This is the perfect little science museum for little kids--I'd say 8 and under. My 3 & 6-year-olds…read morehad a blast playing with all the different areas. I'd say we stayed for about 1.5 hours. If you're in need of an indoor activity for your kids in the State College area, I would recommend this place!

We really enjoyed our visit to the Disconvery Space of Central PA. Our family visits kid-oriented…read morescience and hands-on museums frequently when we travel, so it's nice to see a museum with some new or novel exhibits for kids to explore. This museum works closely with students from PSU who design and implement the exhibits, so it is constantly changing. The kids liked the earthquake building designer, the flood plain, and the geology exhibit. Also, the pressurized tube and ball shooter was a hit. In all, we spent about an hour and 45 minutes exploring and playing. It is well designed, but it is on the small size. Also, it isn't the easiest place to find...look for the State College HS football field, and it is right next door. It does host birthday parties, which would be fun if we lived in the area. Overall, I'm a fan. We'll be back on future rainy visits to State College.

This place was very cool. You have to call to arrange a tour. It was $15 for 2 hours, which you…read moredefinitely need in this place. It is cash only! Miss Pamela is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her collection. There are 2 floors filled with Halloween and witch paraphernalia. Each room has a story to it- this includes a witch room (and the Salem witch trial), a Harry Potter room, a nightmare before Christmas room, a costume room, a games room, and much much more. She doesn't do bloody, gory things but delves more into the history of the eras, especially the artwork. This place is amazing and definitely the place to go when you're near Altoona.

Miss Pamela has the most extensive collection of Halloween memorabilia; showcased in her very own…read morebeautiful Victorian home. She has been collecting for over 50 years. Starting with the Victorian era, and working her way up to 2020. She does not believe in blood, and guts...so her pieces actually tell stories of old fables from around the world. She is a wealth of knowledge, and values each one of her pieces as if they were her children. She is truly dedicated to finding someone who will take over when she is no longer with us, and deem her house a public museum once and for all. You need to call ahead for appointments. Her tours are either one hour, or two hours long. And believe me I thought one hour would be plenty...In reality I could have spent the whole day. It's all based on donations, but no less then $10 per person for the hour tour, $15 per person for two hour tour. However, in the end you will want to give her so much more, including a hug if it weren't for Covid times. Please wear a mask the whole time. She is touring you through her private home...Be respectful. Pamela, I hope your goals are meet, and your home becomes a permanent part of this world. We definitely need more people like you. Thank you for sharing your passion with us.

Never realized the history behind railroading, and how important the railroad industry shaped…read moreAltoona, PA. If you enjoy knowledge, trains and interactive displays, and learning this is the museum to check out. Great staff, reasonable gift shop, be sure to check out the Horseshoe Curve as well. There are even old models in the rail yards, and a current train their working on that moment. Perfect for travelers, locals, and everyone be sure to check it out.

This place is great I wouldn't bring kids nine and over because this place is a little boring for a…read morelittle kids and there's a lot to read and all the stuff other than that. It's really cool and don't forget when you're done checking out all the floors to go outside to the round house and check out the round house.

We visited the museum as the Flood Museum was, ironically, closed due to water damage. The change…read morein itinerary ended up being a good thing as the Center was surprisingly informative, interactive as we toured the Center as a particular immigrant, and the staff were super helpful! Barb guided us through the flood exhibit on the third floor & recommended other places in town to visit & eat at. We also hope to bring our grandkids back to visit the children's area.

This is well worth visiting if you're in the Johnstown area, or even coming out from Pittsburgh if…read moreyou're looking for a good children's experience. It embraces the town's heritage while keeping it fun for the kids. Sadly, most of the negative reviews on here are out of date and don't really apply anymore. We became members and took our kid here every day for the last three days and he never tired of it! He loved all the interactive experiences and toys, but especially going up through the coal mine and slide. He loved the kitchen area and the DJ booth. The other kids there seemed to all be really enjoying themselves there, too. We have been to about a dozen kids' discovery centers in two different countries in the past two years and this is one of the better ones, if not the best. The employees do an excellent job keeping the place clean and tidy, and are friendly, too. Previous old reviews seemed to complain that several things were broken or worn out, but that wasn't the case now.

We were driving by when we saw the signage for the Gallitzin Tunnels. Having just come from the…read moreAllegheny Portage Railroad site, we appreciated the meaning of the tunnels and pulled over to check them out. There is some parking available nearby, and you can easily walk out on the side of the bridge facing the tunnel. There are even two small "windows" in the fencing on the bridge so that you can easily view and/or take pictures of the tunnels. There is a real caboose and a wooden play train available in the grassy area next to the parking. The caboose was closed at the time of our visit, but the wooden play train was fun. There was also signage indicating that a museum was available across the street, but it was outside of the posted hours so we did not see that. If you're interested in train history, this is a good stop!

After our visit to the Allegheny Portage NPS it seemed fitting to take a quick swing over to the…read morelandmark tunnels that put them out of business. Thankfully this place has lots of signage all around the area because it's off the beaten path in the middle of a residential area. We showed up right on time as within about two minutes we felt the rumble and saw the headlight of a train getting ready to emerge from the tunnel. We got to the overlook bridge just in time to catch an 80+ car NS trash train right as it came out of the tunnel. Have a sinus issue? Catch this baby from the bridge and you will be cured because not only does it stink as it's going beneath you but the smell continues to waft out of the tunnel for a good ten minutes after the train is long gone. It's sort of a....Gallitzin Dutch Oven. As for the museum, supposedly the hours are Tuesday-Sunday from 12pm-5pm. We were there in the 4pm hour and nothing was open. The caboose still has hours listed from 2011 on the door so naturally that was also closed. It was disappointing that the caboose/museum were not open but it was still a fascinating look at some living history and we were thankful to see the tunnel in action as well.

I have been here a few times. I love the nostalgia of all the candy I remember from childhood. All…read morethe elephants! It is a fun place to visit. This place makes everyone feel welcome. The garden outside is great in all seasons.

After five years, my wife and I finally paid a visit to this unque museum/candy store…read more This museum has over three thousand toy elephants of different sizes from other parts of the world on display. It is my understanding they have been in business for almost four decades The elephants are on display in glass display cases in the back of the store. There is full sized animated elephant outside in front of the store. It provides a great photo opportunity for the little ones The store is chock full of candy, ranging from hard candy to chocolate covered raisins, peanuts and just about everything in between. The candy and chocolates are sold prepackaged and loose for added convenience, as well as offering candy dispensers. They offer nostalgic candies as well, such as candy sticks and candy buttons on paper strips. At the front counter, they also offer store made fudge and chocolates. The store is packed tight with all kinds of candies and novelties. The parking lot is small and can easily get full during busy times such as weekends and warmer weather. There are restrooms in the rear of the store. I definitely recommend this store especially for young families and those young at heart.

First thing you should know about this place is that it is a rather small museum. The next thing…read moreyou should know about this place is that it is aimed towards children. With those two things you should be well prepared to visit this place. The cool about this place is that it is housed in a historically recognized building that used to be the town's post office. They did an excellent job restoring the building and even kept the vault to place an exhibit in on how to use a shelter in case of a weather emergency. The museum has a small fee to enter, $8 for an adult. Each entry fee goes directly to the museum for maintaining what they have to offer. The sweet lady that was working the day I visited was very forthcoming with information about this place and knew all the details. The museum is was rather empty when I was here, but that is probably because I visited on a weekday while schools where all in and it was between holidays. This did allow me to see and interact with all of the museum without interruption. There is a lot of interaction in this museum, almost every exhibit is one where you have to interact with. The newest interactive exhibit is the one where you can mold the sand to change the elevation on the table to understand how elevation plays in the placement of water. There are many other exhibits to play with here. You can try your shot at doing the weather with a green screen. Produce the winds for a thunderstorm. Slide down the slide to the sounds of a tornado. Honestly there are so many interactive exhibits that tell you about the weather. With Punxsutawney claiming to be the Weather Capitol of the World, this is a fitting museum. They also have a meteorologist hall of fame with some local meteorologist from the Johnstown, Altoona, and Pittsburgh area. Most notable in this is Jim Cantrone from The Weather Channel. He gifted the museum one of his jackets that he signed. Overall, a great place to pass some time, and not a bad place to take some kids. Definitely worth a try if in the area.

The target market for the weather discovery center would be small children. It was interesting…read morethat it used to be an old post office and you could see how the postmaster used to spy on workers to make sure they weren't stealing things from the mail. The day we went they were upgrading the green screen so the lady gave us a $1 off our tickets. I was bummed we couldn't pretend to predict the weather. The other stations that the weather discovery center has are childish but if that is what you are looking for then it is fantastic! You could spend hours here with children. They have free parking to the right of the discovery center, but it is difficult to pull out of the parking lot.

Very nice little but packed museum in Lutherville! I loved learning about the history of fire…read morerescue and all the tools, gadgets and trucks they used to use. The museum also gave insight into how the fire men used to live at the stations. Very interesting stuff. They also give you a free poster! Recommend!

WOW What an experience this has to be one of the best fire apparatus collections I've been to. You…read morecan tell they take great pride in the museum!!!

We are visiting the area and, staying about 30 minutes away, decided to make a trip to Discovery…read moreStation based on the website's description, which presents it as an engaging, interactive experience. Unfortunately, we found the visit quite underwhelming. The space itself is very basic, with limited exhibits and minimal interactivity. Much of what was on display felt dated and sparse, and it did not hold our attention for long. For a destination marketed as a hands-on discovery center, we expected a more immersive and thoughtfully curated experience. While this may be suitable for a very brief stop or for locals looking for something close by, it did not feel worth the drive for us as visitors. Overall, the experience did not align with the expectations set by the website, and we left feeling disappointed.

This is NOT the Discovery station building you see online or read about in the below reviews. They…read morehad a location change summer 2025 and the new space is quite lacking. Possibly good for 4 and under but we had been members for the last 4 years and as of right now are strongly considering not renewing. Some creative thinking and hard volunteer work could definitely improve the current space but it's not even 1/3 of what the old space was. **If the new space ups their game and adds value and better exhibits/ play spaces, I will remove or edit this review but I have ALOT of friends that have had the same lacking experiance and will also not renew the membership.

This is an awesome experience the trains come about once every hour and if you could try to see the…read moreAmtrak train, it's a once in a lifetime experience

The funicular is almost never running, forcing people to climb a long flight of stairs. Even if you…read moreare able-bodied, it is difficult. And, they don't have the foresight to install a regular bonafide elevator to resolve the issue. You are better off going over to the Gallitzin Tunnel Park/Museum to railfan the trains that come through here.