The Museum of Science and Industry is full of treasures and experiences you can’t find anywhere else in Chicago, such as a 727 suspended overhead, a coal mine, and a model railroad that runs from Chicago to Seattle.
But did you know that the flaps and rudders on the plane work with the click of a button? Or that kids have the opportunity to work the coal mine whistle that echoes throughout the main floor? Or that there’s a train hospital for the locomotives that run throughout The Great Train Story?
Enjoy all those opportunities and interact with even more exhibits on the exclusive, behind-the-scenes view at the museum with the WOW! Tour.
The one-hour tour is jam-packed with both information and new experiences that will excite even frequent visitors who think they know the MSI like the back of their hand.
My tween and I felt like we were seeing the MSI for the first time because the WOW! Tour took us to areas not open to the general public.
For example, Toy Maker 3000 seems like a completely different exhibit once you’ve seen the robots at work behind the scenes. And who knew that the chicks at the hatchery got pedicures?
Going inside the Omnimax projection room is pretty awesome, and we even got a few frames of film to take home as a souvenir.
Our enthusiastic and energetic facilitator kept the small WOW! Tour group moving the whole hour and shared a ton of fascinating facts and insider info.
The kids we took on the WOW! Tour loved connecting with exhibits they had seen in the past in new ways. They said their favorite part was getting to put the wheels and flaps down on the 727, although we all also liked the live science component, which involved guests trying Mberry miracle fruit berry tablets that turn sour foods sweet.
The WOW! Tour
- Museum of Science and Industry
- Additional timed-entry ticket required. Non-members can select the tour as part of an Explorer ticket package, which starts at for adults, for kids 3-11. For members, the tour costs adults/seniors, for children.
- msichicago.org
