Bryan-Gooding Planetarium — Attraction in Jacksonville

DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT go to this planetarium!

Take my word for it. Do not spend your time or money at the Bryan-Gooding Planetarium at Jacksonville's Museum of Science and History, especially if you want to see the planetarium movie. I've been to several planetariums across the country, and they often offer an amazing experience with incredible visuals. Unfortunately, this one does not.

First, to see the planetarium movie, you are required to buy admission to the museum as well, making the total cost about $25 per person. For my wife and me, that's $50 just to see a film! This is far beyond the cost of seeing a Hollywood blockbuster in IMAX at the Epic Theatres, which is about $30 for both of us.

The first time I went, I called ahead to ensure the film would be suitable for adults. Despite being assured it would be, we arrived to find it was a poorly animated cartoon for kids. It was so bad that I should have learned my lesson, but I returned because my wife wanted to check it out. Again, I called ahead and was assured the film would be great. This time, the film, "Nights over Jacksonville," was even worse. The graphics were cheap and looked like they were made in 1993. It was so boring that I started to fall asleep.

We got up and left during the movie and demanded a refund. The supervisor pointed out a piece of paper stating that refunds are not given for any movies, clearly indicating this is a frequent issue. Despite my complaints, the supervisor refused to budge.

Take this review as a warning: do not spend your money here. If you don't heed my warning and go anyway, just think of this review while you sit there, realizing how much...

The place itself was beautiful and had comfortable chairs and the art outside in the waiting area was nice. However the show itself was very uninformitive and the speaker sounded like he had very little understanding of the information he was passing on. There was a lot of umms and it seemed like he wasn't very familiar with the program that was projecting the images either. He left lights on in the room that made the show hard to see. I couldn't help but laugh and wonder how he got that job. Show was...

Tickets for the planetarium should be available independent of tickets from the museum of science and history. The website does not make it clear you must purchase museum tickets to see planetarium shows. Being forced to buy a ticket for the museum when you don't want to go to the museum is a scam. Also the docent at the planetarium should do more to control the behavior of children who only kick seats behind other people during shows and ruin it for the guests. Finally, the shows are...