The Children's Museum of Indianapolis — Attraction in Indianapolis

Where to start… Nearly $200 for a family of five to visit which for the day we had seemed absolutely insane. There needs to be a cap on how many tickets are sold per day. It was so crowded we were nearly shoulder to shoulder with people in every exhibit. My kids were ready to leave after the first 20 minutes because they were being ran into, hit with strollers, and trampled by older kids all day. Alternatively, this place clearly makes enough money off of ticket prices alone that it felt ridiculous that outside of ticketing and the food court there were basically no employees anywhere! Seems to be no reason why they can not staff exhibits with employees to oversee that parents are actually supervising their children, to prevent children from walking off with exhibit toys/interactive pieces or in the VERY LEAST supervising that areas which are specifically designed for SMALLER children. My kids couldn’t even get an escape during the sports experience which also has specific areas marked for children “under the age of 5” because much older children and even teenagers and adults were found running around, hogging the area, and not allowing space for my younger children to experience and enjoy a small section of the museum which was specifically designated for them! I understand certain exhibits are going to be more popular than others, particularly the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse exhibit. In instances like these, it feels perfectly reasonable to have the entrance staffed with employees to maintain an appropriate count of a number of people/families inside the exhibit at a time. There was nowhere to walk, there were lines for the different interactive pieces of the exhibits bit you constantly have unsupervised and even supervised children running right up and just forcing themselves in front of everyone waiting or even barging in and forcing odd the children who stood in a ridiculous line to even SEE what was going on. Certain number of people inside the exhibit at a time… this is not an unreasonable or uncommon practice. I haven’t even mentioned yet the HEAT in this place was absurd. I dressed my kids in short sleeves and they were sweating within minutes of being inside. My kids were ready to leave before we had even been inside for half an hour. Their restrooms are incredibly small and inaccessible. You cannot get to the stalls if someone is standing and washing their hands without hitting them with the door, cannot change a diaper without being hit with the door, and cannot even walk into a stall and close/reopen the door without having to straddle or lean up against or over the toilet which is extremely unhygienic and offputting. I visited this museum several times as a child and young adult and was very excited to finally be able to afford to offer my children the same experience but this place has gone tremendously downhill and seems to care about nothing but filling their pockets and absolutely no regard for the patrons they are apparently so desperate for. Waste of money, waste of time, no fun was had and my children (7,5 and 2) quote “will never go back their because that place sucked and was no fun” Would give zero stars if I could. Spend your money elsewhere. Cincinnati’s children museum is wonderful. They out time and attention into their patrons experience and genuinely strive to provide a good...

Way overpriced and not really for small children. I wish I would have read the negative reviews before spending $125 for a family of 4 and wasting an entire day in Indy. This is NOT geared toward small children (pop culture room, Nelson Mandela exhibit, topics like: Anne Frank, segregation, AIDS). The only mildly interactive area for younger children is the playscape room up on the 3rd floor ONLY for ages 5 and under which has a sand table, a giant water table, a ball maze, and a small climbing structure.

The dinosaur exhibit is cool for those that like dinosaurs, but my 3 year old only enjoyed the fossil dig area... otherwise she was bored and begging to leave. They had a couple puzzles to put together (dinosaur, mummy, terracotta soldiers) and a very small crawl space to pretend to be an astronaut, the train room had a kids train table like the one we own at home. The water clock tower was cool to see as an adult, but not so much for little kids. The outside sports area is actually very nice where you can play basketball, soccer, football, tennis, race a pedal car, and play mini golf. The mini golf was actually impressive as it had a toddler mini golf and 2 courses for older more experienced golfers.

I could see if you were a local, having a membership might be worth it for the outside play area, but charging one time visitors $30+ a person and marketing it as a children's museum is outrageous. This is more like a history museum geared towards teens/adults... even then it's a weird hodge podge of stuff. I'm from St. Louis where we have an amazing children's museum that is half the price of this place and we also have a science museum that is FREE with way more interactive exhibits at both of these (FYI our zoo is also FREE).

Admission: They offer a couple discounts like 10% off for military families in person, but I couldn't find what the price was at the gate since they use dynamic pricing online and don't disclose the gate price online, so I purchased online to supposedly save money with an added $4 processing fee. I posted a picture of the admission prices at the gate for anyone else wondering. On the first thursday of the month it is only $6 to enter but I've read it is very crowded on those days. We went on a Saturday which was not very crowded, but it was still hard to get around with a stroller, so I'd hate to see it on a busier day.

Parking: The website describes having three free surface parking lots and then having "premium" parking garages which I then thought the garage would cost money, but when we arrived they had a sign saying it was free which was confusing but we already drove past it on a one way road so we just parked at the first surface lot. When we left, very few people had parked on the surface lot and there was one "security" car with a sleeping security guard in it, so if you have the option park in the parking garage where your vehicle...

Children's Museum has come way away from the museum I remember as a kid and just a few years ago. For us, it has turned into the dinosaur museum. Activities and exhibits that used to be on the second floor have turned into huge spaces, not at all interesting to our 3 year old. The reminisce of the train world in the basement is sad. I asked about it, and they didn't know what I was talking about. That tells me the exhibit has been gone so long that the staff don't know about it. A lot of the free use spaces were built up to things I am surprised are in a kids' museum.

Seems you can bring your own food for lunch. I strongly recommend this. Food is incredibly overpriced. The 25-cent carton of milk from your school days is $2.75. The cup of fruit was $5. Our pizza was ok but would never get it again as my son didn't even want to eat much of it. We had no luck in quality of service from the deli place as the person in there was yelling to my wife "what dobyou want" from the make table in the back. Didn't even step to the counter to provide service. Needless to say, she didn't respond to him, and we got food elsewhere.

Will tell you that even in the allergy free zone, parents are ignoring their kids. Letting them run a muck. My son got ran into, hit, and knocked over multiple times to where I had to body block kids and some parents who were being inconsiderate of others. One parent even took my sons spot at the little sand table when he went to get a brush. Just moved 2 feet. She didn't like my giving her what for. The Museum says only children 5 and under but allows siblings to go in with. So now my son had to wait for kids 10 to 13 to move so he could play with kids his age. Of course, the museum tells me they assume the bigger kids would help the little kids. This is not fact as the bigger kids ignore the younger kids and control all the toys. Parents are not controlling their kids. I had to get these kids to move. I did see one parent try to get her son to move, and he threw a punch and a croc at her. Am happy that she got him to leave the location as that Croc came close to hitting my son, and I already wanted to lay him on his butt for how he acted to his mother. Most of this trip was trying to avoid negative parenting and children they seem to forget they are at a children's museum. They should be aware that some are only 3 feet tall. But honestly, I do not mind being my sons protection and moving wall, but I shouldn't have to. The museum seems to have rules, but they don't even enforce them.

Sad state from the Children's Museum of my childhood and when my brother worked there. I do not really want to go back and never would consider...