with the robot arms and the nearby tablet's app. He made small talk with me so as to keep my gaze steady as the robots with their webcams and drawing arms started their work. After a few minutes he left me alone but insisted I stay seated still until all the robots were done. One of the robots worked on me for an extra 8 minutes, so this felt more like a dental appointment than a fun electronic experiment. Another work was very reminiscent of teamlabs with dangling strings of LED lights They made such a big deal of each light having its own IP address, which was an implementation detail that really should not have needed oversharing. The work spoke for itself and the lights synchronized to the music immersively. Another fun one was large dots flipping in such a way that you could tell was capturing your motion and playing it back. And some 3D models spun at high speed with flickering lights to make it look like they were pulsing. Then there was the uninteresting video about a boy growing up awkwardly. Didn't seem to fit the theme of the exhibit. The last large scale piece were large plastic takeout bags almost recalling the nihilism from American Beauty and the futility of consumerism - which I think is the underlying principle that got me to spend money in this museum in the first place. A big crowd pleaser which was a large suspended tapestry was out of commission - you could see it but it was lowered for maintenance, so I missed out on that. Anyway, was it a good diversion? I'm satisfied.

Such a fun place to visit! There are so many restaurants and activities all in one area, plus…read moreparking is easy. Not too fun during the summer though because it's open parking! It's also a great spot to entertain and tire out the kids! Lol There's even a Ferris wheel, but it was way too hot for us to ride. We also found a photo booth near the restrooms ($8), which was a fun little bonus. It's conveniently located near OdySea, Topgolf, and Talking Stick, and it's super easy to get to from the freeway. If you're visiting during the summer, I'd recommend saving the outdoor walking for the cooler months and spending the hotter afternoons indoors at OdySea.

This is a cool, though touristy, entertainment destination in Scottsdale. Lots of positives about…read morethe place. A nice variety of family-friendly activities along with several shops and eateries on site, free parking, and great deals with the purchase of a combo ticket to experience different attractions at a discount. I did the "pick 2" combo for access to Butterfly Wonderland and the UFO Experience, and though the former was far more interesting and enjoyable, I'm glad I was able to check out both during my recent visit. Service was great as I interacted with staff at the arizona boardwalk, and the place wasn't overly crowded on a Sunday, which I appreciated.