Peoria Riverfront Museum — Attraction in Peoria

Review Date: October 29th, 2012

The Peoria Riverfront Museum is the spiritual successor to the Lakeview Museum.

The Lakeview Museum is a place that I cherished due to going there often as a kid. When they announced it was closing and they were going to build a new museum on the riverfront, I was excited and sad. Excited to see this new place yet sad at the closing of a childhood memory.

Matt, Erin, and I decided to check it out as it was too late in the day to travel far but still early enough to see some sights. As we approached the counter and paid, I was super surprised at the cost to get in. I want to say it was around $15-18 a person. The museum was new, big and exciting so I was expecting a fee to get in but not that steep of one. Regardless of that, we paid and went about exploring.

At the time of our visit, it was fairly empty so we had the entire place to ourselves. The first thing I got distracted by was this giant circulating thing hanging from the rafters. It was blue and slowly spinning. The thing was mesmerizing to watch. Erin and Matt had to remind me we had the rest of the museum to explore, so I finally looked away and we started walking around.

Up first was a Caterpillar exhibit. The company Caterpillar is a huge part of the identity of Central Illinois. It’s also one that I don’t have much interest in. I grew up around people that worked for Cat, around Cat’s production facilities and even worked for a company that worked for Cat for a few years after high school. I can say that I have had sufficient Caterpillar information in my life, so beyond seeing some of the displays, there was no interest in any of us on the overall showing.

We moved on to some art hanging on the walls and a few other odds and ends to look at. At a certain point, I think we went down one level and encountered a kids and teens area. This was the REALLY interactive part of the museum. The stuff I like. We came across a lot of fun machines to play around with. One of them was a pitching machine that would measure your throwing speed. Another was an arm wrestling machine. If I remember right, you could set the resistance and try to force the metal arm down. You can see a glimpse of that in the photos below. We moved on from those and encountered some other things to play with but they were meant for little kids so we were too big for them.

After that, we left. We spent maybe an hour here? I remember leaving and thinking… that’s it? I do feel like we missed something. There is a planetarium in the museum but after paying the hefty fee to get in, we were kind of strapped for cash and we weren’t sure if they were showing anything at the time of our visit.

I would love to return as they have a revolving main exhibit that always seems interesting. They had a Lego one at some point but I couldn’t find anyone else that liked Legos enough to go check it out. I really do think we came at a time when there wasn’t a big exhibit going on and we only got to experience half of what the museum...

I'm a repeat visitor to the Peoria Riverfront Museum. I am originally from Chicago, and have spent most of my life within close distance to the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Adler planetarium, the Art Institute, etc, and I've had the distinct pleasure of visiting all of them several times. The Peoria Riverfront Museum is not any of these (which target specific audiences from a large population), and it is really unfair to compare it to any one of these museums.

Instead the PRM has tried to engage everyone within the community, and I believe that they have done that very well. The IHSA exhibit will get your blood pumping, the river museum combines river history with river engineering (along with a huge fish tank), there are two art galleries with rotating exhibits (Chihuly!), a history exhibit with some fascinating information about Peoria (not just about Caterpillar), and a phenomenal planetarium. This museum has a lot of varied things to see and do, some of which I have preferred over others, but in general, everyone from any age group can find something rich and enjoyable to see and do. I especially like the extra things that they do, including the in-lobby mobile exhibits, demonstrations, and the stream table. I've really enjoyed the Museum and plan on visiting again!

PS: It should be stated that they have the single best movie theater in ALL of Illinois.

PPS: Prices have changed to $8 Adult admission (definitely worth it considering you will spend at least this much in gas driving to the next closest museum) and $13 Adult admission to a GST movie (compare that to $12 for IMAX which is...

The ABSOLUTE GREATEST MOVIE EXPERIENCE EVER!!! This is a hidden gem in Peoria, BETTER than the MISLEADING IMAX movie experience at the AMC theater!!! BETTER THAN IMAX??? YES, IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE ITS BETTER THAN THE "IMAX" IN PEORIA. The screen is ENORMOUS and the resolution was beautiful!!! The sound system of 14,000 watts described online had me in disbelief as I am very familiar with auto and home audio sound systems. I have 2000 watts pounding in my trunk, i did not believe they truly pumped 14,000 until I felt the vibration humming in the air before actually hearing the sound effects, seeing them perfectly in sync with the action on screen!!! Im not from Peoria, when i am there its because my daughter is fighting cancer and our trips are usually boring and filled with talk of disease and medicine. Im so VERY THANKFUL to give my daughter an experience that I probably could not replicate myself.... we got a private viewing of a blockbuster movie of the greatest quality picture and sound in the most advanced theater ive ever seen. Check out the pictures. This theater wasnt necessarily built to sell tickets but to be a lasting tool for educational purposes for the school kids that take field trips and family outings. They had the forethought to build the most advanced technology now so it will serve the museums purposes for many years to come. And ordinarily they show educational films and documentaries but on occasion they show big name Hollywood movies. Keep your eye open, i promise you, it is worth the effort of checking out. Your...