Discovery World

We don't have any kids, but I remember Discovery World being a lot of fun many years ago, so I knew I had to bring my husband here! We came on a Saturday afternoon and it was very busy with lots of kids running around.

Even though this museum is geared more towards kids, I think people of any age would have a great time here. We spent about four hours exploring everything and that was a little tight for everything we wanted to see.

My favorite exhibits were the Great Lakes display and the chance to try to out a VR game. My husband really enjoyed the aquarium (with a chance to touch some cool fish!) and the simple machines and gears.

We had a truly wonderful time and would even consider a membership here!

Really fun and interactive museum. Although it's geared for kids, my boyfriend and I really enjoyed it. Mostly science geared interactive displays, but they also have a small aquarium. I would go back again, even as an adult.

Wow, what I wonderful morning we had at Discovery World! It was my first time having the full experience here, despite having lived in greater Milwaukee my whole life. I grew up going to the old museum (and loved it), and figured I would wait to go to the new one until I had kids of my own. Well let me tell ya, my son is only 21 months and he absolutely loved it.

We arrived just after opening (9am) on a Sunday morning, which seemed to help us beat any crowd. The lobby and hallway leading to the exhibits alone are just beautiful, especially with the massive windows overlooking the lake. I love the architecture of the whole building. Not to mention the high ceilings and massive walkways making everything feel very spacious. Extra appreciated by stroller pushers like us!

It was $22/person for me and my husband, and because my son is still under two, he got free entry. We were given wrist bands, a little run down, and let know we could scan the QR for a map (helpful)!

We decided to start underground in the aquarium. It was awesome! So many beautiful and fascinating creatures to see. Massive tanks, including a whole walkway that stretches over your head so you can look up and see. Plus opportunities to pet stingrays and sturgeons, see cute turtles (my fave) and explore a submarine.

Next we took the elevator to the second floor, and the doors open us up to the massive ship that hangs over the first floor. My son loved running around and exploring the nooks and crannies, and steering the wheels.

Adjacent to the ship is a whole water system section, that is set up to teach the process of the filtration system among greater Milwaukee. So fascinating to us, and my kiddo loved the interactive water portions. Also on this floor you'll find more innovation stations with things like levers, pulleys, and more.

We last explored the automation exhibit. What fun that was!! Artificial intelligence, a music factory, machines, and more. Honestly the list goes on and we didn't even make it to all of the floors (cue tired baby after two hours of exploring).

The learning and adventuring here has no boundaries! I absolutely recommend this science museum for a day out with your family. Plus they have membership options, parking was a breeze, there's a grab and go snack cafe, and plenty of goodies in the gift shop. ENJOY!

On our last full day in Milwaukee, it was supposed to pour all day so my husband and I had to think of something to do indoors. We are from Chicago, so we weren't too in touch with the Milwaukee area. Then, I remembered a friend of ours recommended this place for a relaxing time, so we decided to make a last minute decision to come here. The museum is off of the water and almost looks like the museum campus area in Chicago where Soldier Field and all of the museums are. We found the parking garage right away and the parking is pretty cheap thankfully. When entering, you put a credit card in the machine, take it out and park. Then, when you leave, you put the same card in the machine and it will charge you based on how long you were in the lot. Simple and convenient way to park, and we only paid like $8 for parking.

When you get into the museum, you get a wristband and you can walk around exhibits and the aquarium. Many children were around, and we quickly learned it's pretty much like the Children's Museum. It was okay and there were plenty of hands on things to do (very informational too!), but when you don't have kids, there's not much to do. It would be a great place to go with your kids, though!

We walked through the science part pretty quickly because we weren't exactly thrilled with the how things work aspect of most exhibit areas, but we did learn a lot about guitars and Les Paul! The guitars were cool!

Our favorite part of Didcovery World was the aquarium area. We saw a lot of fish and they have a cool overhead aquarium where fish swim over you. They also have floors where fix swim under you! There is an area you can touch sting rays and sturgeon, and it was all very well laid out.

I probably wouldn't ever come here again without kids, but we are glad we went for a first time visit because it was an interesting and fun thing to do to pass the time on a rainy day!

For kids, this place is awesome! Definitely an innovative and educational place, and most things seem pretty new and clean. All the families around us seemed to be highly enjoying themselves.

We visited here during Christmas vacation on our last day before heading back home. It was worth to check it out since it also had an aquarium which was better than I expected. The science museum section was a bit over my son's head so we breezed through it quickly. Afterwards, we spent more time on the aquarium side which had several levels which was cool. We also liked the boat exhibit and Great Lakes exhibit with rainfall. With our ASTC membership, admission was free and took advantage of their STEM activity of building a gingerbread house from cardboard cutout with hot glue gun and other craft items.

We were in Milwaukee for the long weekend, and walked from our hotel downtown to the Betty Brinn children's museum and then to Discovery World (we stopped for lunch in the cafe in the art museum in between, which was a lovely spot for lunch and the only place to get real food on the winter Saturday we were in this area). It was a full but easy, fun, and good day.

Discovery World is a cool small science museum. My 5 year olds favorite part was the aquarium area. There's a cool glass tunnel where fish swim over you, glass floor that they swim under you, an area you can touch sting rays and sturgeon. The great lakes area seemed exciting for the kids to run around, the ship upstairs is cool to play on.

The snack shop was little and okay for snacks, but don't plan to eat a meal here. It's easy to bring your own food.

Wow! So many things for our kids to do here! We made the mistake not starting out with the technology area first! By the time we're done for the day we realized we should have started there first since there's so many more other things to do. We went on a Tuesday morning, plenty of room to move around. Every exhibit is lovely, so many things to learn from (just wish my toddler let me do it! Lol). I would recommend up to 6 hours, so pack a lunch for a picnic. There's a lawn area for outdoor picnic style. Parking was easy, staff was friendly, facility is in good condition and informative. Overall I am very pleased with the discovery center.

When we visited Milwaukee in the fall this was one of the highlights of our trip. This science museum includes everything from machines, boat-themed stuff, an aquarium, and more besides. I loved that we were able to bring home crafts to assemble later as souvenirs, and it was a really interactive museum with everything from music, sound, VR, science, environment and much more besides. Located right on the water, this museum benefits from the location. It was walking distance from our hotel but there seemed to be ample parking and decent transit options as well. I was admittedly a bit disappointed in the gift shop, having been to many other science museums in my time: I would have loved a larger range of souvenir options from our trip here. Still, this is less a review of the gift shop and the museum was excellent on the whole. The toddler in our group had a great time but so too did the adults (and our group included a large age range). There are lots of stairs in the museum for those who want to use them, but there are also elevators.
I do wish that there had been more accessible "family" washrooms for diaper changing, but beyond that the museum is excellent.

So I love science museums, I've been to quite a few of them in many states! One of the best things about being in a new place is checking out the science center... I was really psyched when I read about all the exhibits here, and how they had two theaters! But there's expectation and there's reality.

I woke up hella early to drive from Janesville to Milwaukee, we thought since they're open Tuesday through Saturday that going early on a Wednesday would make sense. Apparently not! There's a little snack store inside that is only closed on Wednesdays?!? Why? There's one drink vending machine in the building, and it's single dollar bills only. Like people just walking around with pockets of cash! Of course, if you want a bottle of lukewarm Dasani, you can head to the gift shop, which is the smallest gift shop of any science center I've ever been to... they have neither a box of different colored little rocks that are meaningless but you want to buy because they're shiny little trinkets and your goblin brain tells you "they go click clack, you neeeeeeeds!!!" Nor do they have astronaut ice cream; the staple item of a science museum store!!! The audacity.

As for the exhibits, most of the cool ones were restricted entry for summer camp kids and educational personnel only, so most people can't get into them, including the majority of the cool ones. I didn't come here to look at some guitars in cases with notes that are supposed to be funny but aren't on them? A lot of it was also in various states of disrepair.

And those two theaters? After looking around everywhere, I found one of them, but no entrance, and no clue what was playing, so eventually went back to the entrance and asked, they said that despite having two theaters they haven't shown anything in a long time in either of them. So that sucks.

Also, I'm normally ethically opposed to aquariums, but since we were already there, and the rest of my party wanted to go look, and it wouldn't cost us more, we went to look at their aquarium part. A good 1/3rd of their jellyfish were dead in the tank with the live ones. They have a stingray pet tank, and no way to wash your hands before or after, just paper towels. I also feel bad that they mutilate the stingrays to remove their stingers from them so people can reach out and grab them, in a sad little loop they're stuck in all day. Almost none of the marine animals were in big enough enclosures for their species. It's amazing more weren't dead, tbh.

I would give this two and a half stars, but it was nice to get out and do something.

I'm embarrassed. I'm from Chicago. And been a member of the museum of science and industry there for years. I love that place. But then I come here to Discovery World, and I realize so many things could be improved about MSI. Like the freshness of the displays. The brand new robots making toys. And how the Tinker studio thing has brand new projects every month.

My family had a blast here. The Les Paul exhibit blew my mind. I didn't realize how deep his impact on music and music innovation was. I can't wait to come back and revisit this section to study it even more.

What is this place? The Tardis from Dr Who? It's defiantly bigger inside than the outside.

But we had a pleasant time in all parts of this place and we only had time to explore a small fraction. Didn't even get to the aquarium side.

Another huge plus. With our MSI membership, they let us in free here. I thought we'd get in for 50% off but instead it was 100% off! Their mistake? Happy misunderstanding about how these memberships work? Who knows. 50% off would still have been great.

We will definitely be back. I hope our folks running MSI can visit and get some inspiration.