Burke Baker Planetarium

Tickets bought on line pre event with free parking and a short walk utilized. Staff were present to help with purchase, answered where to stand and que and how to obtain my event CD and program. While waiting we were able to view the free train exhibit at HMNS and locate the restrooms.

Beautifica was pretty amazeballs, like a very intense nature induced psychedelic trip without some of the potentially less pleasant possible side effects.

Saw Beautifica from James Hood’s Mesmerica collection. It was cool in so many ways, but needs improvement. It’s only about 50-55 minutes long. I started to enjoy the change of beat towards the end and wish he would have included more fast tempo mixes and kept some images going longer. I think the show should have been a 90 minute. Movie tickets cost way less than this and spend way more on their production. Also, since I had never been here before, I assumed there was ample smart seating and that I would be able to enjoy whatever spot I sat in. I went by myself, so I got lucky to grab one seat on the end only 3 rows up from the floor. However, I almost got stuck sitting halfway covered at the very top (because I didn’t stand in line even though I got there early). The staff actually were adding uncomfortable portable chairs at the top as if the show time was overbooked. That’s crazy. This almost ruined the experience for me. Anyway, the room is small, so get there early especially if you are general admission. $36.57 ticket is way too high, and to think most people brought their families. I think a fair price should’ve been under $22, and a longer presentation with a wider variety of music mixed in, both slow and energetic. But, overall I’m glad I went for the planetarium experience.

Stood in line forever to get tickets. Stood in line forever to get in. Was told 10 minutes after start time that they couldn't work the projector. Stood in line forever to get a refund. What a horribly disappointing trip. Zero reason to have it mixed in with other lines at the museum. Zero reason to even have physical tickets. Why do I have to wait in one line for the opportunity to wait in another? It is 2024, let us buy the tickets online then just scan the code at the Planetarium. It is supposed to be a science theater after all. Anyway, at least I got my autistic son out before he had an utter melt down at the 50 minute drive, the walk from the parking lot, waiting 30+ to buy tickets, 25+ minutes waiting in line at the Planetarium, and 15 or so minutes to get a refund, all for absolutely nothing.

We’ve always enjoyed the shows here, and never had any issues with the several we’ve been to. But today’s experience ruined it for us and we won’t be back. We purchased our tickets at the kiosk at 12:25- the showing we preferred was at 12:30, but they were no longer selling tickets to that one. “Ok, we’ll hang out an hour and go to a different one.” The message in the kiosk says to be in line no less than 15 minutes early. So we walk around for 40 minutes and return to the planetarium at 12:10. We were a bit early, but I had my children with me and they like to look at the exhibits inside before the show, so I figured that would give them a chance to view them. The previous show had already started, so it’s not like we were going to get mixed up and go in the wrong show. But the very rude girl at the entrance told me no we can’t go in yet. I said ok well we’re only 5 minutes early according to when the kiosk said to be here so we’ll just wait in line. She said “no, you’re 20 minutes early.” Confused I told her that the kiosk says to show up 15+ minutes early. She then proceeded to ague with me and tell me that her paper says 5 minutes. I told her “well you may want to ask them to fix the message because I was surprised with the 15 min expectation.” She said “yeah that’s why you shouldn’t use the kiosk. If you had gone through the ticket line they wouldn’t have told you that.” What!!?? Why the hell is it there if you’re not supposed to use it to buy tickets?! I asked “if the real expectation is 5 minutes, why couldn’t we buy the tickets to the show we actually wanted, 5 minutes before the showing.” She said “well if you really want to see a better show you should just go wait in line now and get tickets to the 2pm show.” 🤦🏽‍♀️ I said “well, no our showing is at 12;30, we’re not going to go to 2 showings.” (The truth is the kids like the stuff to view in the hallway more than the show. Thats what they really wanted to do.) I just walked off and we sat in the rain because the museum was too full and there was no where to sit until we could walk in 5 minutes before the show- which means my kids didn’t get to do the part they actually enjoy. So that was a waste of $45, and if that’s the attitude we’ll get when we go to the museum and planetarium, we just won’t bother anymore. I Just wish this place would hire people who want be in customer service for their customer service positions. As a customer service representative in any company, your job is to assist and make my experience more enjoyable so I actually want to come back. This rep did exactly the opposite and ruined our family outing.