WonderWorks Branson — Attraction in Branson

I feel like I’m being very generous giving this place 2 stars. It has a lot of potential but ultimately fell flat for my whole family. We really wanted to love it. We were in there for less than an hour on Thursday midday, and both my kids were begging to leave. We’re from central Arkansas, and they both love the science museums in Little Rock and Hot Springs, so they were really looking forward to this experience on our vacation. I spent $125 for a family of four and the best part about our experience was the exterior design and the lobby design. The entire first floor was packed with very long lines for what looked like carnival rides with a science lab design. There was almost nowhere to stand, there were so many people. There was a small room playing a short animated film about how the science museum came to be, but there were so many people and it was so loud with crowd noise we couldn’t hear the film. My kids had no interest in waiting an hour for each short ride, so within 5 minutes they were asking to go up to the next floor. And honestly, after seeing the state of the exhibits on the 2nd floor, I’m glad we didn’t get on the rides on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor was just as packed as the 1st with smaller exhibits better suited for younger kids. I was very disappointed in how many exhibits were not functioning at all or were not functioning properly. Many had broken components or just didn’t function well. Every exhibit on the second floor had a line waiting to experience it, so that really took away from the experience when it was our turn, because we felt rushed so the person behind us could have a turn. The exhibit that you have to enter, like binary sound and snapshot in time, the next person in line would enter while you were trying to have your turn. And we left the binary sound exhibit after 20 seconds because the outside noise and people entering the booth made it impossible to hear. When we noticed the bubble exhibit I got really excited, but even the bubbles didn’t function properly. The bubble solution would not make a single bubble for anyone. I feel like this is the easiest exhibit to get right, and not even that was working. I will say the sand table was very cool and we enjoyed that for 5 minutes. The dinosaur room was underwhelming and was not engaging at all. It required lots of reading and no play at all. There were some seating blocks in that room that my daughter played with a few minutes but they were way too heavy for her to stack alone. I’m not sure why something so heavy was chosen for kids to move around. They were heavy and awkward for even me to stack. Large cushion blocks without added weight on the bottom would have been perfect. She would’ve stacked and built with those for an hour if they were light. After 30-40 minutes on the 2nd floor they begged to go up to the 3rd floor, but everything up there costs extra money, so they asked to leave. I tried to have them go through the 2nd floor again because we had spent so much money, but they were adamant on leaving, and I honestly don’t blame them. I’m not sure how having that many people in that space isn’t against fire code. There were way too...

We went here today because it was recommended to us for our family of 6 by someone at our resort in Branson. My husband, children 16, 13, 11, 4 and myself. This place was sort of fun for some of my kids because it was interactive. We were told that we could spend 3-4 hours here. I’m thinking that’s because there was a 1hr or more wait for any of the more exciting activities. Right off the bat, it was almost 80 degrees in the building, so wear light clothes. There was a 360 degree bike activity that we got in line for twice. The first time, it broke down. The maintenance man went on to fixing it right away and you can tell he was working hard to get it up and running again. The lady running the 360 bikes worked very slowly and wasn’t in any type of hurry. Not a smile in sight. She did not seem to enjoy her job at all. I feel like the experience could be a MUCH better one if efficiency and staff interaction with it’s patrons could be improved. Many things were either malfunctioning or broken including the elevator (3 levels), one of the two roller coaster simulators, 4 out of the 12 chairs in the safari simulation room, 360 degree bike activity, the light race game, the large floor piano keys and many more things. I realize that this is the very end of their season, and I’m sure these employees are very happy to see tourist season end, but this was very obvious to me. One of the positives, I feel, is the acknowledgment and appreciation for our Armed Forces and STEM. I would have loved to have spent more time here if I felt it was worth it. Again, I like the idea and vision of the creator of this place, but it needs to be executed a little better for it to be worth the price and...

Arrived on a Monday and got in the short line inside at 10:20. Despite, being short, it still took us 18 minutes to get our tickets to go inside the gate. Backpacks are allowed inside so I presume you can bring in water and snacks.

Inside, there were lots of hands on activities and rides. Make sure to wear closed toe shoes for the rides! If you have long hair, bring a rubber band to secure it per the requirement for at least one of the rides. The rides were pretty cool and the kids loved them. Especially if you like to go around and upside down. There are height and weight requirements for some of them. The wait times for rides varied from no line to just a few minutes to over 20 minutes.

There are several games that you can compete against a partner and we enjoyed that. Video games where you are riding a snow board, running to collect coins, etc. Educational activities interspersed. Our girls are 10 and 14 and they loved it! Something I thought was cute was that you could color a dinosaur and scan it and it would display on a big screen, roaming around with other dinosaurs, and your name was displayed over it. There were hand sanitizer stations located throughout but not all of them were filled so you might want to bring your own hand sanitizer.

Normally I get bored and just wait and work on my phone while the kids take their time having fun but I actually participated in lots of activities. The entrance price was well worth it. I would not go on a weekend when it's busy though! We were here just under 3 hours and felt it was enough time to experience...