Port Discovery Children's Museum — Attraction in Baltimore

Visited today and would not recommend for children over the age of 5, and DEFINITELY not for autistic children. We wanted to visit during a sensory morning, but they didn't have any over the summer, so we thought a random weekday would be ok. It wasn't overly crowded, but my daughter was overstimulated and wanted to leave from the second we walked in. The entire building echoes with no sound dampening. Even if we had visited during a sensory time the building cannot support that without sectioning off the space into more actual rooms and adding sound proofing. There were camp groups with screaming children and the museum employees and the camp counselors did nothing to stop the screaming. Even noise dampening headphones didn't do much. We figured we already drove 2 hours and paid so we should stay. My daughter tends to elope when she's overwhelmed. A lot of the exhibits were in the open or in hallways, meaning we spent a lot of time chasing her. Even the rooms with doors were propped open, except for the baby/toddler room. So any special needs children who elope can't be contained to a smaller, safer area, and the noise echoes even more. The design of the climbing structure doesn't show this on the website, but there are locations on upper levels where children can leave other than the bottom of the structure and the slide. These are half blocked off, and typical children would know not to climb over the half doors. But a developmentally delayed child wouldn't know that, and the building has several staircases that could lead to a child wandering to the exit unaccompanied.

As far as the museum itself, from a non-special needs perspective: The climbing structure and the water room were the only interesting things in the museum. The climbing structure was overrun by camp kids, so my daughter was too overwhelmed to try it, which only left the water room as a fun place. We tried everything else, but there were so many dingy spaces with very little to interest children 5 and older. The photos on the website are very misleading and made the exhibits seem way cooler. A lot of buttons and machines didn't work and toys/pretend play items had barely enough pieces to play with for one kid, let alone a very crowded museum. My daughter got bored after about an hour and a half, including the time it took us to eat lunch. We had to pay ridiculous prices for both parents too, where most places geared towards toddlers/preschoolers at least discount parents to a price under $10 or even free. This place says it's for kids up to age 10, but I would argue the exhibits are only for ages 2-4, with 5-10 year olds only enjoying the climbing structure. There are way cheaper, way cooler places....

My son was here on a field trip today and I had been considering buying a membership, so I wanted to see first hand how it was. We've done the zoo and aquarium for their memberships and wanted to change it up. I am so glad I held off. Hopefully they will find more suitable employees.

We were told we could pay our own way in since the chaperone spots were taken. So I paid online 50$ for two adults. My son went into their private room, so me, trying to be a "good citizen" asked where I go to pick up my tickets. The gentleman directed me to their front desk. I walked in to see a very long line with two attendants and only one actually working. My fiance and I stood in line, only to be waved up by the attendant who was just sitting there. So I told her that we paid to come there, as we were told by the school. She said "oh then yeah you gotta wait". I was frustrated because by this time, the line was even longer. Another parent from our group overheard and said "ha, then I'm not telling them anything about the field trip." After back and forth, they were allowed to pick up their tickets. So I went back up and once again explained "I'm not a chaperone, I'm not even here to take my kid around, I just wanted to show up for him". She laughed and said "then I can't even let you in because this is a CHILDRENS museum". I handed my items to my fiance and told him he could wait, but I wasn't dealing with it.

Without anyone even stopping me (so much for the "safety of the children" they claimed to care about) I walked back into the conference room and was given a wrist band that another parent had as an extra. My fiance paid 10$ on top of the 50$ that was never refunded to me. 60$ total. I sat and as I was observing, because again, i wasnt there to chaperone, got smacked in the face by some child who was using the pool noodle looking things and split my lip. I tried alerting someone since there was possible blood on it and couldn't even get someone's attention. Also, for a school field trip and chaperones having to chaperone a large group of kids, it's pretty messed up to exclude ONE child for not being tall enough for the one exhibit that the other 5 wanted to be on.

I will say, the gentleman behind the glass windows next to their cafeteria was extremely kind and they did have things that kept my son engaged, but the whole thing felt like a fever dream. I completely understand not allowing random adults in, but charging 60$ just to show up for your child on a field trip while my fiance sat in the cafeteria worried he would be further spoken to like he was there as a predator and me to have to attend to my bleeding lip? I'm good on this membership or ever...

This place is something that you definitely got to see at least once. I've been to children's museums before Whitaker center in Harrisburg quite a bit and after the last time that I was there and I was very disappointed. I decided we needed to find something different so we made a little trip to this place in Baltimore. They got a parking garage nearby so that helped little confusing but it worked once we got in the building the initial site when you walk in after you've paid. It's just something to see this giant boat with climbing towers that go up to a huge slide that somebody must actually either a be telling kids. No you do not try to climb up it or b going down it with a cookie paper covered in vegetable oil because that slide is slick, the way a slide should be fast and fun. It's got three floors. All kinds of things for your kids to do and all kinds of environments for every child from loud and obnoxious too wet and fun too. Feeling like you're exploring a pyramid in Egypt all the way down to the crypt and then coming out and working on a cargo ship and then driving it. Trying your hand at serving people and cooking in a full size fake kitchen. I mean it's got tons of stuff to do. You're only downfall is going to be all the other parents because if you are a responsible parent who watches your child and makes sure that they take turns and are fair to other children, I can guarantee you in this place so you'll run into at least 10 different parents who will not think like you, which is the suck thing about going to these family environments, but you do the best you can. Aside from that, the staff there was very friendly and we learned a lot. They were having a health fair that day and they actually had Baltimore's health department there and they were showing people the dangers of smoking by showing a real set of lungs next to a real set of smoker, lungs and then actually trying to inflate them. My child of course wanted to grab everything with her bare hands which we had to quickly wash and then the ladies were kind enough to provide gloves so that the children could touch but it was a very Cool learning experience. So by all means, if you're looking for something to do with your kids, check this place out. It's pretty wild. And like I said, when you walk through the door after you've paid the first site, you see usually takes your...