This museum has so much to see. It's best to come early if a day is all you have for you to have any chance of seeing everything. I didn't like that there were quite a few areas that are only available for an additional fee (aside from the special Pompeii exhibit). Favourites for us include the German submarine/U-boat, miniature train exhibit, flight simulators, mirror maze and science storms. I also like that there is relatively cheap outdoor parking behind the museum.

A great day for the kids...Very interactive, hands on museum. There is something for everyone and too much to see in one day. For young children 2-3 hours is probably all they can handle. My only complaint and it is a general one....taking a family to museums and events is expensive. I know they offer a free day but that is not always an option.

I cannot say enough. I have been three times over the years. MSI is one of the world's great science museums. The U-505 exhibit is outstanding - large, comprehensive educational and the chance to walk through an actual WW2 U-boat is wonderful. Don't forget the enormous scale model railroad with minature Chicago and Seattle.

We opted to see the MSI last weekend because of the rains. And that turned out to be a really good decision. We booked the 1 pm slot and got there a lil later so that dint leave us with a lot of time inside. Very educational experience. The interactive exhibits were a lot of fun. The toy maker exhibit was closed, would have luved to see that. And by the time we got to the flight simulation and VR experience it was 5PM and they were closing the counters. Having done the flight simulation activity at the Intrepid museum in NY, we were really looking forward to it, so it was rather disappointing to have missed that. We really enjoyed the Science storms exhibit and the mirror maze.

This was such an interesting visit. We arrived 2.5 hours before closing time, so we had to rush at the end. I would recommend a 4 hour visit. This museum is entertaining for all ages and includes a combination of history, modernization, and interaction. The U505 submarine is also amazing, and it's the real one! The weather corner is amazing, and the Mirror Maze is fun. Highly recommended !

The Museum of Science and Industry has an excellent collection of permanent & temporary exhibits covering all kinds of science. Plan on spending an entire day at the Museum if you want to get to all the galleries and some of the special exhibits. Some of the highlights for we were: * Pompeii special exhibition, with both displays of life in the Roman city and how it was destroyed ~2,000 years ago. * Huge model train layout with scenes show the industries on the lines from Chicago to Seattle; the model of downtown Chicago was particularly realistic. * Captured German WWII submarine U-505; covering both life on the sub and how the US Navy was able to capture it. * Historic Burlington Zephyr streamlined train. * Collection of space travel artifacts; particularly the Apollo 8 space capsule. * How storms - particularly tornados - form. All ages will enjoy this!

This is a really cool huge museum. We (mom and dad) and our 8 year old son really enjoyed it. Our favorite part was the U-505 Exhibit. It costs extra but well worth it. I really wanted to see the U-boat but I was wondering how the museum would feature a tool of war of one of our enemies. It was really well done. The exhibit celebrates the team that set out to capture and bring back a U-boat for the U.S. to study the technology. There are many things for kids to do. We did the mine tour. We didn't think it was worth the additional cost. We didn't do Pompeii or The Blue Paradox. We spent about 5 hours there and could have spent much longer.

We visited on July 5th and purchased the extra ticket to see the Pompeii exhibit as well as general admission. This was our first trip to the MSI as we were visiting Chicago from the west coast and wanted to see a building that was original to the World Fair. The interior is all museum now - nothing about their history - still a great experience, but don't go there expecting to learn any history about the building itself. The Pompeii exhibit was really well put together, interesting and a little sad. The molds of the people who are forever frozen in their last seconds of life are slightly creepy. The ash, etc preserved everything. Highly recommend a visit while its still there. We did not think we could pay any extra for the other exhibits, so missed out on the submarine and other extras. The cafeteria is overpriced for what you get. Far to expensive. If you can pack your lunch and bring it with you, I'd recommend that. The wing where the space exhibit is was one of the best things they had imo. Lots of cool older exploration vehicles and a little taste of the present. Our favorite part of the day was when we simply walked around the entire building outside. It was muggy and warm, but the exterior of the museum was amazing. I'm not positive its all original to the way it looked during the worlds fair but...just a really cool structure. Be careful of the hissing Canadian geese in the back by the pond though! lol

We went with a 2 yr old , 3 yr old, and a 13 yr old... This was such a good time. We kept busy with the exhibits for almost 4 hours and the kids were exhausted by the time we left. Great for a rainy day visit. So much to do and explore.

We traveled into Chicago for the day to experience the Pompeii exhibit and the Blue Paradox exhibit and we were extremely pleased with both. The Blue Paradox exhibit is absolutely AMAZING!!! One thing that I would suggest is becoming a member. One of our family members became overheated and we thought we would need to leave early but we found the members lounge and that was a lifesaver. The air conditioning was fabulous in this room and allowed our family member to relax and cool down. There were comfortable chairs and outlets for charging devices if necessary. The room also has a corner with kids items to play with. It truly is a benefit to become a member. Thank you to the staff of the museum for thinking about the members and their needs.