Chabot Space & Science Center — Attraction in Oakland

I went with my 6 year old and both she and I were very disappointed. It was a Sunday. She was all excited that she will be looking through some telescope and in a "space center" there were no real telescopes available even to touch. The solar telescope should have been there from their website but was not operational because, as told to me "experts to use it were not available and it takes too long to set it up!"

We attended 3 shows in the planetarium. All 3 were terrible at best. Those could be watched at home in TV. There were almost nothing about planetarium like in those. There were hardly much of any planets or stars or anything exciting. Both the Astronaut and Mayan.. shows were mostly some kind of cartoon or 80's primitive graphics based shows. Most kids were bored and I could see no excitement in any adults or kids eye as they got out of the shows..

The Laser show is the most rip off out of all. They charge $14 per person and it is one of the most pathetic laser show I have ever seen. As we entered there were only 6 people in the whole theater for show, that should have told me something. I guess most people know I how terrible it is!. It is JUST not worth $14. Shame on Chabot management for charging $14 to the science inspired, curious parents and kids who come to visit the space center.

Many of the exhibits in the kids are were not working either.. all in all the place got amazing set of buildings that’s all. Okay to be fire they have a couple of space capsules for kids to sit and mess with the broken switches. Many kids seems to have fun with that’s pretty much it. May be they got good amount grants from the state to build it but current mgmt is mediocre at best. I did go the reception and express my disappointment at the shows and overall condition. But the lady laughingly admits that it is bad and seems like she is used to people complaining and she is happy she has a job!!

May the place has good telescopes, I will go another Fri and Saturday evening to observe. But rest of the science center and especially the planetarium shows are pathetic. Save yourself time and money by not visiting this place.

I had high hopes before I visited this place.. I liked the location, over all facility. But I truly hope the management improves the exhibits, shows and becomes an inspiration to the kids who come to see this place about space and astronomy and not bore them and...

That was probably the most disappointing experience I have had in a very long time. Before the pandemic, I really liked the space center to see new things all the time. Spaceships, rockets, astronaut suits and much more. When the pandemic hit, it sadly closed for the time being and announced that they will remodel the center to be even better. Me and my family went yesterday to the center again after 2 years to see what they added. This is the worst museum/center I have ever been to. Most of the rooms are empty. Almost all exhibits closed and they replaced them with interactive kids projects like make a planet out of foil or monitors to just listen to information. All of this I could just do at home for free and yet tickets are still 20 dollars per person. There were used to be models that everyone including adults could interact with like going under models of probes to flick switched and push buttons or really see some cool things like a model of the sputnik. Now all of that is gone and the only thing left is 2 stations with " interactive " activities " for small children and nothing for anyone older than 5. They took everything out and replaced it with boring, cheap activities anyone could do at home for almost free. I don't recommend going here anymore and if you are expecting something better after the remodel, just don't go. You will see nothing and be utterly disappointed. They even cleared out the little store on the side and left nothing but a couple of t-shirts and space food. All of the cool products are gone like cool rocks or cool models. I don't know what Chabot Space Center was thinking about when they did this but I think they should know that they really messed up and ruined many people's experience,...

It is an interesting place to visit & I can certainly say I learned several facts, while there. I don't think I have ever been prior & this time was as a chaperone for my daughter's 3rd grade field trip. There were several other field trips there at the same time, ranging from elementary to what seemed like possibly high school, but may have just been poorly behaved middle schoolers. The elementary students all seemed to be adequately chaperoned, but the older kids seemed disrespectful & very unappreciative of the opportunity, which I have to say, definitely detracted from my experience. All of that aside, since this is about Chabot & not a school's lack of supervision, there were some interactive exhibits, some play areas, live shows (ours was a digital game show, with 2 staff members as hosts) & a planetarium presentation. The gift shop was reasonably priced, with space themed merchandise & there was a cafe available as well. I was not a fan of the planetarium show called Lunavision. I am used to an immersive space or sky experience, with commentary as an additional layer. This show offered a strange presentation of a Physics PhD candidate named Lucia, constantly sending or responding to text messages, with her own commentary about space sounds, sound waves & energy, etc. I would have much preferred to just see or seemingly travel through space. The telescope domes were not open, on our visit, but apparently are open nightly from 7-10pm free of charge, but I would highly recommend double-checking that before making plans. Parking is available & free! If you are not at least curious about space, this facility will be lost on you, but it's an...