Before we went to adventure playground we started off our Monday heading into the city to visit the new California Academy of Science. I have wanted to take her there and see what they had done but was waiting a while to find a day where it may not be ridiculously crowded.
When you first walk in it takes a moment to seek out remnants of the old building. I still remember the fountains and dolphin greeters at the front - those are gone unfortunately, but the white alligator is still alive and standing like a statue - where you're not really sure he is actually real. The Extreme mammals exhibit was super cool - basically envision skeletons of a lot of very old animals - all with much bigger heads and MUCH BIGGER teeth.
I asked Morgan if she liked the academy and she said - no, I LOVE IT. :-) Although it is different - it is a neat place. I am not sure my favorite part to be honest. I really liked the aquarium exhibit (but I tend to always like the aquarium exhibits) - I would say that was probably Morgan's too - although she did like the rain forest dome quite a bit. Of course, we both liked Extreme Mammals - so it's just hard to choose. Also, to be fair we never made it to the planetarium show (so maybe that would have been it). Our tickets were for the 3:30 show and I did not want to risk staying past 4 and then getting into Monday afternoon traffic over the bridge. But - it leaves something for next time!
I can not give enough thanks to the internet reviewers for sharing tips that helped us navigate, so in honor of that I will pass along my own helpful things if you go:
* The directions on the Cal Academy web site are perfect to get to the parking garage easily.
* Buying tickets online is a VERY good thing.
* Go straight to the planetarium first to get your show time ticket. We got ours at 11 and could only get a 3:30 show time. Then go to any other exhibit that requires a timed entrance (in our case it was the Extreme Mammals).
* Go through the rain forest exhibit before the aquarium - you end up there when you exit the rain forest dome anyway!
* When in the aquarium look for the unicorn fish in the big salt water tank. Morgan LOVED that fish - I had never seen one before either.
* Be a table vulcher and bring snacks....
The last I can not stress enough. Luckily they are one of the gracious places that lets you bring your own food in - and I would recommend at least some snacks. We had packed up a lunch tote full of snacks, juice, and water and am SO glad we did. The lines for food were really long and tables were in short supply, so without someone to hold a table while we waited in line we would have been in trouble for seating once holding our food. I had plenty for Morgan to have a full lunch and she was more than okay with eating the food we brought - yay for that!
If you've been debating go / don't go - I say go. It was worth the journey - we definitely liked it!
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