Exploration Place

I recently visited Exploration Place with my granddaughter's birthday party and was blown away by the variety of exhibits they have to offer! From dinosaurs to other interactive areas, there's something for every age and interest. The facilities were spotless, including the rooms and bathrooms, which was a huge plus. But what really made our visit stand out was the staff - every single employee we interacted with was super friendly and welcoming. If you're looking for a fun and engaging destination, Exploration Place is definitely worth checking out!

Exploration place is such a fun place in Wichita. The drone show was awesome and gets better every year. The movie nights are such a fun great family quality time in the cool outdoors. And inside the place various fun things for all ages

Such a great stop for kids of all ages. Beautiful grounds next to Keeper of the Plains statue. Wonderfully maintained. Clean. Creative. Informative. We were just passing through and needed a stop for the kids; it has put Witchita on our permanent stops now when we’re in the area

Great place, the new outdoor playground is amazing, very much like The Gathering Place of Tulsa, but with a controlled entrance.

The castle was our favorite spot! We also made it to a dome light show with Taylor Swift music and that was a big hit. Will plan for more time next time because we completely missed the airplane section. I would suggest bypassing the first room and revisiting it on your way out.

The Exploration Place. What an awesome experience. I attended the drone light show 2025. Fantastic staff and volunteers.

Our family loves ExploratIon Place because it's such a wonderful 3rd place thats not school or work; to meet up with friends while also learning and activating all the senses. And even if we dont meet friends, all the staff at EP are so warm and treat us like old friends. Levi, Danielle and the scientists always have something interesting to see. The front desk staff always has a smile and something kind to say. And what can we say about the wealth of knowledge that is Mr.Roland. I challenge you all to find a seasonal exhibit he ISN'T somehow an expert on. Our favorite exhibit this year was the Sharks. My son went in afraid of sharks, but by the end of the term would sit in that 360 theatre for an hour and was elated to say hi to "Bruce" the Great White. Nailed it. We love EP its the perfect place to play while you learn. And for the parties, you all throw some FUN PARTIES. Also the skeeball. We love skeeball.

I visit and review museums all over the world and this place of exploration and discovery is truly one of the best I’ve ever seen. Their location alone on the bank of the Arkansas River is beautiful and well worth the photo op it provides during your visit. The diversity of interactions for people to see, the attention to detail in the collections and the enthusiasm shown, especially by the education staff, is truly inspiring. One of the most interesting, and probably overlooked by locals, is the “Welcome to Kansas” exhibit. Detailing the biodiversity of not only what is extant, but also endangered and now extinct. This exhibit incorporates the natural history of the area and the current state of industry focus with climate models for guests to interact with. Kiddos of all ages can spend their time easily in the collections all day and never be bored or lose their sense of wonder. If there was one thing I would add or change, it would be to offer a live animal static display/room and a daily ‘meet and greet’ with the public for a keeper to introduce local wildlife diversity. I feel this would go a long way to ensure the sustainability of species, especially given the amount of wildlife seen struck and deceased on public roads. I hear there is a $25M upgrade happening onsite to include amazing outdoor facilities and interactivity; perhaps the aforementioned idea might be included in that expansion. I highly recommend this unique museum and science center to travelers and locals alike. It is well worth your time and the nominal cost to visit. Rated 9.75/10 Recommend!! Enjoy the Intrigue and Education! ---J

This place reminds me so much of the Exploratorium in San Francisco or a simplified City Museum in St. Louis. The kids love the castle and all its crazy doors, floors, and musical elements. My 1-year-old loves EVERYTHING. I love the wind and flight area, my wife loves the prairie installation, and the traveling exhibit space always has something new coming through. It feels like it is just shy of being something awesome though...it always feels like it is missing 1 space or exhibit. I think it is the catch 22 of Wichita needs to support it more with patronage so it can afford to get new stuff and expand...but Wichita doesn't want to keep going back till it gets new stuff. I want new stuff, so I'm going to keep going back and support this wonderful place.

I went here recently and it was honestly just disgusting. It smelled and felt so grimy and felt like it hadn't been cleaned in forever. All the hand sanitizers were out of sanitizer. The bathrooms smelled like rotten diapers and a lot of the exhibits in the Weather and Air rooms were out of service or just didn't work. It was really disappointing, especially for $12 a ticket.

Exceeded my expectations! We took our 3 year old daughter here and she had the best time. So many interesting things to do and learn! Great parking and worth the price.

Was having a great time with my family. Went outside to get some sun while waiting for my family to finish looking around and I sat on a bench. Worker came up to me and asked me to leave because he falsely assumed i was homeless. Very rude and I explained to him that I was not in fact a homeless woman sitting on a bench but he continued to insist that I leave.

Exceptional events, professional hospitality, fabulous exhibits that change regularly, and great family membership pricing. Weddings, meetings, birthdays, prom, and more are hosted at this venue.

Visited Exploration Place with family in Wichita and others visiting from Texas. Ten people from 19 months to 67 years of age. We were all entertained and spent many hours there. The staff is fantastic -- friendly and well-trained. The woman who checked us in had to wade through a family membership and coupons but got it all sorted out with a smile.

This place is good for kids and I like the game and everything it a fun place and it snakes so we go there not that often but stil in joy

Kids had a blast. Loved the aviation exhibit. We went on a Wednesday morning hoping to avoid traffic. I spent the entire time nervous because no one was social distancing or making their kids do so. Staff didn't even try. We were the only ones in masks. So disappointed that they didn't require masks.

Easy to get to. Adequate parking. Admissions are reasonable. Free with summer app. Paw Patrol exhibit was a hit with our 5.5yo son. Aviation and nature exhibits were engaging. Overall great experience. We were there for 2.5 hours and could have stayed longer. A bit crowded on a weekend but that's expected. Recommend. Enjoy!

Our kids are 12, 10, and 9. They loved this place and really couldn't get enough. Loved the amount of hands on activities they had and the brain teaser room (as we called it) was fun for all in tow including mom and dad! We ended up getting the membership even though we're just visiting and glad we did as we went 3 times!!!

A cool place for the kids in Wichita. There is a lot going on there and many little activities for the kiddos. I will say though, that I expected more than what there was. We flew through it fairly fast and I was surprised when we were done that there wasn't anything else. It was decently priced but confusing because it seemed like it was mandatory to buy an IMAX movie. In fact, it wasn't mandatory and we were fortunate enough to have been given a refund when we decided that the girls were too tired to sit through a 30 minute showing. I think it's fun for the kids which is all that matters but confused me just a bit in regards to the layout!

Exploration Place was the perfect location for my daughter's dream wedding! She & her fiancé (now husband) are Wichita elementary school teachers who invited their students to be in the wedding party. They wanted a location that was beautiful & that the children would also love! She was thrilled to say her vows standing in front of floor to ceiling windows in Waterwalk Hall. The architecture is lovely all-around and every photo was made even better by the outdoor view. (And the kids had plenty to look at if their attention span was short.) NBC Nightly News & Inside Edition were there filming the wedding & reception and the EP team was professional, accommodating, & genuinely happy for us. I would give 10 stars if I could!

Plenty to see and do for all ages. Awesome kid friendly area for infants, toddlers and up. The aviation hall is my favorite, plenty to keep myself and my toddler entertained.

Tremendous place to bring the family, there is something here for all ages and a lot of the exhibits are designed for parents and kids to have fun together. We had to drag our 10 year old out she was having such a good time; our 15 year old really enjoyed it too. We especially enjoyed the flight exhibit, the castle, the tornado simulator and the giant mouth. The giant dome film "Great Bear Rainforest" was one of the best I've ever seen. We are new to Wichita and have joined as family members because we'll definitely be returning many times for the different events and traveling exhibits.

This place is AWESOME! Every single member of my family, 25, 23, 3, and 11 months found something we genuinely enjoyed discovering. There is just so much to do, and so many fun things to learn. I wish we lived closer so we could get a pass and come here every weekend. Also, the measurements they took to stay safe during covid-19 were the best I've seen of any business in the state of Kansas. We will be back any time we are in the area.

Loved the place for its price. If you have a toddler, it is a good place to take them to run their energy on a cold day. I like it that they let the kids have fun running around freely. Definitely will come here again.

The thing I like about Exploration Place is it's hands-on. It has a great balance of knowledge for the kids and hands-on opportunities. They'll learn, but they won't get bored.

This place is so endlessly fun for our toddler and preschooler. Great interactive airplane exhibit, lots of fun Kansas stuff, cool medieval castle area (with catapult) and cheery tots zone. Great place to spend a few hours or whole day, with nice views of the river and Keeper of the Plains.

Nice facility that the kids really enjoyed. There were several interactive exhibits that were out of supplies so we weren't able to many. The facility could use an update, lots of the exhibits showed the use of lots of children. Unique exhibits like the Miniature Kansas train and the tornado shute were a big hit for our kids along with the shark show at the dome theatre. No major complaints, just could use with more staff and better upkeep of the exhibits.

Always very crowded. Kids and parents alike push and shove their way in front of others to get closer to exhibits. It's a neat place to check out but gets boring rather quickly.

Fun place with hands on exhibits for kids of all ages! My 10YO and his cousin had a great time.

I was here with my adult son and his nine-year-old boy and the displays were impressive, easy to understand and fun. The demonstration of explosive compounds amazing. The nine-year-old really enjoyed the life-like dinosaurs and the Castle area with the hydraulic launch tube that he used quite a bit. My son really got a kick out of the flight simulator.

Overall, this place is a real value with many hands-on exhibits. The Kansas in Miniature display is a especially exciting. They keep things running well even though the exhibits get a lot of use.

I have been to Exploration Place before, but this visit was kind of disappointing. My first couple visits are the reason this is not rated lower. This time around me and my girlfriend decided to give the Dome a whirl. We watched Animalopolis. At first sight the dome is very impressive, and I could imagine how it'd be great for a planetarium exhibition or "rock the dome", but it was absolutely terrible for this documentary. Now, a documentary meant to be viewed on a television, being projected onto a ceiling dome does not seem to work in my opinion. The documentary was also lacking any real educational learning. After the dome we headed into the museum. The museum has a permanent section which is always nice, but gets a tad boring after going a few times. Another section of the museum is a traveling exhibit that changes throughout the year. The exhibit today was fear. While the exhibits were nicely laid out and informative, the experience was ruined by lots of kids running around with no supervision. We could not take a look at any exhibits without having kids and parents swarm around us. This is not the museums fault, but I felt as if the exhibits could've been made bigger to accommodate the large crowd they had today. Overall I think this would be funner if I had kids. For me and my girlfriend taking a date on a busy day, it was rushed and crowded.

They have a play area that little kids find particularly fun. This area contains toys and a water play area for the kids. There is also a castle area where kids can dress up in mid evil garb. My daughter (3yo) also particularly loves the mini-town with the model train. We love to go here when the weather is bad (or hot or whatever) for a good leg stretching and change of pace.

Went to visit family last week and took my son here to see the dino in motion exhibit. Went on a fri afternoon and was nice wasn't crowded at all so he was able to see and try exhibits and walk through at a good time pace. Was able to see all sections and he liked it. Some more than others but think that's expected. Also was Suprised by the train layout in minature section. He's in love with trains and dinos so was a nice suprise to see that whole train display room. Didn't have time to see the dome movie. Not sure if would go again, would have to see what the traveling exhibit is....but all in all since from out of town worked out well and when done got to walk over to the keeper of plains statue and bridge.

This is for kids and if you seek having "family time" with them, then you may have found a spot. Some of the kids looked bored too though.

Fun place to visit with kids. They even have a military discount. Awesome!

Went here for Rock the Dome. I'm a big Pink floyd fan, and the show was pretty good. The graphics were late 90's type computer animation, but very well done. It sounded great, except for one speaker that was crackling. Looking at the dome definitely took a little getting used to, but provided great immersion.

Two stars because my daughter had fun, but doesn't really deserve it. The Ewwwee! What's Eating You exhibit was repetitive and pretty boring. Got hungry, so decided to have a snack. Found a hair in my hot dog after two bites. All I got in response from management... "Sorry" No refund of my money. Just an offer of another hot dog. I don't think so. This place is just old and tired.

This place is truly fun for all ages. Their displays change throughout the year, and they generally have one major display of some kind (right now it's the real dead people one). Some of the really fun things include - a big castle thing with several levels where kids can dress up as a prince/princess/dragon and romp around and yell and scream; a carousel; some really cool displays involving water that teach you about how water flows and lets you get dirty and wet too; and some REALLY cool flying displays, including two large flying simulators. Another cool thing they have there is a huge room called "Kansas in Miniature" (or something like that). It features a huge display of miniature stuff from historic Kansas... train tracks with working trains, for instance, an old Koch tanker, that sort of thing. You can't play with it though; just look at it. We have been to Exploration Place about a million times and, thank god, they change things around a fair amount, bringing in new cool stuff to look at. Whatever you do - DON'T eat at the "Waterway Cafe", the eatery inside Exploration Place. They pretend to offer actual food, with menu items such as pizza and hot dogs. If you can eat these substances and make it out without dying a horrible and slow death, good on ya. Overall this is one of the best places in Wichita to hang out with small kids and not be bored stiff. Expect to pay extra for the movies, carousel, and whatever major display they have moving through there at the time - in addition to the fee you pay to get in. And you have to pay for it all up front. One last note - there appears to be one set of bathrooms in the place, from what I can tell, and they're up by the front. If you know where they stash the rest, please tell me!

While we were there a few interactive items were broken or missing pieces. It smelled like wet dog, not appealing. You can fly the simulator only so many times before it becomes boring. So not worth the money! Once every ten years is more than enough!

My two nephews aged 8 and 10 were in town for a visit and I had no idea what to do with them for entertainment. One of my friends suggested that I take them to Exploration Place. I wasn't quite sure about this one. I didn't want to be one of those uncool Aunt's that takes the kiddo's to museums and expects them to have fun. About two minutes after arriving at Discovery Place, my worries were over. I was going to earn points for this one! There are all sorts of hands on exhibits that are geared especially for kids. We were there for several hours! The kids had a great time and I'm not sure but, I think my brother in-law and I had just as much fun. Be sure to visit the Cyberdome Theater and the SIM Center too. What a great place to spend a nice day with the family! I thought the price of admission was reasonably priced too. So, if you want to earn point with the kids take them to Exploration Place!

I've been to Exploration Place several times, all when I was over the age of 20. Certainly there are exhibits that are only for kids, and some of them are kind of cheesy, but they are so fun! It's a great date spot! I really enjoyed the CSI exhibit and the giant shark.