Kennedy Space Centre

[Paul and Shirley]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell us if Kennedy Space Centre is a worthwhile trip for a day.

We will not have a car and usually go everywhere by Mears. We will be staying at ASMu and are not sure:

1. If Mears goes that far?
2. It it's cheaper and easier to go with the tour company on one of their organised trips?

Grateful for your views.

 

[CR1SSY]

Can't tell you anything about mears, but we visited Kennedy in 1998 & were very disappointed. We went on the coach trip but you don't get very close to anything at all, security is very tight. The big screen film was quite long & not what we had expected either. I would say only go if you are really interested in space etc or if there is a launch due.

 

[paulc]

Just to back up what CR1SSY said
We went October 2001 and were also very disappointed. The “rocket garden” was under renovation and two out the three normal visitor attractions on the coach tour were closed for security reasons(the launch gantry and the Space lab I think). This left only the building housing the Saturn V rocket open. Things may have changed now so it may be worth looking to see if their website has any more up-to-date info

 

[penlanspice]

hi
we visited the space centre last month, and neither of us were that interested in shuttles or space etc. but the visit was definetly worth while, it's the sort of place i would only go once, once you've seen it, sort of thing, you dont really get that close to the launch site etc. and they take you around in a bus. but there was some quite interesting things to see. although if you have small children they might get a bit board.
all in all i think its worthwhile.
can't help you on the bus issue sorry.


sam

 

[TracyK]

I have not been but am considering it for our next trip. I might even combine with a shuttle launch. A company called Gator Tours do several trips including transport www.gatortours.com
Tracy

 

[Chuck S]

We have been several times, and always found it to be informative and interesting. However, when we went in January, security had increased to a ridulous level after 9-11. They had a bag check, but it was MUCH more thorough than Disney's and took lots of time. They even made me take a BLUNT nail file (no points, all rounded edges) back to the car, after waiting for 40 minutes for the search. No backpacks or large bags were allowed, only small camera bags and small handbags - ladies with LARGE handbags had to take them back to their cars, too. The bus tour was shorter, we didn't get to see any of the international space station building. Upon our exit, we noticed several guards with evil looking weapons.

Now, if someone were going to sabotage a shuttle mission, or try to disrupt NASA I think they'd be smart enough NOT to enter through a visitor center, there are much more vulnerable areas readily apparent to anyone. We'll definately skip NASA for several years in the future.

 

[Dimplenose]

Went in 1998 too, was also disappointed.
We did a coach tour organised by Virgin. Arrived 10am ish and saw IMAX film but couldn't do bus trip until 1.20pm as we had a timed ticket. However we had to get off bus to see exhibits at 3 locations and then queue to get on a bus again to get to next place. (45minute queues when we'd only had 10 minute waits for Disney rides -I'd have hated to be there during a busy season!).

We had to miss the last site as we had to get back to our coach by 5.15.

Hopefully the organisation has improved now.

I was also disappointed as I thought that the Astronaughts hall of fame was one of the exhibits but it's a totally seperate attraction.

In hindsite it would have been better to go there under our own steam and not be tied to the tour operators timetable.

PS the drinking water tasted horrible - take bottled and wear plenty of insect repellant!

 

[SimonV]

I visit the KSC every year (out of duty!) but am fascinated by this attraction and always find it worthwhile. It may well not be the place to go with young children (say, under 8) but older kids usually get a lot out of it and there is much that has been added in the last year or two. The bus tour is still avoiding the Space Station stop for security reasons, but the other two stops are OK (and I find the Apollo/Saturn V exhibits quite amazing). There is a new IMAX 3-D film, called Space Station, which is simply superb, and the Rocket Garden has now been dramatically revamped to make it much more interesting. If One Small Step For Man is not your bag, you might not enjoy a day trip here, but other than that I still rate it very highly. As regards transport, I think both Mears and Gray Line offer day-trips (as do Virgin, Travel City and Real Florida Excursions - the latter is www.werusa.com), which are transport only and give you most of the day there.

Simon

 

[Hilary]

I went in March 2001 with Mears and thought they had a pretty god deal.

I think we paid around $19 per person for the coach trip, and then made our own arranegments to pay the KSC admission when we got there (some people had prepaid vouchers).

The Mears bus picked us up at the old DxL resort at about 8:15am, then we transferred to a larger coach at DD and arrived at KSC around 10:30am. The return pick up was 5:30pm and we found this was a bit longer than we really needed to see everything that interested us. We were back in our resort by 7:00pm (having done the drop-off back at DD).

I enjoyed KSC and plan to go again with the whole family (they haven't been there before) this year, but I don't think we'll be spending a whole day there as we'll have our own transport this time.

 

[SpottyDog]

Went this year under sufferance coz the wife said we were goin.

We didn't have time for the IMAX shows but we'll be goin again it was good enouigh for us without them as an added attraction.

 

[louisel]

We went last year beginning of September. We paid (a lot!) extra and did the behind the scenes tour which was excellent. I have three teenage children and we all really, really enjoyed it.

Louisel