Reviews of Fernbank Science Center (Museum)

Ashok Charan

Really nice place with lot of information. Good for kids as well for adults

James Hobson

A great family excursion destination. Well kept facilities and inbteesting displays.

Charles Nash

The center itself needs an update but the planetarium is always great.

Victor Hills

Phenomenal museum with classic exhibits. Kids visiting today get pretty close to the same experience 20 years ago. I grew up going there and took several science classes through High School. I recently was able to tour through again. It is worth a trip if you're in the area.

Jim Osterman

Went to the planetarium show for the first time in decades. Well worth it. Great place for a Saturday morning excursion. Great place for kids K and higher.

M A

It was OK. But to see big reptiles in tiny tanks felt wrong. This science center should collect fees and buy bigger tanks for the animals there. Or better yet dont have reptiles or any animals there.

Matthew Vue

Museum is free. Planetarium show is inexpensive. My son loved it. Must see.

Marisol Ortiz

On May 22, 2019 my nephew and I decided to visit The Fernbank Science Center. It was quite a treat. Both children and adults would enjoy it. It has many things to see. Free admission makes it a big plus.

M Barnes

Check out their website for different events. Always fun and educational.

Audrey Poole

I work at the Fern bank Science Center. The place is awesome,very kid friendly, snake day, chemistry day, science night out, planetarium shows, live exhibits. Stop by.

Plastic Surgery Centre of Atlanta

A family friendly museum with lots of hands on activities for the children and child at heart.

Gamer Lifeline

Yo this place is awesome especially since I visited today on the 50th anniversary of FSC of Atlanta also for the Atlanta Science Festival. Great experience, will come again soon!!!!

RAYMOND EARL WATSON JUNIOR

I attended a event of a show sub floor with my mother on March Six Teen, Two Thousand Nine Teen AMONG OTHER REALISED CALENDAR'S OF BUDDHIST & JEWISH & HINDU & JAIN! DURING HOUR THIRTEEN TO HOUR FOUR TEEN having urinated in a toilet I flushed one time sub floor DURING HOUR TWELVE BEFORE the PLANETARIUM show OF OTHER ENCLOSED VARYING COGNITIVE EXHIBIT'S OF USE CASE'S REALISED! I entered the PLANETARIUM show through the DOOR'S AT THE EAST AS 'E' & ENDED FOR THE event OF THE PLANETARIUM show through the DOOR'S at THE WEST AS 'W'! The presenter of the PLANETARIUM show was a MIDDLE AGED CAUCASIAN WOMAN BEING A SCIENTIST NAMED JESSICA BOT WEARING A MULTIPLE COLORED NASA T SHIRT WITH BLACK BOOT'S OF METAL ZIPPER'S OF SALE'S OF ATTIRE REALISED! THE EVENT WAS ORDERLY & OF A ENTERTAINMENT OF A SORT! THE SERVICE STAFF WAS AT A PAR REALISED! THERE WAS A FIFTY ONE YEAR OLD ANTIQUE ELECTRONICAL PROJECTOR IN THE CENTER OF THE PLANETARIUM show OF A REALISED DIFFERENCE! WHILE HAVING REALISED SALE'S INCLUDING DIFFERENCE'S! WHILE REALISING SOME LITERAL DIFFERENCE'S AS SALE'S & CORROLATION'S OF APERTURE TECHNIQUE'S & ORIENTATION'S OF EXPONENTIAL'S OF LITERAL SERVICE'S OF COEFFICIENT'S RELATED TO SUB ROUTINE'S! THANK YOU PARTNER'S & COLLEAGUE'S FOR THE SALE'S & NON INTRUSIVE REMEMBRANCE'S & RETURN'S AS LITERAL SALE'S! STILL EXPECTING AS RAYMOND EARL WATSON JUNIOR OF THE ATTENTIVE'S I AM A SALE OF!

Robert Carnes

Used to come here all of the time in elementary school to see shows at the planetarium. Great educational exhibits especially for young kids.

Shawn Johnson

Wow wow wow I learned so much!

Kimberly Germaine

We came here on a clear Friday night to the Observatory. Admission is free. We were curious about the telescope. Excellent experience. The staff was so helpful. This clear night enabled us to get a real taste for the the science of the sky. Amazing. A great service from the Science Center.

Carl

A small museum with big learning opportunities and hands on exhibitions.

Dani B

Loved it

Carlos Porter

Kid friendly

A F

Great place to go if you want a free museum trip and are interested in science/astronomy education. They have various science and live animal exhibits. They also have a planetarium show that you have to buy tickets for, but is worth it to do at least once. Fun and interesting for people of all ages. By the way, this museum is completely separate and different than the Fernbank Museum down the road.

John Hayes

Fernbank Science Center has been the crown jewel of the DeKalb County Public School System for decades. A combination of museum, urban forest, local species zoo, science education, planetarium, telescope and interactive exhibits the Center not only educates DeKalb County students yet adults as well. Hiking the forest trails is a must as is the planetarium exhibit and telescope. Everyone in Atlanta should visit here at least once, the staff is knowledgeable and will make you feel welcome, everyone will wish to return.

Zeke Cao

Amazing!

Riley Higgins

Great little free museum with big exhibits. It has some things you would not expect at a small museum such as the Apollo 6 command module! It looks like a star wars movie prop but it is the real deal. Also live snakes and a big bird exhibit and some dinosaur too

Tasha Alach

I was here with my family on vacation from California. We had a wonderful time and the kids really enjoyed it.

Aisha Bee

We specifically went for the planetarium show, but enjoyed looking at the other exhibits as well. It's not very large, so we only needed about an hour to go through the place. Parking can be an issue if there are large groups in attendance.

Jake Vickers

This place is very nice. Our kids had a good time exploring all of the exhibits (and there are a few interactive ones). Ot was a good place to spend 2 hours and learn something at the same time.

Rajeev Saxena

Fernbank science center is a great place to spend an afternoon with your kids. We happened to go on an afternoon when they were celebrating their 50th anniversary and or able to enjoy many hands on exhibits, their usual collection, and the planetarium. Everyone had a great time, we did not spend a lot of money, and believe it or not it was educational to boot. It was a great afternoon.

Bracha Williams

Came to pick up my race bib and the staff (and race volunteers) were lovely. This is a nice place where you're bound to find something of interest from space, to reptiles, birds, nano technology (simplified) for young minds or those unfamiliar with it, etc. For me: it's birds. <3 Lovely visit. Donations welcome. Good parking.

Em Shaeffer

Very very disappointed in their "African American history" planetarium show, which told glorified stories of both JFK and Lyndon B Johnson and shared no stories of the accomplishments of black female scientists. When asked about this, the "planetary geologist" running the show said that he didn't want to reproduce Hidden Figures, and that the black people who worked at NASA wouldn't have had those opportunities if not for JFK and LBJ. He then proceeded to throw the black assistant director under the bus by saying that she had okayed the show. I am horrified that a science museum believes that Hidden Figures is all of the representation that black girls deserve, and that two white politicians were given more credit and screen time in a presentation about Black scientific achievement than any African American scientists were. Even if there weren't many black female scientists not represented in Hidden Figures (there are: Alice Ball, Mamie Phipps Clark, Jane Wright, Valerie Thomas, etc.), the movie hardly gets into the science, which might have been fascinating to learn about. This presentation was disappointing on so many levels. There was very little science education in it and very little focus on Black excellence in science. Not only was it not educational or inspiring, but it was offensive, and I'm saddened by how many public school students will probably have to view it on field trips.

ROBERT JARRETT

It might be small, but there are many things and activities here to interest adults, as well as children. Our not quite three year-old grandson was enthralled by the hands-on activities, the "monkey" in the space capsule, the T-Rex head (which he identified), the big ammonite fossil on the wall (which he identified), and the bee colony. The planetarium shows are good, too.

Ace Spade

It was bad the majority of the land was really a hiking area and there were basically only 2 actual dinosaur bones. I would say that is you have a child below 10 or something it would be a great place because there were lots of interactive things for them. I would strongly suggest that if you don't have a small child NOT to go there.

Bea EcemAkbal

Stop capturing animals and displaying in little cases. They don't even move. They all look depressed. What you do it torture.

Ramya SG

Great place to bring kids and get them interested in science and all things about planets and history of satellites.

Sawida Gladney

Still looks pretty much the same when I was in elementary school about 20 years ago but the planetarium is still just as exciting and fascinating as especially for my budding science enthusiastic daughters!

Tarun Bakhru

It's quite small and the planetarium shows are not that great. It's ok if u are in the area and want to visit. But don't plan ur weekend specifically for this museum.

X OLivia

I am so disappointed. Today was my first time ever going here and I brought my 2 year old daughter because she wanted to see Sid the Science Kid their flyer said that he would be there from 10 to 12 I paid a $26 taxi ride and got there at exactly 1030 8 a.m. the Sid the Science Kid show was already over he was already gone and all and all the science experiments were already put up it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet what happened to 10 to 12 so then I go down to the planetarium and they don't let me in because I need a ticket so I go buy a ticket and when I go back downstairs the doors are wide open and nobody is even there taking tickets nobody else in there even had a ticket so I went and spent $7 on a ticket to watch the worst movie I have ever seen the movie wHich made no sense it was not very informational! Earth wild ride. ...terrible movie! So another $26 later I'm home and I'm highly upset. They shouldn't say 10 - 12 if they were gonna be packed and done by 10:45. Nearly $60 wasted! The museum itself is nice. A bunch of stuffed dead animals.and maybe 10 Live reptiles.

Craig Amore

Great Exhibits

Sid Foto

Worth the time.Lots of interesting things and don't miss the Planetarium show.

Jennifer Lee

The science center is a really great place to go for a walk or picnic. The Atlanta Area Aquarium Association meets here every first Saturday of the month to talk about aquarium Fish.

John Harley

It is a good museum. Me and my cousins like to go to the museum. We go to the World of Coke, the Georgia Aquarium, and the museum. We ate lunch and got drinks and they were very good. It was clean and had good service. We liked the museum. The staff were very nice and friendly. I have been to the museum for a field trip and it was good.

Alan Carlson

Don't let them test any possible meteorites you own. You might not get it back. They apparently "lost" it. I don't care whether it was or wasn't a meteorite, my dad wants his rock back! This was years ago but we're still angry about it!

Thomas Domingue

Very disappointed. The place itself seemed very limited in what it has to offer and activities for learning. We went for the main attraction....the planetarium show. We expected to see amazing images of the sky and solar system, like what they have displayed on the photos under Google Maps search. What we got was a very boring and mundane show of how to find the constellations in the sky. The presenter was not engaging or exciting either. I would not go to this place again.

Kel C

Wonerful time great place couples or families

Stacey Stegg

Fernbank Science Center is a great place to take the kids! The museum is free and the Planetarium shows are very inexpensive! The staff is great and you can tell how dedicated they are to the facility. As of right now, they have an Apollo 6 exhibit, a live animal exhibit and Earth to Universe.

Jeronimo jjumps

Great little science center. I love the telescope

Threet Street

Great place to visit!!

Donna Schierbaum

Went on a Saturday afternoon to show my grandchildren, and was EXTREMELY dissatisfied, disappointed, and bored out of my mind! Only 10 minutes was stars and zodiac signs, and the rest was talking about black history. I won't be going back

stylisthana

Nice place to visit, small but very neat!

Sideways AsF

A very respectable place! Lots of scientific displays including the Apollo 6 Command Module. The museum is free and the planetarium is extremely cheap! Only $7 for adults and $3 for children, although they didn't even charge me for my son. The show is well worth viewing and the staff is very polite and informational. I'd recommend it to anyone.

ZERNITHEA COCHRAN

Kids enjoyed it

Ebonie C

It's the only public access planetarium in the Dekalb area. Very informative and interesting displays.

Stephanie Johnson

My kids really enjoy this place and I always have a good time here. They have the best exhibits. This is a must see for visitors and locals alike.

SATSWANA ENDLESS EL

My grandson really enjoyed himself!!

Naomi Smith

It was absolutely amazing

Robert Kenimer

Someone needs to teach.... The paid employees are obviously not respected by their employer because from the front counter, the science stations (manned by teenagers) to the cafe personnel not a single smile, thank you or courtesy comment. The employees are responding to either the lack of guidance by management or the fact that management does not appreciate their efforts: in either case it is not the face that Fernbank should be offering. The ONLY smiles and Happy comments came from the ticket taking volunteers: they were exceptionally friendly, offering suggestions and directions without having to inquiry. One final point, ordering tickets on line does not benefit the customer. Tickets purchased on line state they can be picked up at Will Call: there is no Will Call. Ticket-holders that purchased on line must stand in the same line as the people that have not yet purchased tickets. This does not save any time at the counter. My grandsons and I truly enjoyed the exhibits. The layout is very friendly: a second elevator would be nice for all the people pushing strollers. We will return: it is hoped that management does take a serious step to show appreciation for their paid employees then maybe they will :)

k Turner

Lame af! My kids wanted to go home. Thank god for Groupon!

Sebastien-Loik Ntsangou-Kanda

An institute dedicated in exploring the boundaries of science and technology and teacher and exposes the next generation to the wonders of the field.

Rachv V

This was my second visit to Science Center. My son loves this place. The staff is very nice and polite. The place is clean and very well maintained. It is a small museum with many types of animals, birds and reptiles. Most of them are preserved but there are few snakes and frogs which are real. There is a nice live honey comb with loads of information on it. If you are interested in stars, meteroids etc then you will have fun. Place has lots of information. I got 4 tickets on Groupon for 13$ and it's totally worth it. Clean washrooms and a vending machine outside it.

Samuel Logan

Awesome place!

eloia johnson

I came with my daughter's 1st grade class today and while the students enjoyed themselves I was disappointed with the care and attentiveness of the staff. Upon arrival there was a bit of confusion as to what enterance we were suppose to use. So the coordinating teacher asked one of the staff for direction and her response was "You don't know where the planetarium is? You didn't see the signs? Just go down the ramp someone will be down there." I felt this was very insensitive and unprofessional. I did not feel welcomed at all. Once we arrived in the planetarium and the attendant went over the "house keeping rules" it concerned me that one of the rules was should need to be excused you are not allowed back in. As I stated I was with my daughter's 1st grade class and felt this was a bit extreme as some of the students still may be learning how control their bathroom breaks. Lastly after the show, all of the student were exiting the planetarium it became a little congested in the hallway as different schools and student were using the restrooms and exploring the exhibits. This made a few of my daughter's school students come to a stand still inside the planetarium. It was at this time the host approached myself and another parent asking us to leave the planetarium as she needs to prepare for the next show. I replied to her "well ma'am there's nowhere for us to go, the line is at a stand still." She rushed past us and into the hallway to observe. Seemingly irritated she came back in walked past us without a word and began to turn the lights off. This was by far the worst experience I have had at fernbank. I'm sure this is not the kind of exsposure that your facility wants to be known by as you have so much to offer our children's learning potential and growth. Please correct these actions so that my daughter's school and others can continue to enjoy coming to what is intended to be an exciting place to experience and see the wonders of the world!!

RealtorRob, KW Intown ATL

Planetarium exhibit was underwhelming and didn't keep the attention of neither of my young teenage nieces - both fell asleep. Definitely do the groupon so it saves you money just in case you too feel disappointed. #RealtorRobslist

Cara Murdock

Went to see The Black Hole showing at the planetarium. Admission to the center is free, which is excellent! The show was great and we'll structured with a brief tour on the improvements to the planetarium's audio and video system, a tour of the constellations, and then the film itself. The film was very informative and definitely more in depth than watching it on YouTube.

Jonathan Martinez Dau

La experiencia en general en Fernbank Science Center fue muy buena, la exhibición permanente es muy completa, pasando por varios ambientes repartidos en el lugar, excelente el componente espacial que hay en el lugar, la capsula de reingreso del Apolo VI es increíble, la proyección el domo del planetario es de las mejores experiencias que he tenido.

LaRainey Rainey

Drove all the way from Macon, GA. Arrived at 8:13pm for the observation at 9pm. Only to be told they will be no showing due to weather. There was no rain and little clouds. Ask of we can watch the show that just started and was told we couldn't, cause they didn't won't to disturb the astronomers. I'm very upset, and will not refer my family n friends. We drove an 1hr and 40 mins to do nothing. Staff not willing to assist, with the showing.

Joshua David

Nice place to go. Not too much to see but its clean and everyone is nice.

Nevaeh H

The overall exhibit is pretty nice, but the planetarium part was kinda disappointing. I could tell the movie they showed was pretty dated and more towards younger children (like ages 4-8). Not very interesting and not so fun when you get motion sickness easily, like I do. The exhibit could be better, and seemed like a limited learning experience. BUT, I will say that the staff is awesome and the place is very clean

Bliss's Way

Easy to locate. Educational. Family oriented place. Great for all ages and very affordable

Arr Haus

Great planetarium.

Chris Baxter

Full of knowledge and fun facts!

Arty gibson jr

very good

Danielle Cutter

Even though I'm now 30 years old, I still love this place as much as I did when I was in 4th grade and came here for field trips. The planetarium is still up and running pretty cool shows all week and the museum exhibits have gotten even better. I'm still planning to go back for a nature walk!

Yash Nagpaul

Enjoyed planetarium show and all the displays.

MARCHELLE GENTRY

It was my first time going. It is literally a history of evolving animal life in Georgia. I went around 6p on a Friday. Not a big crowd. I couldn't tell the staff from the patrons. The black hole showing was interesting and raised more questions than it gave answers. There was another show, but I can't even remember that one. We couldn't go to the planetarium due to the weather so I don't know how that is. Overall, the museum is cool for a free outing. The shows do cost though. Not sure why a person would want to go often unless they're deep into science.

Chris Brown

The Fernbank Science Center on Heaton Park, Dr in Atlanta Georgia, has excellent customer service and is a nice facility.

Nubia Baby

My son and I attended NASA's 50th Anniversary of the Appolo launch. My son talked about it all weekend and is still thanking me for taking him to space. I used to go to Fernbank allllll the time as a kid and haven't been in so many years so in addition to the nostalgia that it brought back for me it was great to see my son get so much enjoyment and learning from his own experience. I will definitely be bringing him back soon !

Ian Rose

A hidden gem. Fun exhibits for children and a nice little outdoor nature walk. Best of all its free! However I was quite disappointed in the one (kids) planetarium show we saw.

Vusal Albush

We saw Saturn

cube solver

It was good but the shows should be more relevant to space

Coretta Mccurty

I've always loved this place, the laser show great and they had a summer block party at the natural history museum all exhibits, 30 minute educational movie and 1adult drink included with admission.. VERY NICE!!!!!!!

Donovan Howard

I had a blast. I took the little ones for an adventure but I believe I had the most fun. I haven't seen a planetarium is ages. The staff is awesome and they were very warm and welcoming. If you haven't been, please go! You want be disappointed. There are plenty of creatures and exhibits to see.

Ellie Lincoln

Amazing planetarium and home to one of the largest telescopes owned by a public school system. Musuem is definitely geared towards young guests, but it's great to see a place dedicated to science for kids to explore with hands-on exhibits.

Lindsay Brumley

Fantastic! The woods put back were absolutely stunning!! We went right after a rain so they were muddy but no one else was out and it was so peaceful and serene. The exhibits on the inside are well done and interesting. The flooring of the place is full of actual fossils, so pay attention when you go, it's a neat addition.

Shelley Primeau

We had a good time. Wish the nature trail was still open. Can’t beat free in Atlanta. We spent an hour there plus 45 minutes for the planetarium show. We watch Apollo and it was great! We plan to go back for others.