Friday, January 09, 2009

The Magic House

The new expansion is open, and we're loving it! (Along with the rest of the county, if not the country, it seems.)



Ellie missed the beginning of the adventure because we were at a doctor appointment, but Ada had a wonderful time with her cousin.

6 comments:

Amanda said...

That looks really fun.

Sarahlynn said...

It is! When I was a kid, The Magic House in St. Louis was one of my favorite places in the world even though we lived hundreds of miles away. Whenever we drove through St. Louis on the way to visit my grandparents, my parents would try to schedule a stop here so that we could play. Small wonder that when I was all grown up, Paul and I decided to have our wedding reception there!

Tracey said...

Oh good, you are my guinea pig! I have wanted to know about the expansion without actually going yet. It looks like the 'new' part is great, but what about the older section? Is it at all fixed/cleaned up? So many of the areas were looking worn and old, pieces missing etc. Has that changed?

The biggest problem I have at the MH is that parents don't do a thing to watch over their kids, so the smaller ones are always being trampled by the bigger ones. That is FRUSTRATING!

Sarahlynn said...

Tracey, my bed peeve is the parents who are completely unaware of their surroundings, whether they're watching their kids or just talking on their cell phones. You know the ones I mean? They're inevitably blocking the only path between my child and me, when I'm already stressed to a frazzle because my two are running in opposite directions.

That's why I like A Little Bit of Magic, the part for 1-6 year olds. They're confined and there aren't bigger kids. But . . . it's crowded and poorly maintained.

Because, NO, they haven't updated most of the older section. Many of the exhibits haven't been touched since I started going to the MH as a kid! I'm hopeful that they will, once the rush to see the expansion has quieted down.

So . . . we'll spend most of our time in the new section at quieter times of day. Like Friday evenings!

Tracey said...

YES, oblivious parents indeed! I am so disappointed that the older section hasn't been updated. That is the reason that we didn't renew our membership and that I can live without going. My older one isn't interested in the 'small fry' area, so neither is the girl. They're running everywhere, I cannot keep up, and the actual exhibits where I'd like them to learn something there is always stuff missing, run down etc. When I found out about the expansion I emailed them and asked if they had plans to update the older section to fix things that were broken etc, and was basically told "nope". At that point I made up my mind not to renew. I actually am so disappointed in the MH when it's billed as this wonderful attraction, but so many other children's museums are so much better (e.g., the Lincoln NE Children's Museum: http://www.lincolnchildrensmuseum.org/aLCM.php). There's ROOM TO MOVE! There are interesting things for the toddlers to do! The exhibits are CARED FOR!

Can you tell I'm disappointed? :)

Sarahlynn said...

I'm thinking I'm going to have to complain, then. I just figured that all their money and energy was going into the new expansion. Bah, humbug! (I do like the reciprocal memberships, though, that let us visit other Children's Museums for free when we're traveling. We enjoyed the one in Boston a few years ago. :)

That said . . . the expansion is pretty neat. :)