Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts

Great place to see a show. Warm ambiance, comfy seats, and intimately small so you feel close to the action. All seats have a good view. The staff is very helpful and eager to locate your seats and help you feel comfortable. We particularly enjoy the view from the mezzanine. Easy to get to from I-81 and I-83 and a parking garage conveniently located on premises.

One of the most beautiful state capital buildings I have seen. The fountain out front has a wonderful light show at night.

Initially came to this area for Hershey park, but that plan got washed out with thunder storms...so I needed a indoor activity getaway and Whitaker Center for Science worked out great its a large facility with plenty of things to do ranging from IMAX theatre and three floors of hands on learning exhibits in many areas of Science that will keep everyone entertained from toddler to adults! They even have a Hurricane chamber! Which was awesome! While its no Hershey park its still a great all day event especially on those stormy weather days!

We absolutely love coming to the Whitaker center! It has the perfect interactive area for not only our 3 year old but also our 1 year old! We tend to spend the majority of our time in the toddler play area with a marketplace, house with slide, fish tank, stage with costumes, and a water table! We bought a yearly pass last year and will do so again when it expires in April. The perfect rainy or cold day fun.

Immensely disappointed.We have visited several times in the past and never had such a bad experience. After paying we find out they are closing early and new attractions we came for are not open. Even though their website and social media did not reflect any of this. We decided to go ahead and go in with the kids because there is always so much to do. instead we are met with the same kind of educational activities one would find at a public Library and a less than welcoming staff. We could clearly see that they had downsized a portion of their exhibits. I am sitting inside the Whitaker Center now leaving this review. I simply can not believe we wasted this much money.On the way here we contemplated getting a yearly pass for the family. Now we are googling other places to go.

Great play area designated for smaller kids, lots of more advanced displays downstairs. Normally not crowded at least during the week when we go. The imax was very nice as well!

I experienced the most satisfying theater experiences in my life tonight. I saw the production of Newsies and the actors and actresses are the best Ive seen in a very long time. the Stage production was amazing it also the scenics are very professional and awesome. the technical aspect of this performance will rate on my top experiences in my lifetime. Ive seen a lot of Productions since I used to live in Las Vegas Nevada for 13 years. this production was better than Vegas at so many levels. I come from a theatrical background since my parents used to own a costume manufacturing company and we had to attend a lot of Broadway shows as a part of their business. thank you very much theater Harrisburg for a great night. I am also an activist for transgender rights and it inspired me to go back into activism more because of the production tonight. it lighted my activism juices on fire tonight. thank you very much. The production was put on by Theatre Harrisburg.. The Whitaker facilities are amazing as well I enjoyed the ambiance and the professionalism of their staff.. I found it very transgender friendly because Im a transgender woman.

Overall it was a good experience, and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.There was one worker who seemed to be losing her patience when the kids stopped listening to her and maybe it was just an off day for her. We were there as part of a bigger group outing and there was little bit of chaos, but we will be coming back - just the family - and hope the smaller group changes the experience.

This was honestly a disappointing visit. I have a lot of fond memories of the whitaker center from when I was younger, so I was excited to take my son there! I came to find that theres not really as much as there used to be...I was talking with other parents there and they agreed that its been downsized quite a bit. Not only that, but they also charge $16 for admission. It honestly felt like a waste of money going here. Im sad to say we wont be back if things dont change.

The kids I took enjoyed their experience overall but we were all a little disappointed. The mobile website was very difficult to navigate and so we didn’t notice that the science center was being redone in certain areas. Many of the exhibits that were available were marked out of order. I won’t be returning until everything is done and wouldn’t recommend it for older kids. We stopped at every exhibit available with two 8 year olds and it only took about an hour to explore it all. Hopefully once things are back in order it will be a more pleasurable experience.

Great place to learn and have a ton of fun!

Beautiful theatre, amazing production of Hunchback of Notre Dame, in particular the lead Nik Olson who was the star of the show!

Great intimate venue. Very nice seats.

What a great venue to see one of my favorite bands JJ GREY AND MOFRO. The sound was great I was also happy to be able to use the elevator to get to the lobby and back to the balcony. This is a classy place!

I haven’t even gone here with my son but I just had to give a review from the online experience alone. Finding an event is difficult. The website is hard to navigate. When I went to purchase tickets that were 12.50 each, there was an 8.00 service fee for each ticket! My total for two tickets was close to fifty dollars! What a joke! Won’t even consider coming here now. I’m all about spending the money to have a good time but when a company just adds fees like that it’s unecesarry.

This was a great family day!! And a great way to spend a rainy day. Parking wasnt too hard. Several floors of activities for varying age levels. Gotta check out the 3-D movies. Even a nice little gift shop.

I have been here several times. We love the interactive exhibits. The staff is very friendly. Just wish there was a lil more to it for the price. Good for a quick stop maybe n hr or 2. Tip : bring your AAA card for a discount on the ticket!

Loved the science center! They have lots of hands-on learning opportunities for STEM. My son liked building a foundation for a house and turning the dial to simulate an earthquake. Then health and wellness carnival was unique and offered some much needed tips for kids to stay healthy.

Paid $20 for a “special event”. All I ended up with was a mini-cheeseburger. Science center was closed and they ran out of food. Definitely don’t recommend this place.

My 2 year old loved the play area especially the water table but they really need to get more slip mats because he fell twice and could have seriously hurt himself. My family has been to several science centers like this and all of them had non slip mats covering the ENTIRE PLAY AREA not just one mat where they stand. This is the only place I have seen like this and I cant understand why they wont just get a few more mats so kids can stop falling instead of just having a caution wet floor sign (which my 2 year old cant read). Its a serious safety issue that can be easily fixed and I cant see myself buying a membership until its fixed.

Our 11 year old boys enjoy visiting here but often there are exhibits that never seem to be operable. We purchased the annual pass so weve been there multiple times. Being able to use our membership at other Science Centers is awesome.

Wonderful place to bring a family or out of town guests!The Imax is an amazing experience - I recommend the 3D Butterfly movie.Some of the exhibits are a little tired or even broken, but such is the life of a non-profit - people dont respect the exhibits, and theyre very expensive to fix.Great place for school groups, but be prepared for controlled chaos.The gift shop has a huge selection of fun stuff.Consider volunteering there too - its a great way to help out and learn too!

It has a very Educational Learning Center with multiple fields in science

Interesting lots to see and do in the Science section. Brought my oldest granddaughter and she had fun, was very excited. Before we left checked out gift shop.

This is a great childrens museum. Plenty to see and do. The staff are very helpful and friendly. If given the opportunity, we would certainly visit this museum again.

The same centers in the museum have been broken for 2 years, so we choose to do the movie today. The movie was fine. The pop corn was cold. And the movie we paid 17 for and parking we paid 15 for under 2 hours. I spend less in Baltimore or Philly for a while day of parking. We will not be back. Its a shame this used to be a monthly place we visited in the winter.

The registration process for summer camp is a nightmare! Im sorry to say i dont think we will be doing this again any time soon. It is so hard to find a quality program for children during the summer months

Seating is somewhat problematic. Balcony seats are poorly arranged and not labeled correctly in the chart causing confusion and anger. Will think twice about coming again.

My family and I watched an incredibly entertaining rendition of Newsies tonight. The performers danced superbly with their legs flying high in the air! They were literally on their toes!Special kudos to Katherine Lindsley (as Katherine), Jordan Marie Lewis (as Jojo), Nicoletta Ariano (as Buttons) and Jeremiah Joel (as Crutches) !Katherine and Jordan displayed mind-boggling ranges of emotion while performing which translated into performances which drew us in inexorably to the plot. Well done!My daughters, my wife and I talked of nothing else during the 40 minute car ride back home.

As a follow-up visit from my last one that was back in January which was almost 6 months ago, only one activity has been repaired. I am still disappointed with the way that the repairs are being handled at your establishment. And the fact that now NONE of the hand sanitizer dispensers work. That is germ fest. Gross! As it appears from your facebook page, there are many disappointed parents out there. Maybe you should do something about this before you go out of business. At this point I will NOT be coming back.

The mEEGa Hunt was a complete disaster from start to finish. $44 doesnt come easy to me but I want my grandson to experience the best. Upon arrival the guy selling tickets couldnt send me in the right direction to pick up Will Call tickets and then gruffly excused himself that the line was somewhere else earlier. At Will Call they had trouble locating my name but finally did AND THEN wanted to see my email confirming my tickets. What? I paid, you have my name, what is the issue?My grandson was in the 6-8 age group that was SUPPOSED to start their hunt at 9:45am. Instead it was OVER at 9:42 am leaving my grandson to look on his own for what eggs might be left. They should have handed out a layout of the building and how to get downstairs not be given a one minute warning it was starting 10 min early!The lady handing out the prizes was rude, shaming us for not having opened our eggs before we got to her. One egg was empty and one had a number from another age group. She told him just to take a candy. 2 candies, three glow sticks and a girls bracelet. That was ridiculous. He may have won something bigger but she didnt care. $44 for that?Then we, because we were last, had no breakfast items available to us. All gone. Coffee gone. What was it I was paying for again?? Truly a disaster and I will not recommend it to anyone. Will not return again. I should get a full refund.

Definitely not like it used to be and definitely not worth the money or the travel. Every water table did not work properly or at all. Extremely disappointing.

Beautiful building and stage.

The staff was friendly. The environment was clean. There were interactive activities for children of many different ages (birth thru teenager). Our toddler enjoyed the water table the most! The center also has a nursing mothers room which can be a nice bonus for some parents. While it was a fun day it did seem a bit costly (which is probably a personal problem on my part). Adult tickets are $16.00 per adult. Children tickets are $12.50 per kid (ages 3+). Parking is not validated for the recommended deck and costs at minimum $10.00 for two hours.

Its a good place to go to cause they have alot of stuff to learn from with kids

Wonderful experience! Watched the performance of A Midsummers Night Dream.

The only time that I was here was to see the Ant Bully in their IMAX Theater in 2006, on my tenth birthday. It was really huge and it captured us because of the high quality that they have.

Great place to learn new things! I used to watch iMax movies here as a kid

Anyone who lives science should visit this place, it truly covers everything aspect of the scientific community, in a cool way.

Love this place, the different activities that the kids can do and people that perform there.

The Imax theatre is extremely cool. Would be a great place to for any one of any age.

A great place to visit in downtown Harrisburg -- combines IMAX, theatre (for plays/concerts/comedy shows), and science center into one terrific venue.

If you are going to the Imax Theatre, youd better get there super early to get the seats in the middle or upper rows. I was really shocked that for the expensive rate I had to pay for tickets online without being able to chose the seats ahead of time. The online portal was very user friendly, but then they tag on a holding fee. When we got there, we had to stand in a long line with less-than-friendly attendents at the box office and the ones who simply took our tickets.There was also, supposedly a deal where if you purchased your tickets prior to a certain date, you would get a free movie poster. We were only the 3rd showing of opening of The Hobbit, and the man said those posters were long gone. False advertising, or just poor communication online?By the time we got in, most of the seats were filled, and we ended up in the front row! We had to slouch and crank our necks to see the screen well-enough. Perhaps the Center should consider lowering or enlarging the screen, as it is too close to the seats for those in the lower rows. Also, it wouldve been nice to have attendants encourage people to move to the center of the rows, rather than taking end seats leaving only one available somewhere in the middle. If youre coming with a friend, you cant find anything together easily. There was also a smell in the theater and the floors seemed really dirty. If we hadnt been anticipating the movie for so long, and if we hadnt paid as much as we did, we probably wouldve left.I might bring our kids to the actual hands on museum, but we wont be back to the Imax. Id rather go to stadium seating in the mall.

Great place for a family visit! good experience and will return

The experience was so.great the staff was so helpful .I used to work forthwm qhwn

It Was ok. Could of been better.

Staff very nice.

Great place to take the family and for 3d movies.

Very good

Great downtown venue for concerts!

A lot of exhibits were broken or out of order.. Not really that much to do honestly.

Its like Harrisburgs own Franklin Institute!

Absoutelt amazing for kids !

I like that they give the opportunity for community members to see their art shows free of admission in the general lobby areas

Kind of disappointed . . .especially with the Dinosaur Discovery.

Cool museum

Kids could have spent all day there.

Prices are to high to see shows with my family

I really love comming here

Fun bad weather activity for kids.