Kennedy Space Center - 10 Tips & Tricks From a First Time Visitor
We spent Easter Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center before departing on a Disney cruise out of Port Canaveral the following day. We had no idea what to expect, and didn't do much research on the overall park itself before arriving.
Here are some tips and tricks based on what we learned from our first visit.
1) Plan ahead. While we didn't research much on the overall individual attractions and what we would see while we visited. We did look at some of the add on extras that were offered. We pre-booked an admission/lunch with an astronaut combination ticket, and added on a behind the scenes launch control center tour. More on both of these later, but I did see a sign when we arrived to the park that all of the "extra" events were sold out for the day.
2) Get there when the park opens. The park hours are usually 9am - 6pm every day. We got there at 9, thinking we'd be done by 3. We were there almost until they closed. Plan for a full day. While there was a line to get in at 9am, it was far less crowded in the morning than later in the day. Be prepared for an initial line to get in - there is a metal detector as well as a bag search.
3) Don't miss the Heroes and Legends building right when you walk in. I thought it was going to be a cheesy Disney-like Hall of Presidents (which I personally hate). But, it wasn't anything like that. There is an initial movie, and then you go into a second room for a 4D movie experience. It was a cool "welcome" and start to the day. Arriving right when the park opened, there was hardly a line and the group we went in with was significantly smaller than the room could handle.
4) We toured the Rocket Garden and a few other buildings with some displays. We weren't really sure what else to do. There were 2 buildings with locked doors, and kind of a busted gift shop. We had the lunch booked for 12:00, and by 10:30 we weren't really sure what else to do. I spoke to someone who worked there and they pointed out the bus tour. We didn't do the "general" bus tour - because the guy told us that our Launch Control Center tour covered everything (plus more) than the bus tour. We ended up watching a movie about nature, filmed from space, to kill the remaining hour before lunch. We also got a picture with a "robot" which was a person in a costume. With all of the robot types and technology - it would have been nice to have something somewhat innovative in this spot, kind of like Disney has the trash can that runs around and "interacts" with people. Obviously it's remote controlled...but even that would have been cooler than the goofy fake robot.
5) Lunch with an Astronaut...it was nearly full. It was like having lunch in a ball room, with circular tables set up and 2 buffets in the back, plus a dessert bar. The food was really good! I'm not sure if it's always like what we had, or if it was done up more for Easter lunch (since it was Easter Sunday). After about 30 minutes of people being sat, getting their food, and eating, or astronaut came out about 12:30. We were very excited - as our speaker was Charlie Walker - who was a graduate from Purdue University (our Alma Mater). He was really funny and both the adults and kids were engaged the whole time he spoke. He took questions at the end. My daughter had the opportunity to ask one. She asked him "Have you ever seen an alien?" While he confirmed that HE hadn't seen one, he spent 15 minutes talking about how weird it would be if there were NOT aliens..... (so read into that how you will) :) :)
6) After lunch, we hurried (very quickly) over to the bus tours for our launch center tour which was at 1:20. The bus takes you around some of NASA's campus and over to see the Assembly Building and Launch Complex 39. They said this is the tallest 1 story building, where the rockets were assembled. 51 stories, but all a single room. Then we were escorted by 2 security guards to tour a few of the rooms where the original launches took place. After the building tour, the bus tour continued, taking us to several launch pads and by the Space X buildings.
7) While on the bus tours, the regular ones or the special ones, they take you to the building with the Saturn V rocket and other moon items. This. Rocket. Is. Huge. Compared to the buildings and exhibits at the main part of the park - this was much better and much more interesting. (IMO) We also had some snacks at this location - while expensive, were pretty decent.
8) After the bus tour, you arrive back at the main campus at the Atlantis building. The original shuttle is in this building, as well as an exact replica of the Hubble, and many other interesting items - including a slide my daughter loved, that was pretty fast, and some other kid centric attractions.
9) While we enjoyed our day there, and had a much better experience starting with lunch, through the later afternoon, we heard people talking about how they spent days there - going 2 and 3 days to "experience everything." I'm not sure what we were missing - or if there are just extra tours or attractions that we completely missed out on. But I would say one full day is enough to get a great experience at the Kennedy Space Center.
10) Finally - try to align your plans with an actual rocket launch. With more and more 3rd party companies leasing pads and competing in their own space race, there seem to be many opportunities to view an actual launch. If you happen to have tickets the day of the launch, there are many places they have set up where you can watch - plus additional tickets for a closer view. We happened to get lucky and there was a Space X launch on Monday - the day after we visited the park. That was the day we boarded our Disney cruise ship. We were able to watch the launch prior to the ship leaving port.
Here are some tips and tricks based on what we learned from our first visit.
1) Plan ahead. While we didn't research much on the overall individual attractions and what we would see while we visited. We did look at some of the add on extras that were offered. We pre-booked an admission/lunch with an astronaut combination ticket, and added on a behind the scenes launch control center tour. More on both of these later, but I did see a sign when we arrived to the park that all of the "extra" events were sold out for the day.
2) Get there when the park opens. The park hours are usually 9am - 6pm every day. We got there at 9, thinking we'd be done by 3. We were there almost until they closed. Plan for a full day. While there was a line to get in at 9am, it was far less crowded in the morning than later in the day. Be prepared for an initial line to get in - there is a metal detector as well as a bag search.
3) Don't miss the Heroes and Legends building right when you walk in. I thought it was going to be a cheesy Disney-like Hall of Presidents (which I personally hate). But, it wasn't anything like that. There is an initial movie, and then you go into a second room for a 4D movie experience. It was a cool "welcome" and start to the day. Arriving right when the park opened, there was hardly a line and the group we went in with was significantly smaller than the room could handle.
4) We toured the Rocket Garden and a few other buildings with some displays. We weren't really sure what else to do. There were 2 buildings with locked doors, and kind of a busted gift shop. We had the lunch booked for 12:00, and by 10:30 we weren't really sure what else to do. I spoke to someone who worked there and they pointed out the bus tour. We didn't do the "general" bus tour - because the guy told us that our Launch Control Center tour covered everything (plus more) than the bus tour. We ended up watching a movie about nature, filmed from space, to kill the remaining hour before lunch. We also got a picture with a "robot" which was a person in a costume. With all of the robot types and technology - it would have been nice to have something somewhat innovative in this spot, kind of like Disney has the trash can that runs around and "interacts" with people. Obviously it's remote controlled...but even that would have been cooler than the goofy fake robot.
5) Lunch with an Astronaut...it was nearly full. It was like having lunch in a ball room, with circular tables set up and 2 buffets in the back, plus a dessert bar. The food was really good! I'm not sure if it's always like what we had, or if it was done up more for Easter lunch (since it was Easter Sunday). After about 30 minutes of people being sat, getting their food, and eating, or astronaut came out about 12:30. We were very excited - as our speaker was Charlie Walker - who was a graduate from Purdue University (our Alma Mater). He was really funny and both the adults and kids were engaged the whole time he spoke. He took questions at the end. My daughter had the opportunity to ask one. She asked him "Have you ever seen an alien?" While he confirmed that HE hadn't seen one, he spent 15 minutes talking about how weird it would be if there were NOT aliens..... (so read into that how you will) :) :)
6) After lunch, we hurried (very quickly) over to the bus tours for our launch center tour which was at 1:20. The bus takes you around some of NASA's campus and over to see the Assembly Building and Launch Complex 39. They said this is the tallest 1 story building, where the rockets were assembled. 51 stories, but all a single room. Then we were escorted by 2 security guards to tour a few of the rooms where the original launches took place. After the building tour, the bus tour continued, taking us to several launch pads and by the Space X buildings.
7) While on the bus tours, the regular ones or the special ones, they take you to the building with the Saturn V rocket and other moon items. This. Rocket. Is. Huge. Compared to the buildings and exhibits at the main part of the park - this was much better and much more interesting. (IMO) We also had some snacks at this location - while expensive, were pretty decent.
8) After the bus tour, you arrive back at the main campus at the Atlantis building. The original shuttle is in this building, as well as an exact replica of the Hubble, and many other interesting items - including a slide my daughter loved, that was pretty fast, and some other kid centric attractions.
9) While we enjoyed our day there, and had a much better experience starting with lunch, through the later afternoon, we heard people talking about how they spent days there - going 2 and 3 days to "experience everything." I'm not sure what we were missing - or if there are just extra tours or attractions that we completely missed out on. But I would say one full day is enough to get a great experience at the Kennedy Space Center.
10) Finally - try to align your plans with an actual rocket launch. With more and more 3rd party companies leasing pads and competing in their own space race, there seem to be many opportunities to view an actual launch. If you happen to have tickets the day of the launch, there are many places they have set up where you can watch - plus additional tickets for a closer view. We happened to get lucky and there was a Space X launch on Monday - the day after we visited the park. That was the day we boarded our Disney cruise ship. We were able to watch the launch prior to the ship leaving port.
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