KCRag Forum

...I took a couple of 10 year old boys there today.

They thoroughly enjoyed it. THOROUGHLY!!!!!

There were a lot of people there. Not packed by any means, but lots of people there.

The BRAIN exhibit was great. Even the boys liked it. And they liked the Antartic exhibit too.

There were several problems with broken things in the Science City things, but all in all, it is a great place to take kids.

Even the little kids were having a great time. My guys were the exact right age.

Yes, we know, it's wonderful for kids. But most of us were expecting a Smithsonian-type science museum in our historical train station...not a Kalidescope on steroids.

I read that they got a grant to buy some old train stuff and have already bought it.

That should help.

Would you rather have it be like STL Union Station?

nota wrote:Would you rather have it be like STL Union Station?

St. Louis Union Station is a big mall! Although I'd like the shops and restaurants in KC's Union Station to be successful, I think our Union Station should have a world-class Science Museum, a world-class Train Museum, and a really nice Kansas City History Museum....plus keep the current City Extreme theaters...especially since the KC Zoo is dumping the IMAX.

Nota, how many times a year do you think you would take the kids to Science City? Do you think it's something that is good enough and interesting enough to visit 5-6 times a year? It needs a lot more repeat business to be solvent.

and for the umptenth time...put non-science IMAX movies in the fugging theater. Harry Potter was released IMAX, but not one KC area IMAX carried it. We have two flatscreen IMAX theaters (the zoo has shown Harry Potter I I believe and I KNOW the imax Matrix versions--they were very packed with people).

Union Station should not show only "bugs 3d" type movies. Come on, show commercial movie IMAX releases. By the way, St Louis does not have a single theater that can show IMAX theatrical movies because their screen is rounded (omnimax). KC has 2 and we are not taking full advantage.

Those IMAX releases are _very_ heavily guarded by the movie industry(the RIAA's eviller twin), for some reason. They have nothing to lose, and profit, exposure, and goodwill to gain.

IMAX just is not catching on in KC, not sure why. Most major cities have educational IMAXes and commercial IMAXes. Some even have multiplex IMAX theaters.

I hope we don't make another planetarium mistake and close the IMAXes. The 3D one at union station is awesome.

GRID wrote:IMAX just is not catching on in KC, not sure why. Most major cities have educational IMAXes and commercial IMAXes. Some even have multiplex IMAX theaters.

I hope we don't make another planetarium mistake and close the IMAXes. The 3D one at union station is awesome.

The Zoo Imax is always near capacity when I go there, which is usally 3-4 times a year.

Then why are they closing it? Of course one problem might be the lack of IMAX films. I'm not sure if this is just a KC problem. I don't think it is, but pretty much the same IMAX films have been showing now for several years.

I saw the Matrix at the IMAX and there was nobody there except for maybe 5 other people. Having an IMAX out there sucks if you ask me. It's not that far, but there's nothing else out there. AMC should put a new commercial IMAX in P&L Live. If the Zoo is failing, it's not surprising that the IMAX attached to it is too. Personally, I think IMAX is overrated.

dangerboy wrote:Nota, how many times a year do you think you would take the kids to Science City? Do you think it's something that is good enough and interesting enough to visit 5-6 times a year? It needs a lot more repeat business to be solvent.

My own kids are grown, so I only take kids when they visit.

I took these kids specifically because I wanted to see the Brain Exhibit and I knew they would enjoy the other stuff.

For 5 to 6 times a year, they would need some more stuff to bring me. The Antartic exhibit was nice, but I wouldn't have gone on purpose to see it. The motorcycle exhibit last year was great and they have had some other great ones, but not often enough to keep me coming.

We take almost every family who comes to visit to Science City because the kids enjoy it.

But you are right. They need more stuff to draw adults too.

Harry Potter would be awesome in IMAX, wouldn't it?

Lewis and Clark is running right now and while it is interesting to me, I couldn' t sell my grandson or his friend on it.

Sharks or space or something like that - they would have gone to, but they would have screamed over Harry Potter.

I didn't know regular movies got released in IMAX.

QueSi2Opie wrote: St. Louis Union Station is a big mall! Although I'd like the shops and restaurants in KC's Union Station to be successful, I think our Union Station should have a world-class Science Museum, a world-class Train Museum, and a really nice Kansas City History Museum....plus keep the current City Extreme theaters...especially since the KC Zoo is dumping the IMAX.

I agree with you. The big mall thing at STL turns me off. But it at least is busy now and then.

the problem with US is that people tend to identify the historical building itself with Science City. They need to market Union Station as a completely separate entity from its tenants. There are several festivals that take place there, there are concerts on friday nights, there are interesting films at the City Extreme Screen, such as the Stomp movie recently. There are fun shows at the live theatre. Peirponts is good. Didn't know about the Antartica exhibit until I was walking through. There needs to be a separation of identities between the Science City museum complex and Union Station.

If more community exhibitions and festivals and events were held at Union Station and promoted widely, then traffic would likely pick up. Union Station, as a community gathering place should be marketed separately from its attractions, or at least differently. Should be tings like: Science City at Union Station. Pierponts at Union Station. City Extreme Screen at Union Station. That way, people will see that Science City is only a part of the experience of Union Station.

The italian Festival that was held at Crown Center this last weekend could be held at both venues. Concerts and such at liberty memorial should be done in conjunction with the station.

tat2kc wrote:The italian Festival that was held at Crown Center this last weekend could be held at both venues. Concerts and such at liberty memorial should be done in conjunction with the station.

Ditto for the Irish Fest that is moving to Crown Center this year. It sounds like right now they are only planning to use Union Station if there is bad weather.

The thing that annoys me is that many of the special travelling exhibits require a Science City ticket. I know they do it to boost attendance at Science City, but it's a turn off for people that aren't interested in Science City more than once every year or so.

Festa Italiano was a bust as far as we were concerned. We went Saturday about noon.

There were tons of food booths and beer booths, but nothing else.

The Bocce tournament only had 2 teams and no informational signing or promotion.

I won't go back again. I had heard all the hype on the radio and expected something quite more.

My husband did like the Queen - she was a beautiful young girl

Christopher Columbus was there in costume, but again, no hype-just looked like some wierdo walking around in a weird outfit. You had to know he was supposed to be Chris.

GRID wrote:IMAX just is not catching on in KC, not sure why. Most major cities have educational IMAXes and commercial IMAXes. Some even have multiplex IMAX theaters.

It may jus' be because the KC Zoo itself isn't popular, so this hurts the theater. Many times it has seemed like more people were at the IMAX than walkin' about the zoo. The IMAX is a perfect place to relax, cool off in the summer, or temporarly get out of the spring/fall rain! As a Friends of the Zoo member, I'll log my complaint.

dangerboy wrote:The thing that annoys me is that many of the special travelling exhibits require a Science City ticket. I know they do it to boost attendance at Science City, but it's a turn off for people that aren't interested in Science City more than once every year or so.

Really? We went to both the Titantic and the Hollywood Special Effects traveling exhibits and didn't have to buy a Science City ticket.

The big exhibits do NOT require a science city ticket, queSi2Opie is correct. However, some of the smaller exhibits (like the robotics one last summer i believe, the previous Hubble telescope exhibit) are in the small science city exhibit space and do require a science city ticket, sometimes (not always). Usually those are the smaller exhibits and its not that big of a draw in itself.

The big exhibits (Titanic, Circus, etc) are individually promoted, but there are usually science city/exhibit combo tickets (for a slightly higher price)