But anyways, enough about that. On to the Museum review.
The drive to McMinnville is pretty simple and relatively quick. There aren't a ton of traffic heavy areas to stress you out-Corvallis is about as bad as it gets, and going thru around 9 or so is not bad.
The Museum campus is pretty big, housing 3 separate buildings and a completely separate water park called Wing and Waves. The 3 museum buildings house the aviation sections (planes, the Spruce Goose, and some helicopters.), an IMAX theater for films about fighter pilots, aviation, and even outer space. The third building is the space building which is home to a large decommissioned rocket and other space memorabilia.
For this particular trip we did not go see a movie nor did we go to the water park. Trying to do all of that in one day (especially with kids) would probably be too much and there is the added fact that it would really get expensive trying to pay for both as you have to pay separately.
The key word to remember here is "museum" and when I use that word, it is in the old sense, as in, no touching, no food, and not necessarily interesting to anyone under 5.
There really isn't much for little ones to do. There is a small area in the Aviation building that has things for kids to play with, but several of them were not working or were pretty boring that they couldn't keep my 2 year olds attention for longer than 10 seconds.There was some kind of simulator and the older boys liked that. There was also a small helicopter and a small plane for the kids, but nothing lit up or made sounds, so while it was cool at first, the novelty did wear off after a few minutes. The areas is not large nor centrally located, so you either go there first, last, or run back and forth when the kids get bored looking at planes.
In the space building it is even more sparse as there was nothing that I saw that looked like it was for kids except this one bottle rocket like thing. It was literally 2 tubes with wire tracks inside, one with a heavy red rocket, the other with a clear 2-Litre bottle. There were two buttons for each tube, one to pressurize the other to release. The kids had to time the release right to see how high they could get the rocket. My two youngest really enjoyed that and I actually had to tear them away to move on.
There was also a shuttle landing simulator that my older boys (aged 7 and 8) really loved. My 8 year old actually went back inside while the kids were playing in the park. Unfortunately there are only 2 consoles and one was not working at the time.
Other than that...there wasn't much for kids to do other than walk around and look at things they aren't allowed to touch. Sure, that is pretty normal for the old fashion museums, but more and more today, museums are adapting to the needs of kids. Take OMSI for example. I can't even think of a hall that we went into where you couldn't touch something...or everything. That is a little bit further of a drive for the people that live in my area, but in my opinion its well worth it.
On a nice day you do have the ability to take your kiddo outside to play in the playground. It is pretty new looking and sports some comfy rubber mats instead of bark or sand. There are benches to sit on for adults and it's just outside the space building, with quick access to a bathroom just inside.
There are also planes to look at outside-my kids touched those, I don't recall seeing signs that said they couldn't. There were also tanks that my boys crawled all over-my husband took them, not me, so I am not sure on exactly how much access you have to them.
The people who work/volunteer there need a little help in the PR department. It seemed that a few of them, despite being a place that sees a few school aged kids show up for field trips, didn't really know how kids or family's work or how to communicate with them. Some of the tour guides were friendly enough, but one woman in particular needed a lesson in patience. My niece had an ice cream cone, and there were signs clearly stating that there was no food allowed in the museum, so her parents both waited with her outside the area as I did with my little one who was slowly working on her ice cream as well. My niece took a few steps towards the exhibit entrance and the volunteer/employee literally zoomed over to her (she was in a motorized scooter of some sort) to block her from entering.
Lady, her parents were a step behind her in the process of reaching out to gently stop her. They were not going to allow her to run in. Besides, it was still another 30 feet or more (I'm not good at estimating distances) before you even turned the corner into the exhibit hall. Take a freaking chill pill. No need to scare a 3 year old because she thinks you are going to run her over with your scooter. And to top it off, a couple of young girls, probably 10 years old, were running slowly past to either go outside or use the restroom and the lady decided to shout at them to stop running. Lady, again, chill pill. There were no exhibits, nothing for them to run into and destroy in the front of the building on the way to the bathroom or to the door that led outside to sweet freedom. It was just a little too intense than what was necessary. Asking them nicely to slow down would have been the better choice.
Then outside, my BIL stupidly decided to climb on top of the play structure. Yes, not exactly safe and definitely a bad example, but this cranky old man came out and chastised him for how he could really hurt himself and complained about all the paperwork he would have to fill out if he got hurt.
Really? The paperwork?
Should he have been up there? No.
But the more reasonable, not crotchety old man way to handle it, would have been to say "Hey, sir, could you please get down from there? I know you probably won't fall off and hurt yourself but it isn't the best example for all these kids running around." My BIL would have immediately complied, apologized and it would have been all over without having to fulfill that stereotypical old, white guy working at a museum that probably yells at kids to get off his lawn, role.
Sure, it isn't that big of a deal, but sometimes having someone smile and be polite makes a big difference in the experience you have somewhere. Patience and understanding go a along way in pleasing you customers/visitors, so lighten up a bit.
There was also this little plane ride-which apparently is not always running. Lucky for us my mother in law was able to convince the volunteer to start it up.
All in all my kids had a good time. I think a large part of that was due to my husbands ability to bring so much enthusiasm to what he was telling them about each plane-like how fast they could fly. The kids were also happy to see some planes from the movie Planes and Planes: Fire & Rescue. My 4 year old is also a total gear head so he was excited to see the planes up close, the 2 year old however probably cared more about being outside and eating ice cream.
For hours and admission prices to the Museum, click here
For Hours and admission prices to the Waterpark, click here
A note about Memberships.
There is a special membership that you can purchase through the different museums in your area. Through your ASTC membership you pay a once a year fee (it varies depending on where you purchase and how many people you get the membership for) and it gives you free access to the museums. Be careful though. We purchased a ASTC membership at OMSI in November of 2015 and specifically asked if we could use that membership to get into Evergreen. We were told yes but when I called to confirm this before our trip I was told by Evergreen that they did not accept members who bought their memberships at OMSI. I confirmed this with OMSI that same day. Luckily, they refunded me most of the cost and we then purchased a ASTC membership at a Eugene museum-The Science Factory. That grants us access to Evergreen. It's such a convoluted mess to figure out and I hope that they simplify it in the future. As it stands, any museum within 90 miles (as the crow flies) of the museum you purchased your membership at, will NOT give you free admission unless they have a special arrangement set up with one another. It ALSO excludes museums within 90 miles of your residence. So that means that if you buy a membership in Portland and live in Eugene you can't use it anywhere but Portland and places farther away unless they have a special arrangement. So no Science Factory, no Evergreen, no Gilbert House either (I think..) you have to make phone calls to make sure you can get in with your membership and in some ways it might not be worth it at all. For us we purchased the Family 2+4 which gets 2 adults and 4 children or adults guests in for $85 a year. If we would have paid just for the Evergreen admission it would have cost us $119 (and that is with the fact that we have a 4 and 2 year old that get in for free). So it made sense for us to get the membership but I am really not sure if we will use it again.
So, if you are in the McMinnville area looking for something to do on a weekday, you might enjoy the museum as opposed to your hotel room or a shopping center. The water park is much more entertaining for sure, and if you are looking for a place to go, you might want to consider driving a little further to OMSI- there is a lot more interactive stuff to do there for all ages.
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