The new area starts with a new exhibit about fairy tales. It has the banquet table from Beauty and the Beast, some animal costumes to dress up with, a small Jack and the Beanstalk themed slide and the giant's stool from Jack and the Beanstalk.
TB proclaimed this area "for girls" and asked to leave shortly after we arrived.
On the 3rd floor are several new exhibits, including the forensic lab, the "sunshine classroom" (an outdoor area for growing things). TB wanted to be impressed with the forensics but being that he couldn't read and couldn't figure out the clues, he ended up frustrated and bored. We went through the "secret passageway" into the lab (parents, take note, this passageway is for short short people and there is a door nearby for those of us of normal height). In that area, there is a slide. It is a cool twisty black slide. The entrance to the slide is on the other side of the room. When you get there, there will likely be a line. After you stand in that line, you will find out that the slide is only for kids 5+. This will likely cause your under 5 child no end of torment and you will leave the area with a child in tears. You won't be alone. Every other parent of an under 5 child will be doing the same thing. If you are me, you are by now really angry and have written the 3rd floor off as an entire loss.
In the basement, they have a judicial process area with a mock Oval Office, a court room and a mock Congress. TB REALLY enjoyed this area.
It was very interesting for him to see how that stuff looked. Especially coming right on the heels of the election and all the time spent talking about it recently. MT was not so impressed but did like being the judge in the courtroom.
Also in basement, they have a construction zone.
There is a house frame where you can run wire and lay flooring. There is a skyscraper where you can practice bricklaying. There is a design office where you can learn about the layouts of buildings and how they are decorated. And the biggest draw of all is the rock pit, with shovels and brooms to dig or clean the area. Both kids really enjoyed it and played there longer than anywhere else in the whole section. the one major drawback to this area is that it is basically outside. It is enclosed on 3 sides and has a roof but the 4th wall is a plastic half fence, letting all the weather in. It was pouring down rain the day the we were there but it was about 65 so it was quite comfortable in there. When it opened in January, I'm sure that was a different story. There is a fan for the summer but I can't imagine too many people going there during either extreme heat or cold.
There is also one of the "airblowers" that is pretty much SOP for children's museums. It is the thing with the tubes that you put scarves or balls in and they blow out different places based on which switches you flip.
The basement also has direct access to the parking lot when you leave. This was especially great for us, with the pouring rain and all
In the new section, they have built a "climber". One of those things with platforms of varying size that kids climb around in, that also seems to be SOP for children's museums. Typically, there is one entrance so the child has to come out where they went in. Not so here. There are exits on all 3 floors of the new area, meaning if you let your child climb in, they may not come back to where you are. This is dangerous and stupid in all sorts of ways. Fortunately for us, MT is scared to climb in them and TB knows enough to come back.
They very best thing about the expansion was the new resturant! If you remember in November, I said that if not for the crowds and the lack of food, we would have stayed longer. Well they addressed at least one of those issues and it was done well.
The menu includes sandwiches, salads, soups, snacks and drinks. The prices are high, but that is too be expected when you have a captive audience. A sandwich, chips and a drink runs about $8.50. We only had the ice cream because we made a point of eating lunch before we went. The cafe area is kind of small and crowded but there is an outdoor seating area that is covered so if it isn't too bad, you can sit out there and eat.
The final issue I had was the "you can't get there from here" problem. Both sections have 3 floors but you can only get from one section to the other on the main floor. This was a problem when the kids wanted to leave the construction zone and go to the Lewis and Clark adventure. Both were in the basement, in seperate sections. Did it kill us to climb up then down the stairs? No, but it was difficult for my mom with her broken foot and it took unnecessary time.
I would say the expansion was geared mostly for older kids, which is disappointing because the rest of the museum already leaned that way for the most part. If you have kids 7-10, they would probably really enjoy this museum. My kids were just too young for most of it.
In November, I ranked it at 3.5 stars, stating that I thought the new expansion would bring it even higher. I was wrong. I give it an additional half star for the cafe but then deduct half a star for general lameness of the new area and a full star for making my kid cry twice because of no signs about age limits. Resulting in a grand total of 2.5 stars, including the new area.
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