Indianapolis Children’s Museum

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I have included some mood setting music that may be listened to while reading this Trip Report. Also note that it may take a couple clicks to get the music and video players to start.

Indianapolis Children’s Museum - January 20, 2007

My daughter asked a school friend to come over to spend Saturday and night with us earlier in the week, and with her parents permission we decided to also include a trip to the World’s Largest Children’s Museum here in Indianapolis.

When we arrived we noticed that it seemed as if half the city had the same idea for their family entertainment as we did. I made a remark about the attendance levels at the ticket widow and the guest service person said that they opened a new exhibit earlier in the day called “Adventures with Clifford the Red Dog” and also that several schools singing groups where there to sing, also that each student was allowed to bring 10 guest at no charge and that was the reason for the larger crowds for that day. We purchased our admissions tickets which were priced at $12.50 for adults and $7.50 for children. I decided to take a couple pictures of the entrance main lobby that was decked out in large snow flakes and some Colts pride messages.

After entering the museum portion of the building we came to a large square ramp that led 360 degrees all the way around, up three floors and down one floor, for a total of 5 total floors. In the middle of this large ramp is Fireworks of Glass display that started at the top of the building glass ceiling.

It continued all the way down to the Lower Lobby’s display room.

We ventured down to the Fireworks of Glass room were they showed various styles of glass making and told the story about creators workings with the exhibit. They offer the kids several hands on exhibits so that they can make their own Glass masterpiece display.

We decided to let the 2 girls tell us where they wanted to go and to lead the way. They decided together that they wanted to go straight to the top and work themselves down.

On Level Four they decided to go to Science Works to try their hand with endless hands on exhibits that used a lot of nature. I also noticed that there was an underlying them of “Cause and Effect Theories” at play here. Including a huge water play area.

Construction work site and a rock climbing attraction.

They spent about 45 minutes in this area before they wanted to go to the next section. I made a simple suggestion to the girls that the other area of the forth floor was really too busy at the moment and that we should come back to this area at the end of the day. They debated my suggestion, but decided that would work for them. So down to the third floor, one side was a dedicated play area for children 5 and under so then they lead us to the "Passport to the World". Which encompasses two floors of exhibits with numerous hands on exhibits to help the kids learn about all the cultures in the world.

They had a young volunteer to lead the children in a drum ceremony featuring around 30 different drums from around the world. The girls liked to put their faces in a opening that they could then look at themselves in a mirror, to see how they would look if they lived in another culture.

I was very pleased to see an exhibit that showed various family members represented if the form of masks. When I took the picture below, I was hoping that the name plates would come out that showed which family members name went with which mask. So if you recognize a mask and know who it represents, let me know please.

After seeing and touching everything at the Passport to the World area and exiting on the second floor, the girls lead us to the newly opened Adventures of Clifford. When we walked into this area it was absolute chaos, the area was so packed with guest that you literally could not move without dumping into kids trying to play on all the attractions in that area. The girls told us after a couple minutes that they wanted to move on.

At this point we had been at the museum for about 2 1/2 hours and I thought it would be best if we took a break and to grab a quick lunch before we moved on. The Food Court offered 5 different styles of restaurant’s to accommodate everyone’s tastes.

When we left the Food Court area there is a hallway right outside the doors that lead us to the Dinosphere area in the lower lobby.

I must admit as this was my first time to see the dinosaurs exhibits that I was super impressed with heavy amount of theme as well as the quality of the Dinosaurs that they had on display.

When we were leaving the dinosaur area I did notice a small display that I thought everyone would enjoy seeing!!

Also in the lower lobby area, just past the dinosaurs they have a huge area dedicated to trains of all sizes, from a real old steam train to a miniature toy trains running on tracks.

We only had about 1 hour left to before the museum closed for the day. So the girls excitedly lead the way back up to the forth floor as Lisa and I labored our way slowly back to the top. The fourth floor has a must do area for everyone who visits the Children’s Museum; it’s called Carousel Wishes & Dreams. It houses an old refurbished carousel, and numerous play houses designed for the kids to pretend and are wonderfully themed to cater to both boys and girls. The Carousel was built back in 1904 and was moved around as the times dictated, until 1953 when it was worn-out from the weather and the Shelter house that covered it collapsed on it. It was left that way for a couple years until they decided to tear it down and save what they could in an old barn. It stayed there until 1976 when the Children’s Museum decided to restore it to its full original glory. In my opinion I have never seen a better display of an historic treasure as I think that they did with this Grand Animal Carousel.

I was pleased to see the energetic carousel operators wearing various carnival outfits. They also interacted with the kids while the carousel was in operation one of the workers would juggle some balls to give that old time feeling. I was also instantly taken back in time watching and hearing the old Instrument Music Box that they have playing while the ride is in operation.

I took a picture of the back so that everyone can see that this Music box was an original and fully operational using the old scrolls to play the music.

Right next to the carousel is another great attraction that the kids just love and can spend a lot of time doing, called the Mirror House Maze. They have every kind of mirrors that you can think of, from funny allusion type of mirrors.

To a walk through dark house that had so many types of mirrors hung in so many angles that it’s impossible to describe. I did manage to take a short video of the girls acting like 6 year old girls should in a house like that.

At closing they ask all the guest in the museum to gather at the forth floor ramp to have a closing for the day parade. A dinosaur character leads the kids down the ramp waving flags that were given to them to carry down. They hype the kids up with cheers and told them to chant “GO Colts” all the way down the ramp and back into the Main Lobby area.

Conclusion;

We had a wonderfully fun filled day at the Children’s Museum and would suggest to any family no matter what the ages are of their children to go. Our family had no problem spending the whole day at the museum without the feeling that there was not enough to do, in fact we did not get to do a couple of the exhibits such as the Lilly Theater shows. The Food Court was clean and had a lot of great choices for us. I really liked letting the girls be in charge of where we went and when. Lisa and I were very tired at the end of the day from being drug around from floor to floor. We worried about trying to entertain the girls later in the evening, so we where very thrilled that 1 hour after coming home the girls asked for a video to watch and then subsequently fell asleep for the rest of the evening.

A great ending to a wonderful day!

Jesse

A few more various scrolling pictures.

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[Gordon Bombay]

Great tripe report Avatar! That glass sculpture at the beginning of your trip report is by an artist named Dale Chihuli who does some amazing work.

[PhantomTheater]

The Grand hand carved Carousel, an endangered spcies, and a band organ is even more rare. Glad to see one saved and beautifully restored and operated. I just love the sound of a carousel band organ.

[CoastersRZ]

Now if only the band organ on PKI`s carousel could return to working order...

[CoastersNSich]

Great photos! I also love that main entrance in the Colts spirit! Makes me want to go there today on my way up to Chicago, as I've never been to the Indy Children's Museum.

[Dane]

Best trip report ever.

[WooferBearATL]

The little girls at the museum look so lifelike. Are they audioanimatronics?

[RailRider]

Great tripe report Avatar! That glass sculpture at the beginning of your trip report is by an artist named Dale Chihuli who does some amazing work.

I was going to say the same thing Combat. Chihuli is amazing at the instalations he puts in. If you havent seen his work go to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, they have a permanent instalation of his which is amazing.

Also Great report Avatar, I look forward to taking my little one on the way their in a few year.

[flightoffear1996]

Man this place has really come along way since I last visited quite a few years back. I am glad you guys had alot of fun.

[marlfox_21]

Great trip report Avatar! Thanks for the great pics. It's nice to know that there are still families that still do things as families. Sorry, I can't word it any better than that. Anywho, It's nice to see kids having fun, and nothing says that they have had a great day better than them falling fast asleep at the end.

thanks

m.f.

[Stardust]

I grew up on the north side of Indianapolis, so this brings back so many memories. I still refer to the fourth floor as the fifth...I had many, many rides on that carousel. My family went back in April and we saw the glass. Thanks for the pictures -- I can tell you had a great time there.

Oh, and my choir sang there quite a few times as well. We would sing there at Christmas, and they would turn the staircase into a "Scrappy's Slide" sledding type thing and we would slide down. Good times.

I didn't get a chance to ride the carousel again, but I do remember the organ...does it still have the drum on it as well? I remember riding as far away as I could from that drum because it hurt my ears every time I went around, but I also wanted to sit by the mirrors...okay, okay, enough. Point is, good report.

[Avatar]

Best trip report ever.

Thanks to you for the added abilities!

The little girls at the museum look so lifelike. Are they audioanimatronics?

Audio animatronics; have an manual on and off switch . The only way I know how to turn these two off is by wearing them out, so unfortunately that puts them into the living Human category.

I didn't get a chance to ride the carousel again, but I do remember the organ...does it still have the drum on it as well? I remember riding as far away as I could from that drum because it hurt my ears every time I went around.

Stardust; first let me welcome you to the Forum! It’s always nice to have a diversity of opinions on the forum and it’s always great to have females opinions chiming in on park matters.

Yes the Instrument music box is fully functioning using both drums. cymbals and wind pips, although I believe that they were using external speakers to play the medley. There were so many guests their and it was very loud in that area but they had the sound turned up and I could still here the drums and the cymbal playing over the audio.

I notice you are currently in Oxford, Oh, I proposed to my wife there at one of the parks by the museum, oxford is so beautiful. Also my son used to go to hockey summer camp there and loved it. I hope your are having an memorable time at Oxford too (and not just for the party reputation that Miami has).

[Stardust]

Stardust; first let me welcome you to the Forum! It’s always nice to have a diversity of opinions on the forum and it’s always great to have females opinions chiming in on park matters...I notice you are currently in Oxford, Oh, I proposed to my wife there at one of the parks by the museum, oxford is so beautiful. Also my son used to go to hockey summer camp there and loved it. I hope your are having an memorable time at Oxford too (and not just for the party reputation that Miami has).

Thanks. And yeah, I'm not a partyer(sp?). I'd rather go visit Kings Island in the snow than go to a frat party. Let your son know about the new ice center -- he should come take a look if he hasn't already.

[DropZone99]

i live about 20 miles away from theyre.

but i havent been theyre since like 2000.

i should return soon.