Discovery Center Museum — Attraction in Rockford Township

We have been visiting the Discovery center for 8 years now. We often hold a season pass but Covid changed that in 20/21. We joined again in 2022 and have been twice. The first time was two weeks ago. I was disappointed to see some stations out of order. The AG area is very run down. The corn thing that is supposed to drop corn on the conveyer belt does not work at all. On our second visit two young girls were playing inside the display in the corn…..the parents did nothing and the employee walking through the area just kept on walking. The interactive things on the second floor are very slow and are showing wear. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. The second floor has two stations in the back that have colorful plastic pieces and instructions on how to build a car or other object. Most of those pieces were missing and we weren’t able to even start the build. The build a windmill exhibit does not work. The arms fall out of the bracket and just ends up falling apart before you even get it on the stand. On our second trip some of those stations that were out of order were back up and running so I can see they are putting fourth effort. The etching station where you make your mission patch had 2 tiny pieces of crayon so we weren’t able to take part in that. The tot spot area has phones but they don’t work very well. Phone number 1 has no operating ability. Phone 4 will ring but you can’t hear anyone talk on it. The only phones that work are 2&3. We did stop an employee when we found one and expressed some concern that we were running into a lot of stations/play areas that were missing pieces or out of order. They didn’t seem to interested in problem solving and just asked us to stop at the desk on the way out. On our second trip (today) we saw the 1:30 planetarium show. The show itself was great. Very informative and my kids (6,7,8) really tried to enjoy it. It was very disappointing that we couldn’t hear all of the show due to screaming/talking kids and parents during the show. Kids were running around and trying to touch the projector. Rolling on the floor laughing and jumping over the two rows of seats. I’m really disappointed the employee didn’t stop the show and get it under control. They just sat at the desk and let it continue. Some other adults started shushing but to no avail. My kids complained they couldn’t hear the show over all the yelling. We have spent 8 great years here but I think this will be the last year we visit as the kids were blasé about our both our experiences...

We used to love coming here. But the place is falling apart now. We had briefly let our membership lapse due to sports, and visited again a few days ago. The time before this last one when we were there we were quite disappointed, so I decided to buy a single entry to see if there was improvement. Had it improved, I would then renew. I will NOT be renewing, and I believe this will be our last visit.

Many, many items were not working or missing pieces: fishing, the colored pegs, magnet tiles, the "corn" that goes on the conveyors, no paper or supplies to make rockets, the air tubes you can balance balls on barely have enough air to do one ball, only 2 chicken eggs, only one milker works, the hot air balloon wouldn't launch, the tornado wouldn't form, the hanging thing was broken. SOOO many exhibits were now gone. 2 building exhibits were added. The "wood" one has no way to make the "boards" into anything because they're either too big or too small to fit into the framing, and there are also only about 15-20 of them. The house and mechanic shop were missing many items. There are large gaps with nothing in them, especially upstairs. And I've never figured out why they close the playground in the winter of there's no snow or ice.

All in all, this now reeks of a museum that is no longer taken care of. You can catch glimpse of what it used to be, but they're overshadowed by the reality of what it is now. If it's your first visit, there may be enough working items to keep your kids entertained. But if you've been there before, there will not be. We were in, coats hung up, craft made, walked around, done, through the just shop, purchased something, washed hands, coats on, and leaving within 60 minutes of arriving. A real travesty, as this was still a pretty nice place to go before, and even during, covid. Now, it's outdated, sad, and used...

Used to bring the kids here years ago, we recently moved back to Rockford and visited the center today. Im a late diagnosed autistic adhd mother of 4 young kids and I’m in the throes of learning how to navigate the world with severe sensory sensitivity and I learned the center opened a sensory friendly room. I was really using that room as a saving grace to know I would have somewhat to go to regulate during our visit to make it possible for me to be there with my children and have a good experience. I got to the point where I needed the room, I walked over to see kids playing and running around like any other room and it was really disappointing. In my opinion, if you’re going to advertise something as a sensory friendly space, especially in a place like this you should be assuring that other people are being respectful of that. I wasn’t so much upset for myself, I know I’ll be alright, sure it’s stressful and uncomfortable and I’m not able to be as presten for the experience with my kids during overstimulation. But I’m more concerned for the children who visit that may need that room who arent able to stick it out for the rest of the time when they see it’s not sensory friendly. Please do something about that. Either don’t advertise it as sensory friendly or ensure it’s being monitored and rules are being followed. Besides that the museum is super fun the kids love it and it’s a great family...