Children's Discovery Museum of the Golden Crescent — Attraction in Victoria

There are not much learning activities in the area so I was beyond excited to take my 11 month old son and niece and nephew who are in double digit ages to the museum. After being there for 30mins, a wooden figure (20+ pounds) that was only secured to wall by velcro fell on my 11 month old son head. The employee apologized and she was truly concerned. I understand that accidents happen but was put off by the director and codirector when they continued to argue with me about the incident. Their words "we didn't know these were only secured by velcro" "parents get upset anytime their child gets hurt, even when it's minor. He looks like a tough boy." Director said the props have been on show for three months and never knew they were velcroed on. There were kids pulling these figures off the wall and acting out plays and no one was told anything until my family started playing with props. The response about the staff not telling other visitors was "they know the director so we can't tell them anything." It was at that moment when the employee placed the wooden figure approx 4feet tall back on velcro wall. As soon as employee turned around it fell on my son.

I was quietly talking about the incident and allowing both director and codirector speak their justification. They made me feel unreasonable as a concerned parent with the current situation and when I voiced about the future. I told them it was negligent that as a facility they had no idea 20 lb. Figures were mounted with velcro. I wouldn't even put home wall decor up without a safety secured nail or screw. On their report they said I "demanded a refund" and "refused an ambulance" - a bit dramatic on their part saying I demanded a refund. I politely asked for a refund after I filled out an incident report. I'm a seasoned ICU nurse from the Houston Medical Center and assessed my child, he will bruise and possibly a black eye.

I guarantee if this was either of their children or grandchildren they would have been just as concerned and disturbed as I was or if not more. Like I said, I was pretty calm about the situation even though my son was screaming. I was assured that figures would be...

Great idea. Great "exhibits." I give it a 1-star rating because it is SO poorly managed. They have an area designed for younger children, so we thought that would be perfect for my friend's 10 month old. After 5 minutes it was clear it wasn't! The age range for that area was 0-4 years! Way too big of an age gap to make it safe for the younger side. Plus, no workers were around to even make sure the children in there were under 4.. So, there were lots of kids way too big. Things we're dirty. The family bathroom was disgusting, I understand there are lots of potty training kids going there (My son included,) BUT all the more reason to have a worker going in there constantly to clean. There was a huge puddle of pee around the child sized toilet, and it reeked. Anything cloth (toys & dress-up clothes) looks dingy, felt like they had a film on them. Really needed to be washed. I saw children putting things in their mouths and then on the floor to be picked up by another, spreading germs. Other places like this I've been to have a worker standing around so when something is put in someone's mouth then put down it gets picked up and put aside to be washed. The Legos were sticky, like you could scrape gunk off with your nail. At the end of it all, the 10 month old (who was healthy when we arrived) began throwing up...

We had the pleasure of visiting the Children's Discovery Museum (CDM) in Victoria and loved it. First a few things. You can't compared this place to any other museum because 1, they have not been around near as long, 2, I am sure they don't have the same budget as say the Perot in Dallas, and last they don't charge near as much as "other" places.

7.50 a kid (at time of writing) is very reasonable and for what they bring to the community is an amazing gift.

For being 2 years old, they are filling out the space nicely. There are two distinct sections, the play and learn and the STEM side. Both side have some very unique things for the kids to do but where this place excels is with the staff.

What I found here was the staff did an amazing job of interacting with the kids that were there. They would sit down and play with some, help build thing with others and even help the kids discover rather than just providing answers.

The only thing I was disappointed with was the one event that was going when we were there. At 2:00 they have a STEM event that is advertised and the one we participated in was making paper fans, I just felt that this was a bit of a let down.

Besides that, this is a good place to visit and support and I hope that they can continue to grow and provide a much need service to...