Johnson Geo Centre — Attraction in St. John's

The Johnson Geo Centre is truly a gem in St. John's — a beautifully designed facility nestled right into the rock of Signal Hill. It's an incredible space that we’re lucky to have in our city, offering a unique experience that blends geology, natural history, and science in a visually striking and engaging way. The staff are exceptionally friendly, helpful, and clearly passionate about what they do, which makes the visit even more enjoyable.

One of the major highlights is the discounted admission for students and completely free access for Memorial University students. That kind of accessibility is something more attractions in the city should offer.

The main geological exhibits are very well done. The rock and mineral displays are especially informative and visually appealing — great for all ages and backgrounds. The center does a great job educating visitors on the geological history of Newfoundland and Labrador in a hands-on and approachable way.

That said, there are a few important criticisms worth addressing.

First and most concerning is the smell throughout the facility. It’s hard to ignore the strong odor of mildew and body odor lingering in the air, especially around the carpeted areas and in the theatre. After spending about an hour inside, it became genuinely nauseating. It’s clear the carpets and general air quality need serious attention — it takes away from the otherwise great experience.

The oil and gas exhibit, while interesting and informative in some aspects, is very one-sided. It strongly emphasizes how important oil is to our lives — which is undeniably true — but completely omits any mention of the serious environmental damage associated with oil drilling and consumption. Given that this section is sponsored by ExxonMobil, it honestly reads like corporate propaganda. There must be a part of the exhibit that acknowledges the environmental consequences and discusses possible solutions or greener alternatives. Presenting only the positives is misleading and irresponsible in an educational setting.

Another major letdown was the new temporary exhibit on mythical creatures. While the concept and information are fantastic, it's incredibly disappointing to see that they’ve used cheap, AI-generated imagery for the visual content. In a city with such a rich artistic community, this feels like a slap in the face to local artists who could have created stunning and original work for the exhibit. Instead, visitors are greeted with generic, soulless, AI-generated slop — it’s disheartening and frankly embarrassing.

Overall, the Johnson Geo Centre has so much potential and already offers a lot — from its impressive geology exhibits to its passionate staff. But it’s being held back by poor maintenance, questionable content choices, and a disappointing lack of support for real local talent. With some cleaning, critical updates to its messaging, and a commitment to showcasing authentic creative work, the Geo Centre could...

My family and I ventured to the Johnson Geo Centre today. It was very fun, from the informative movie in the beginning, to the unique and interesting exhibits, and even the really interesting movies for only an extra 5 dollars.

The staff here are very friendly and kind. It's a very enjoyable and relaxed environment where you can definitely spend an afternoon with family or friends and have a really good time.

The only downside and the reason for a non 5 stars, is the repugnant, reeking, stinking, fusty, musty, malodorous, rancid, putrid, offensive, revolting, acrid smell.🤢 The whole place in general STUNK of mildew. The smell can be found throughout the whole museum, but it is definitely the worst in the theatre that plays the movies for an extra 5 dollars. My family walked into the theatre and immediately fell ill. The smell of all consuming mildew and filth was like a punch in the face. My eyes watered as time progressed though the film. By the end of it, my throat was burning and I was extremely light-headed and sick. I am extremely sensitive to smells and I'm allergic to mold/mildew. I left the theatre and immediately made a run for the washroom, where I could be found, dry heaving until my throat was raw and from a mix of the allergies and dry heaving. On the drive home I pretty much had my head out the window like a dog trying to get some fresh air, as I could feel that all of what was going on was going to trigger a migraine. The theatre has such a pungent stink that you cannot go in there. I'd recommend staying away until they address the...

I didn't intend to post an empty rating of 1 star and have no feedback on it. It's not fair at all. Apparently, my previous review didn't get posted here, so I'll try to repost it. I had enjoyed the events we had at Johnson GEO Center previously except for this last time (around a month ago). I was the host at an event held there and I had a co-host with me and based on the contract we were sure that we would have two wireless microphones to perform and we planned all the performance of the night based on that term on the contract. When we got there, we found out that there is only one!! wireless mic available and that there might be a wired one (but the staffs were not sure about that at the time which caused a lot of unnecessary stress to us). When I politely asked how come there is just one wireless mic and not two? One of the staffs responded franticly that one of the previous guests broke the other one. I said what should we do now, as we had planned everything on the sole fact that there will be two wireless microphones. He replied really impolitely: "You said that once before! There's nothing I can do. Here's the wireless mic and there's the wired one, and that's it!" Dear Staff! It's not my problem that you didn't hold up your end of the bargain! It was your responsibility to provide what you had promised on the contract to your customer. It is the worst kind of customer service to respond aggressively to a very sane argument. If you know your service lacks the expected quality, at least try to be more...