Ellis Planetarium, Health & Science Museum — Attraction in North Carolina

Sandy Chaney Drum (the manager? im guessing) ruined the experience. we came here as a field trip for our summer camp kids and the entire time she kept yelling at our kids to stop running, "don't touch", etc. a coworker and i went inside, at 1:50 (10 mins early) to ask about our kids going to the show at 2pm. when asked she stated that we'd have to "follow the rules" of sitting still, quietly. her reasoning being that the projector would move if the kids moved. we told her that wasn't a problem for us, but we did warn her we had 25 kids so we would do all we can, to which she responded "that's just how it has to be". " when we told her some of our kids were special needs, she asked us if we were sure "they are set up for that" - "that" being sitting still watching the show. at this point we decided to leave but some of our kids had to use the bathroom. when we brought the 4 kids that had to use bathroom she said in a very sarcastic and loud tone "look at all these awesome and well behaved kids!". after my coworker had taken all the kids to the vans, i was in the bathroom and heard her talking to another employee (man ginger hair with tattoos) saying that if we couldn't follow the rules we had to leave. before we left she asked for our supervisors number. after we left, her and my boss talked on the phone. she said that we were rude, that kids were acting up, and tried accusing us of not calling ahead of time to book the field trip (we did!). when my boss informed her that the entire conversation of her turning us away and her talking to her employee about us, was recorded and sent to her, she was taken aback. note: i work with these kids everyday, if they were being "bad" and causing disruptions i'd be the first to say something. the kids were not giving us or them problems that were significant.. as for the special needs kids, they didn't cause problems and even stated they had fun. very disappointing to see a place targeted FOR kids, turning us away.. coincidentally after learning we had special needs kids. we arrived at 12:20 and waited till 1:50 just to be...

My friend and I took our children here recently. First, I must say that as homeschooling mom's, we love having a free place to bring our little ones to that is full of educational activities. They loved it! However, the staff made it much less enjoyable. The woman at the front desk yelled at my friend's 2 year old repeatedly for "running" from activity to activity. When my very inquisitive 8 year old asked her questions about one of the exhibits, she rolled her eyes and said "I don't know". This same woman presented the "star show" in the planetarium and it was a disaster. There were multiple large families in attendance (as it is a children's museum!) And she paused the pre-recorded video track twice to ask the kids to be quiet. During her talk after the video, she stopped and told my friend that she and her children needed to leave because they were distracting. About five minutes after that, she insisted that another family also needed to leave because (I'm quoting this) "I'm tired of having to talk over your children". (Again, isn't this a KIDS museum?!?). After kicking people out of the planetarium exhibit, her shift must have been over because she pulled out in her car and flew through the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Through a parking lot filled with children playing in a playground! After this experience, we want to the Nature Center where my eight year old daughter was again yelled at because she was playing with her little sister in a section that was marked as "five years and under". Come on, people! If you're there for...

It’s unfortunate that we have to leave a poor review, but I was disappointed in one member of the staff today. Sandy, who seemed like she may be the manager, was very rude. After younger members of the staff told us (and other groups) to come back again and again to gain entrance into the museum, we were continuously turned away for “another 15 minutes until the field trip ended”. Sandy came out and rudely stated that “this is how it’s always been”. We were waiting for another 15 minutes to be over after HER STAFF said we would be able to enter. She let the door slam in our faces after saying goodbye to the field trip as well. After our trip, we saw that she posted about the field trips on the Facebook page AFTER our trip. We pointed out that it would be convenient for those who travel to know this ahead of time. She deleted our comments multiple times then blocked us. This is completely unacceptable and inappropriate behavior of one who serves the community. Other staff was wonderful but Sandy made our trip to that section of the museum very unpleasant. It’s sad that we are discouraged from...