Clark Planetarium — Attraction in Salt Lake City

I have donated to this planetarium since the early 90s when they were still in the little Hansen building and their Laser Floyd show. Which is why it pains me to say this. This place has really got to get its act together!!! I bought tickets to their Beautifica show. Paid online $34 for each ticket. Got to the planetarium and watched them charge someone $10/ticket. The instructions said to show up early for check in. We walked in and looked for a check in, there was nothing, only a souvenir stand with souvenirs we didn't really want, and signage-instruction that Beautifica was in the dome theater. We went up and were the second group in the general admission line. After 40 minutes waiting and the line growing, an employee walks through the line asking if people had their yellow wristbands. They couldn't make a check earlier while the line was in the early stages. They even had employee standing at the front of the line when we first showed up and spoke with all of us in line. Instead, they had to wait until we'd been in line for nearly an hour. Several guests go downstairs. We look, and eventually find TWO 8x11 printer paper signs at a hidden end of the souvenir stand that says it's also general admission check in. Are the signs where you can see them when you walk through the doors to the planetarium? No. Are they where they can be seen at their main ticket booth? No. Are they where you can see them from plain view from their lobby? No. The signs are facing away from the entry and pointed towards one specific area of the planetarium so that you wouldn't see it unless you happened to take that branch into the building. As we got our wristbands, I asked if they didn't think they should face the signs towards the entrance so they could be seen. The employee says, "We can't do anything about it, corporate says we have to put them here." She goes on to tell us that the seating is sold out and is a first come first serve (guess they haven't figured out assigned seating yet like the rest of the world that sells tickets to special events). Finally we get our wristbands, and go back to the line (to the very end). We went from second from the first group because we followed instructions to show up early to now being second from the last. As we get to the top of the stairs to get in line, one employee is stationed asking, "do you have your wristband." I replied with "Where were you guys when the line was forming?" He ignored me. After we get in line, another employee makes a round down the line with absolutely no appearance of wanting to be there and asking if we have our wristbands. When they finally started letting general admission in, the employees didn't even check for wristbands, just sat their chatting with their co-workers. Once inside, we find out that general admission is not allowed into empty seats in the top half of the theater *even though they were empty and never filled up during the show. No, we had to have the "Oh look, darling! They talk" seats.

Overall, this place has a huge issue with communicating with their guests, charging more online than they do in person, and employees who clearly need some sort of customer service training or even assertive training. In the end, the moment I sat down in the theater, I couldn't wait to leave because it was incredibly apparent they didn't care about their guests who didn't have to spend their money to go to their event, nor care about those who have donated to help their facilities grow and operate. I'm truly disappointed in you guys, and that's coming from a local who's been loyal to you for well over 30 years....

Clark planetarium is a two story high interactive experience for all ages , there are lots of exhibits like a tornado simulator, a static ball ,a large globe that changes from planet to planet to give visitors a visual perspective of our solar system . There are many things for children to touch like a fog simulator a giant meteorite, a light pad that responds to your touch and many other education science based activities there is even a play ground with slides and tubes that open up into a large star lit area for little ones to explore. This planetarium has a Imax theater that there is a fee for, a concession stand is located upstairs serving things like theater popcorn ,soda, candy ice cream and nachos for a reasonable price and if your a member the movies and snacks are cheaper . There is also a large gift shop with items ranging from jewelry to science toys and stuffed animals and clothes everything isn't terribly overpriced. This facility is free to enter all of the interactive activities are all free as well, this planetarium is a very open space perfect for handicap individuals to get around there is a very large elevator to make it easy to get upstairs. Clark planetarium is located in downtown Salt lake City next to the vivit arena ,parking near the facility is $ 2.25 a hour but on Saturdays parking is free and the fee is not enforced. In this general area there are many restaurants including food halls and shopping the city creek mall is near by and that place is a great way to see a variety of shops and dining options it even has a small creek running through it, if walking isn't your thing you can rent a scooter or book one of the many high-end hotels in the down town area. I recommend this planetarium as a must go for families with children or for those who want to know more about our solar system. The hours are located on...

Salt Lake City has a free planetarium that we visited on Saturday. (August 2023) It's funded by aerospace & defense contractor Northrop Grumman, so even the snack bar and movie theater inside is heavily subsidized.

Don't expect a huge planetarium for free. This is on the small side, with the first floor dedicated to a gift shop, an exhibit on tornadoes and a collection of meteorites. The partial second floor is where the dome theater is located and a small exhibit on the weather in space and a plasma ball. The third floor has an area with remote controlled mini Mars rovers, an exhibit about black holes and a play space.

We visited on an early Saturday morning and it wasn't too packed until around 2 PM - then it became so busy it wasn't feesible to read the exhibits with so many people with strollers pushing in on you.

We ended up seeing two films for $9 each in their dome theater. The theater screen is a dome shape so it feels more immersive (smaller than the dome theater in San Jose, California.)

My only complaint is that the under 7 crowd shouldn't be permitted in the paid movie theater. If a child is too small to sit quietly for a half hour, then this isn't an age appropriate activity. Kids were screaming, talking and climbing on chairs through both the pre-movie night sky presentation and the films. If they're not going to bar small children from the paid movie, they need to offer an adult only showing (they have showings as late as 10:45 PM for their rock music films as is.)

I don't understand how entitled parents have become. If your kid is fussy, take them outside. If you're in a restaurant, a film, a museum, whatever, take them outside until they calm down. We all paid to be there and your kid doesn't have more of a right than the rest of us to...