Fodor's Expert Review California Science Center

You're bound to see excited kids running up to the dozens of interactive exhibits here that illustrate the prevalence of science in everyday life. Clustered in different "worlds," the center keeps young guests busy for hours. They can design their own buildings and learn how to make them earthquake-proof; watch GLOBAL ZONE, where you can see Earth's global cycles of air, water, land, and life exhibited on a giant interactive globe. One of the exhibits in the Air and Space section shows how astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon made it to outer space in the Gemini 11 capsule in 1966. The IMAX theater screens science-related large-format films that change throughout the year.