High recommend The Modesto Children's Museum to anyone with kids. I first visited as a teacher with…read moremy PreK/TK aged students during a few yearly class field trips. The kids LOVED the climbing structure and big slide AND the water room. The museum also has a light room where children can manipulate magnatiles and create colorful light projections. There's a shopping/store area where children shop, play in the juice bar area, and ring up customers. The air flow area where children can use air to make beach balls float and color scarves shoot through vacuum tubes and fly. There are a couple areas that alternate themes and activities. There are family bathrooms. There's a low stimulation room if your child needs a sensory break. This room also doubles as a nursing room. Every single employee is incredibly kind and helpful. I loved MoChiMu so much that I got my 1 year old a membership for her first birthday so now are regular and attended our first story time at closing the other night. We mostly stay in the little rainbows area that is specifically for children 0-3. They can climb, play with light projector to make colorful projections on the wall, manipulate the giant colorful light bright wall, read books, or rock or bounce on the other movement toys. The museum is probably ideal for kids when they start crawling and seeking movement to maybe 7/8 depending on the child's interests and developmental age. My baby loved watching other children and listening them talk and play at around 6 months, and now she's climbing all over the little rainbows area and walking around to look at and explore the rest of the museum. Anywho, check it out when you can. Yearly membership's go on sale sometimes too so look out for that. You can also get 4 free tickets once a year if you have an adult library card through the discover and go page.

Was a cute place to by 3 year old son! They have an area upstairs for just 0-3 years old and he had…read morea lot of fun. The water exhibit was definitely his favorite! For a Saturday there wasn't too many kiddos so it was felt very spacious and not too cluttered with kids. For $30 for me and him, I'd say it was a great price. Staff were also very nice and friendly!

We stopped by the World of Wonders Science Museum for their birthday celebration and honestly had…read moresuch a great time. WOW has always been a favorite for our family, but this event really brought the whole community together. The museum was full of energy with kids running from activity to activity, experimenting, building, and just having fun learning without even realizing it. The raffle baskets were fantastic and way bigger than I expected. You could tell local businesses and supporters really showed up for this event. There were vendors set up, tons of hands on activities throughout the museum, and yes, free popcorn which automatically makes any kid event a win. What I love most about WOW is that it never feels overwhelming or overly structured. Kids are encouraged to explore, touch everything, and be curious. You can easily spend a few hours here and still not see it all. It is such an important space for downtown Lodi and a great reminder of how valuable places like this are for families. Fun, educational, and genuinely community-driven. We had a blast celebrating with the WOW museum!

Fun place to bring the little ones to explore some science! Love the hands on exhibits and the…read morekids (a lot of them) seemed to really like the sand box. There's a separate area for the littlest kiddos which is nice and enough throughout for my older child to keep occupied for a few hours. It doesn't look like a huge space but there's enough for little kids to explore and I think it's great to have something like this in the community

Railtown State Historic Park is extremely cool and fun for all ages! We got to stand on the caboose…read morebuilt for Back To The Future III, viewed the train smoke stack from Little House on the Prairie train, coal powered steam engines, and we saw the Well from the olddddddd show Peticoat Junction: We also were able to see some old trains including ones with wooden grates in the front, and lots of train parts!! He enjoyed explaining things to me.. For a very small fee you can take a ride on a train. Walk around the grounds and see old engines, workshops with all sorts of parts, machines of all sorts. A map is providing for easy understanding of the grounds. It is a trek to get across the grounds and would be difficult for someone with mobility issues. Both of my children grew up coming to not only this park, but to Columbia also. Our family has made many trips here over the years. We love combining, education, history and adventure. They host Christmas events here like the Polar Express train ride to North Pole. This was such a spectacular event I brought my daughter to when she was little. We watched the movie the night before. When we arrived in our pajamas for our VIP seat, we stood in line where we were lovingly harassed by actors. We boarding the train after getting a golden ticket! We sat in the back car. Actors were dancing and singing and chasing hobos off the train while we enjoyed a ride and spilled hot cocoa out of polar express keepsake mugs. Arriving at North Pile and seeing the elves and Santa pushed it over the edge for my young daughter. She was beyonnnnnd excited!! Will I return: We always do. There's something incredibly nostalgic about this place!

This review is strictly for the 'Polar Express' holiday ride…read more Our family had high expectations for the polar express train ride. We were looking forward to a "magical" evening for the kids but the experience turned out to be what a huge disappointment and waste of money!! 45 minutes of the one hour ride was a slow churn in darkness through unkept brush. for $80 a person ($720 for the family), it is an insult to people and to the holiday! Shame on these people! Wow!! Wow!! Wooow!! That is what we kept saying as we approached the 'north pole' which was some farm equipment with lights on them, crudely painted wood and cardboard cutouts of reindeer and other christmas figures, horrible lighting, and a couple of people standing in costumes waiving. At $80 a person, this is a complete RIP OFF! We all agreed that at best it is not worth more than $20, Avoid this scam at all costs.

Elegant, unique, historical venue for a wedding. Paired with great weather made the outdoor-indoor…read morecombination just perfect for the intimate event. Added chic decor and great vibes made for a perfect evening.

Yesterday the McHenry Mansion had free entry into the mansion as well as carriage rides and crafts…read moreat the museum/park across from the mansion. It was decorated for Christmas which is so beautiful! The staff were very nice and helpful. It was quite busy but overall a nice experience! At the museum, they had crafts that my friends and I participated in. We also walked through the museum and it wasnt as busy as the mansion! We had a good day and enjoyed ourselves!

Well as of last year the Mistlin Gallery closed permanently. It was taken over by the City of…read moreModesto and a good community of artists of all ages were left disbanded. We had a wonderful gallery with events and shows and volunteers committed to the arts. Sad to see it go........

A local treasure that many cities the size of Modesto don't have: a good-sized gallery devoted to…read moredisplaying local art, with a gift shop that sells pieces by local artists, including very affordable prints and cards. Some of the same local artists whose art you can buy also give classes in the learning space. Exhibits rotate often, and there are always announcements for the next one. Now here's the thing with a place that displays a lot of local art: the aesthetics will vary. There are artists I think are top-notch (and I buy the print versions I can afford because my current budget doesn't stretch to originals to go over the sofa). There are artists I think are.. having a great time with self-expression (so I don't buy). Regardless, it is delightful that these are my neighbors (more or less), and many are depicting the local landscape in a part of California that tends to get neglected. Where else can I buy prints of actual Modesto-area places, rather than the "more important" beauty spots elsewhere in the state? I adore this gallery and go as often as I can. Occasionally they will feed you cheese bits or whatever, in a festive way.

Came here for the haunted house event about a week ago and I'm not sure if I would come back again…read more Tickets were $35 each (purchased online) and you have to park and walk about 10-15 minutes to the castle or you can take the little van that drives you there which also takes the same amount of time. We took the van to the castle but they don't drop you off directly in front of the castle so you still have to walk down through security and then to the castle. Porte potty's are available right before security and once you walk up the hill to wait in line to enter the castle. There were a couple food trucks when we went, we were expecting a few based on what was said online but not sure if it depends on the time. We waited over an hour in line to enter the haunted house and if you do really believe in ghosts this place is pretty haunted. The event itself wasn't scary, the actors aren't able to touch you but there's obviously loud screaming and they may be a bit too close for comfort to get a reaction out of you. You do have to climb up and down quite a few stairs and then there's a second part lead outside and back in the castle (barely any lighting and it's a dirt road so you have to carefully walk). Many strobing lights as well so do avoid if you are triggered by that. The energy throughout the castle was not pleasant or welcoming, I was very excited for it to be over as the haunted house itself was not very good and I was mostly tired from all the walking. There's a merch truck outside at the end of the castle as well. We also decided to walk back instead of waiting for the shuttle but there absolutely no lighting and many ditches with uneven flooring so you have to be very careful. Overall experience was not my favorite and I wouldn't come back again.

Preston Castle Haunt - what a yearly tradition! My wife, my parents, and I have been making the…read morespooky pilgrimage for years now, and it never disappoints. You just can't beat a haunted house that takes place inside an actual haunted prison. The vibe alone gives you goosebumps before you even step inside. Add in the scare actors (who I'm convinced are local kids living their best creepy dreams), the friendly staff, and the affordable merch, and you've got the full package. This year's haunt felt longer with even more scares tucked around the corners--right up my alley! Preston keeps stepping it up, and I'm here for it. Until next year, Castle... we'll be back.

Very cool spot. This place is probably best for school-aged children. They do have one wall with…read moreconnector toys for the toddlers but that's about it. It's small but a nice spot to spend under an hour. Also finding the entrance was hard because google maps takes you to the wrong main gate.

I almost got into the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory! Yes, the Lawrence Livermore National…read moreLaboratory is self-described as "a premier research and development institution for science and technology applied to national security." Because they are working with important stuff pertaining to national security, nuclear materials and other top secret stuff, they won't let the average Yelper in there. But, right outside their front gate is the Discovery Center. The Discovery Center is a small museum that gives you a brief introduction to the lab and what they do. They have hands on and interactive exhibits for children to play with. Most of the exhibits were well maintained. It is an interesting way to spend an hour. The staff, at least on the day were there, was fantastic. Since we were the only ones there, she almost gave us a personalized tour to explain some of the exhibits and talk about the lab and what they do. They have an easy scavenger hunt for children with a nice t-shirt as a prize. They are pretty generous with the scavenger hunt and let children of all ages play. The museum is priced just right for most Yelpers. It is free! It's a nice place, with not a lot of visitors.