Great Lakes Science Center — Attraction in Cleveland

I will start off by saying I am a member of the GLSC who has been visiting for 4 years, and a lot this year because of a gifted membership. My first time visiting was in 2009. We have visited 10+ times since November of 2023. I’m extremely disappointed in the science center for a variety of reasons that I will list below.

GERMS. I’m not a germaphobe by any means, but as some other reviews said, it’s dirty. There’s dust everywhere. Some of the exhibits are sticky and never wiped off (I’m looking at you, polymer funhouse). There are cobwebs outside where the kids water exhibit is. The ball pit is absolutely disgusting. I am not joking when I say EVERY time we visit, we get sick. We have our flu/covid shots up to date, but we still catch the plague. Since our membership started in November, we have had: strep throat (with rash), staph, an awful stomach flu (3 or 4 times), covid, and many secondary infections (ear infections, laryngitis, and chronic sinus infections). I douse my kid with hand sanitizer and it makes absolutely no difference.

Everything is outdated. There are certain exhibits that have changed, like the new Cleveland exhibit or the temporary exhibits downstairs, but most have not. Since 2024, they have replaced a few exhibits with some new stuff but I’d say 95% of the top floor is old. On top of the very few changes, exhibits are broken and not repaired, no matter if they are old or new.

Unruly kids. Obviously, the science center can be a fun place for active kids, but there is a HUGE problem with lack of rule reinforcement. Older kids, anywhere from ~10-15 years old, are allowed to run free in the polymer funhouse. The newest temp exhibit, tapescape, is way too rough on busy days for my older niece, nephew, and 3 year old son. Teenagers were running up the slide while the little kids were coming down; there were lots of tears and crashing going on with no worker to help manage the kids. My son has been pushed countless times and is now afraid to go up to the slide.

The cost is high if you don’t have a membership. We paid $55 for admission for 3 people, not including parking or the theater. Parking is outrageous for members. It should absolutely be free if you shell out that amount of money. Every other membership we’ve had includes free parking. Not to mention, I constantly have issues with the gate and the validation tickets. Half the time, they still attempt to charge me the full $13 after I’ve paid my parking ticket inside.

I have talked to staff and messaged about these issues. It mostly gets brushed off. I won’t be renewing the membership and we most likely will not be coming back until there are some major improvements. The only saving grace for the science center is the staff. I have had very good experiences with staff overall, everyone is...

We visited on a Thursday morning in mid-April 2025.

We parked in the parking garage and planned to stay most of the day and also do the rock and roll hall of fame next door. There was construction going on outside so walking from one to the other wasn't so easy.

There is a cool corridor that goes from the parking garage to the science center itself so you don't have to go outside. We pre-purchased our tickets online and bought it along with the dome theater show. They let us change the timing at check-in to an earlier time. There were very few people there when we arrived. There was 2 groups in line in front of us but it moved very quick.

The kids were able to run around and do basically whatever they wanted for almost an hour before all the school groups arrived. It was spring break for us but the local schools were still in session. It got crowded really fast.

We tried to hide in the more obscure areas. The kids really liked the music area on the top floor. Also my youngest really liked building with the wooden sets on the main floor. When all the school groups left he had it all to himself and spent almost 30 mins building his own crane that was taller than him. Staff member stopped by and said that's the largest structure he'd ever seen someone build out of those parts.

We ate lunch and watched the dome video closer to noon when all the school groups were running around. Many of the school groups went to lunch and that's when we went back out.

We spent more than 4 hrs in the science center. I think the kids were finally started to get bored near the end and it was time for us to walk over to the rock and roll hall of fame.

The parking garage was open late as well and aligned with the late opening of the rock and roll hall of fame.

There is a quiet sensory spare up on the 3rd floor as well near the bathrooms. It was cool that they had such an area as it got really loud when all the school groups were there.

The museum store was large but had your typical science museum merch. I had a hard time finding anything that specifically had the museum logo or name on it.

Every staff person we interacted with the whole day from the ticket desk, to the different science kiosks to the museum store were all happy to help and very pleasant to talk to. Customer service here was just top notch.

Not sure if we would come back after spending over 4 hrs in there. But definitely worth...

My honest review after taking my 9 year old is to not waste your money. We’ve been to Pittsburgh’s science center several times and it’s much larger and for a similar ticket price. We did not rush through and looked at all the exhibits and activities and made it back to the parking garage within 3 hours. I child did enjoy himself, but I personally feel it wasn’t the best use of money for a day out. There are 3 floors but each floor is rather small. There’s also a nice sized section inside and outside that is reserved for 7 years and younger and that’s the section my 9 year old was most excited for, based on photos we saw before our visit - such a bummer for him. Per usual, the gift shop was over priced so we did not purchase anything. We had a stroller so we had to use the elevator but had to go through the education center to access it. The parking garage is rather expensive at $13 but we received a validation ticket reducing the cost to $9 when we purchased our tickets.

If you are concerned about germs or potentially safe air, this is not the place for you. There was a few hand sanitizing units on the wall, a few sinks in the open space, but the one sink I tried didnt work. Our family visited the restrooms often to wash our hands as everyone was constantly touching things (it’s 100% a hands on interactive establishment). I saw there was even a sign in the car building section that said these parts are clean but never saw one person cleaning anything in the 3 hours we were there. I wanted to use the nursing room they offer, and was pleasantly surprised they even offered a quite space for nursing moms, but at some point there must have been a leak in the ceiling of that room because of the bulging ceiling tile when you enter the room and the musty/dirty/old smell in the room. Needless to say, I immediately left the room as I suspect there had to be some mold growth somewhere. When I left, I saw two men working on the bathroom across the hall and saw some gross black stuff all over the bathroom wall and that grossed me out even more and convinced me it was time to leave.

This was for sure a first and last...