Great hands on science learning experience for kids! My son is 10 and loved it. We spent most of the day here and did everything. Everything is geared for tactile learning. Great way to spend a day with the family. It was really amazing and we had so much fun.

This place has the WOW! factor going for it. We spent most of our time in the OSHER Rainforest, being mesmerized by the butterflies which seemed to want to be friends with us. There is so much more to see there than this which we did not explore. Being of that age, we got a senior membership which made the pricing pretty acceptable and will enable us to return several times.

I visited on Jan 17 and only for 1.5 hour. I specifically want to visit the Planetarium, and I saw two shows, which both were soothing. I did have time in between shows to visit the Dinosaur exhibit, the minerals and the rooftop garden. And there was so much more I did not get to see. There is a cool Rainforest Biosphere and an Aquarium. There is an adults only night, to see the center at night. Pros: - Not a far walk from Muni stop - So much to see!! - Open and clean! Only two cons: 1. I wish I had more time! I could spend all day there! 2. Full day full price ticket is $45isg. I got there with 1.5 he to close and paid $40. It was very clear, but feel it should have been a greater discount at that hour. Not a deal breaker, just feedback. On my list to definitely go back!

My husband and I took the bus from out hotel to Golden Gate Park on a rainy day to check out the California Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum. We didn't have tickets so we waited in line to get to the ticket window. While there, I was searching online for some possible discounts. Score! I found one and we were able to use it. They are still doing timed entry so we chose the next hour time slot to enter. We walked across to the de Young and got admission there as well. We wandered around looking at art before checking out the cafe. Once our time slot opened, we walked back over the the Academy to enter. It's huge! It was our first time and it was hard to decide on what to check out first. You definitely feel like a kid again with all that was going on. They have dinosaurs (natural history museum), a planetarium, an aquarium, and a rainforest. Oh my! We just picked a direction and headed to the aquarium. I saw a line for the planetarium and decided to put us in for a timeslot later that day. The aquarium is quite large. They have penguins, jellyfish, and loads of fish. We saw the albino alligator in the center enclosure. We weren't sure if it was real but he did move his arms. The dinosaur skeletons were the best. We saw a geode exhibit too. We didn't quite make it into the heart of the rainforest but we felt like we made a dent in what we saw. The California Academy of Sciences is ideal for your inner curious child or if you have kids they should go too. We had a great time. We also popped across back to de Young for more art while waiting on our planetarium timeslot and had no issues with reentry with our stamped hands. If you have a few hours to kill in SF, this is a great spot to check out. Definitely look for discounted admission because it'll save you some money too!

Expensive. At $40 it is really costly for a family. There is lots to see and I understand the price because what they have takes a lot of upkeep. While the building is handicap accessible, the rain forest is not. Unfortunately, you cannot start at the top and work your way down.