My friends and I went for the eclipse showings, and had a fantastic time. The presenter was super…read moreknowledgeable and clearly loves sharing their passion for astronomy with visitors. The showing we attended had about 10 young children in it who were fairly roudy and asked tons of questions and constantly interrupted our presenter, but the presenter was a total champ and was amazing at answering them. Their knowledge of how to operate the actual planetarium's video system (the whole point of the planetarium) was great, and they even did an on-the-spot trip to the moon to look at a lunar eclipse from that view. Overall fantastic trip, and glad that I found this hidden gem.

Read the reviews; Drove to see for myself with + 1 kiddo; and "Closed" :-( Please OPEN :-)read more

The Bonsai Museum is a hidden gem. We had a few hours to kill before picking up dinner and heading…read moreover to my cousins house. Since she and her family live in Fife, I ordered and scheduled pickup for 2:30 pm in Federal Way. We weren't what to do in the meantime and so I looked up botanical parks. The bonsai Museum and the Rododendron botanical Park came up. We noticed they were across from each other and so we headed over to the parks. It's a nice drive over there as everything is so green and lush. Once we parked, we noticed that we needed to walk a bit to get to the exhibits. Once we got to the exhibits, the Rododendron botanical park was on the left side with $12 entrance fee and on the right side was the bonsai Museum with free entry. On the outside, they do have restrooms available before heading into the bonsai museum We didn't know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised with all the bonsai displays they had by the different artists from different countries, and there were a lot. It took us about 30 minutes to get through the entire exhibit. We would've stayed longer to read all the information, but we were running short on time and we still wanted to visit the botanical park across the way. I highly recommend the Pacific Bonsai Museum if you're in the Federal Way area especially because it's free.

Admission to the Pacific Bonsai Museum is free and there were a vast amount of bonsai trees on…read moredisplay. I loved that the exhibit is located among the Pacific Northwest trees. I enjoyed seeing the variety and reading about its history from the original owner who started the growth of the tree. This museum is next to the former Weyerhaeuser headquarters which is now vacant. Highly recommend this museum whether you are a bonsai fan or not.

Not bad, but quite small. If you've been to the Seattle Museum, you might be disappointed…read more There is designated parking, so don't get towed. The staff is nice. Overall, it's not bad, but it's not great.

I was able to visit this museum for free on the third Thursday of the month. There was also a…read moreworkshop studio and I created a nice journal cover. It was a great experience. Please come and create your own adventure.

This mansion museum was a great way to spend a slow afternoon in Puyallup…read more It is currently a $15 fee for adults to do a self tour of the home. You are welcome to take photos, and please, take your time! There is plenty to read either on the pamphlet given to you at the entrance, or on the walls beside all the beautiful furniture, paintings, and artifacts. It's hard not to imagine yourself at the turn of the century, living in wealth in this fancy home, like the Meekers did. Ezra and Eliza Meeker were a fascinating couple who did so much with their lives, even into their last years. Traveling the Oregon Trail, hitting success with a hop business, Ezra being the mayor twice, Eliza founding the town's public library and strongly supporting the suffrage movement. I also can't help but to respect Eliza even more for her strength in character even though she was of small stature (4'8")! Especially for those who live in the area, I highly recommend you learn about this historic Puyallup family with a visit to the Meeker Mansion Museum!

I happened to be in the area and saw a sign for the Meeker Mansion, so I decided to check it out…read more Diane was very sweet and gracious and gave me a brief history of Ezra & Eliza Meeker. "Ezra was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail migrated from Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Once known as the Hop King of the World." A lot of good history of Puyallup. I didn't have time for the tour, but I appreciated seeing the mansion and getting a glimpse of this city's history. Next time, I'll have to do the tour. Thank you again, Diane, for being so nice and friendly!

This is a gorgeous and intriguing museum that I highly recommend - although be advised that right…read morenow they are renovating. They will re-open their main galleries in the fall of 2026. To help soften the blow, they have lowered admission price in the interim. The hot shop is also still open and you can watch live glass making there. There are a few exhibit cases on view. There are lots of fun works that kids' designed that are also on view on the main lobby and down the hall. We went for a glass making class, which was tons of fun. I'm sure attendance varies widely - ours was not crowded. The person monitoring the class, Audrey, was friendly; she explains everything and then you have at it. She is there to help, which includes cutting glass pieces to suit whatever design you are making (this probably depends on the style of glass you are making). FYI the gift shop is really nice and is available even if you don't go into the museum. You can purchase works by glass artists who have been at the museum - so it's more than your average gift shop.

This museum is located in Tacoma which is 30 minutes away from the Seattle airport. It is located…read moreby the Tacoma Museum of Art as well. We stopped by here before a flight, please allow for 1 1/2 hours to explore this small museum. It could be longer if you want to watch the glass artists create a piece from beginning to end. We really enjoyed watching the artists create! Parking is in a lot below the museum, there is a pay station. We took the stairs up to the main museum and then walked the bridge above the museum that leads to downtown Tacoma. I found the glass artists create displayed beautiful.

Children's Museum for free! Yep! They ask for donation and I was happy to donate! The staff are…read morecourteous and helpful and even caution the unruly kids running around! Water play area is definitely the most high activity zone. My kid almost spent an hour playing in that area. The air flow duct with scarves is another fun area for the kid. Among all the other museums I have visited, the painting, arts & crafts area is quite unique to this museum. The wooden boards and the net at the end of the museum is another adventure for all kids and not available in other museums. This was the first time I saw my kid feeling the courage to climb over the ropes and explore. The paid parking area near the museum has good number of spots but the signs can be confusing as it says "only reserved" and you tend to wonder if you will get ticketed. Park Mobile app location 50271 is good and confirmed by museum folks! Or there is street parking too!

This isn't a very large children's museum, but my 5 and 8 year old had a ton of fun playing. It's…read moreso nice that it is pay what you can so that anyone can come. We were impressed by the cleanliness. Though, I didn't look closely, nothing jumped out as being gross. If you're in the area, it's worth a stop, but I wouldn't go too far out of the way for it.

Free! Donations appreciated Great local museum in a…read morespacious building. Was great learning history about the area. They have scavenger hunts for the kids and a small gift area.

The venue itself is awesome. Great views and lots of space. However we somehow got a ticket on…read moreprivate property. Not sure how that's a thing. Wasn't clear that we needed to pay for parking either. The ticket thing ruined the otherwise good experience.

Great bridge to see the city view and the high way. The bridge connects the city to harbor and…read moreglass museum. It has great promenade on other side of the bridge to connect the harbor. On the bridge it displays some of the beautiful glass sculptures. You will pass cover walkway with flower type glasses on top. Then it is two glass pillars. Then follow by the grass sculpture cabinet. It really beautiful.

Free and a magnificently beautiful walk. I saw a small inconspicuous sign and followed it to a…read morebeautiful public display of Chihuly glass art. Please come and create your own adventure.