Definitely overrated. Nothing but a glorified and overpriced Chuck E. Cheese for older kids. To be fair, my expectations were probably too high going in - I was thinking it would be of similar caliber to many of the Ripley's Museums we've visited across the country. Instead, it was headache-level noisy, poorly organized, chaotic and drab. Our first experience was so blah that we didn't even bother to go back and use the free birthday pass we later received for my son via Wonderworks' Professor's Club marketing promotion.

Many of the "attractions" were either out of order or unstaffed during our visit. The activities that were semi-working still looked the worse for wear. Since the most interesting activities (gyro ride, wind tunnel, bed of nails, theater) require staff operation and supervision, this was especially problematic. Stood waiting for up to 15-20 minutes at times, while the few attendants on staff wandered around aimlessly to other areas. The layout and lack of staffing discourages a natural flow from one activity to another, leading to large groups crowding into relatively tight, chaotic spaces to wait their turns at the underwhelming exhibits.

Despite the fact that there are hundreds of little hands touching every surface in the place, we saw no one cleaning or sanitizing anything the entire time we were there. The bubble area is a slip and fall waiting to happen, as the bubble solution constantly covers the concrete floor in a thin coat of slime. 3 kids fell and banged their heads/arms in just the few minutes we spent in that area. The one area that didn't utterly disappoint was the lazer tag arena. I use the term arena loosely, because it was actually very small. But my younger kids (3, 7 and 8) were impressed enough by it. Again, a case of the space for the activity being too tight to offer much challenge for kids much older than that.

My recommendation - skip pricey Wonderworks and visit the reasonably priced MOST museum a few miles up the road instead. Same emphasis on hands-on, science based activities for all ages, but the staff is much more attentive and the activities/facilities are in considerably better condition.