Science World, Downtown Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Museum Review | Condé Nast Traveler
"Start us off on the ground floor. What's this museum all about? At the eastern end of Vancouver’s False Creek skyline is a giant, can't-miss metallic orb that houses the Science World at TELUS World of Science. Semi-awkward name aside, this is a favorite hub for pint-size budding scientists. Some compare the building to a giant golf ball, or a snow globe, but when it was first envisioned for the 1986 World’s Fair (Expo ’86), it was meant to mimic a Buckminster Fuller–inspired geodesic dome. Three decades later, the interior feels more like retro futurism, but the exhibits contain enough cutting-edge information and technology to keep science-loving visitors—most of them kids—engaged. Great. So let's get into it—what can we expect to see here? When you first walk in it’s hard to know where to start—there are a ton of galleries, all of them interactive. The BodyWorks exhibit allows visitors to learn about their hearts, skeletons, muscles, and organs; the biology-minded Search: Sara Stern Gallery allows tykes to crawl through a real beaver lodge and gape at a T. Rex skeleton. In the Eureka! Gallery, kids can launch a parachute, play a giant keyboard with their feet, and move themselves using an enormous propeller. Conservation-minded youngsters will also love the Our World: BMO Sustainability Gallery, where they can run on a huge hamster wheel—officially called a “kinetic wheel”—play with a wind turbine, and find out ways to save the planet. The Tinkering Space exhibition allows would-be architects and engineers to build and test everything from homemade catapults to Ozobot dance moves. Any special programs of note? The non-permanent exhibitions are often the star attraction; visiting shows have ranged from "Ultimate Dinosaurs, Body Worlds" and "The Science Behind Pixar." Your kids will have a great time lighting computer sets, making animated characters move, manipulating facial expressions, adding texture to computer-generated surfaces, and making a stop-motion film using a smartphone. Science World is also home to Vancouver’s only Omnimax Theatre, where you can feel like you’re flying into a volcano, climbing with the pandas, or embarking on an amazon adventure. Who do you see here? Kids, kids, and more kids. Sure, adults come here too—parents and the occasional couple—but children are definitely the largest, and loudest, demographic. Adults who prefer more grown-up company will love the monthly Science World After Dark nights, which feature drinks, food, music, exhibits, guest speakers, and more. The museum hosts occasional teen events, too. On the practical tip, how easy is it to navigate? There’s a lot of ground to cover here, and just when you think you’ve done it, you discover another gallery tucked into a corner. (Pick up a map at the entrance.) Some displays feel like a tight squeeze, but most offer lots of room to move, and there are plenty of sitting spots where you can rest your weary bones while your tots run free. The building is fully wheelchair accessible, too. Any guided tours worth trying? There are no guided tours, but there are high-energy center-stage shows every hour. Here, kids can learn about everything from the elastic properties of soap bubbles to optical illusions, from the science of fire to the requisite Tesla coil. Volunteers are regularly pulled onstage to help demonstrate, and the demos involve just enough loud noise, explosions, and fire to keep the crowd spellbound. Gift shop: Worth a stop on our way out? With its circuit-building sets, KEVA planks, solar system model-making kits, dinosaur skeletons, astronaut suit onesies, Leonardo da Vinci invention kits, miniature earthquake labs, and—be still 1980s hearts—Rubik’s Cubes, the gift shop will be a hit with any science-minded tykes (or young-at-heart adults). If we—or the kids—are in need of a pick-me-up, is there anywhere to stop? Triple O’s, a local fast food chain on the main floor, offers all manner of burgers as well as fries, milkshakes, chicken tenders, hot dogs, cookies, pop, and fish 'n' chips. Got it. So if we're short on time, is this place still worth a stop? The kids likely won’t want to leave after 60 minutes, but if you have limited time, pay a little extra and hit the feature exhibition, then grab a map and head for the permanent galleries and catch a center-stage show. The Omnimax shows run around 45 minutes, but if you can spare the time and the extra bucks, they’re a feast for the eyes as well as the mind." - Jennifer Van Evra
