Houston - Space Center
 

I will be travelling to Houston the last week in March and plan to take my 7 year old to the Johnson Space Center one of those days. I've read quite a bit about the center and the one constant among comments seems to be that it does naturally get quite crowded. We would like to take the tram tour, see the movies...basically as much as possible Beside from getting there early is there a "good" strategy in terms of what order to do things? Should we do the tram at the earliest opportunity? Do you get a pass for a certain time for the tram or do you wait in line.

We've always gone during colder weather and our tram strategy was to wait until after lunch when we could stand the wind in the open tram. I doubt you have that issue.

Are you staying in Houston proper and driving into HPC during rush hour? Houson traffic is crummier than crummy. If you could find a motel on the south edge of town, you would save yourself an hour.

Do try to get there early, and there will be time enough to see all you want to see. But your 7 year old will probably want to spend most of the day playing with the other kids on the junglegym spaceship thing when you first walk in. They even set up parent stadium seating to wait it out.

Have fun and eat some freeze dried ice cream for me.

GoPlaces
We went to the tram first thing and that is what I would again, however, you do pass all the fun stuff your 7yr old will want to play on. :-)

I would suggest doing the tram tour first, then see the exhibits in the building. Be sure to see the short movie, as there are some exhibits after you exit that are not to be missed (moon rocks, etc.). After doing that, then let your 7 year old play. Our experience was that it was hard to tear our kids away from the play area (which is like a giant Chuck E. Cheese area) to go do the more "educational" stuff.

I do have a hint which could make your child a 'star' for the day. One of the scheduled daily programs is an overview of the inside workings of the living quarters. This exhibit was near all the learning game kiosks on the left when we walked in.

Anyway, if you arrive a few minutes before showtime, have your child sit in the middle of the front row and smile and wave at the educator. The educator will then ask for volunteers and if your child really shows enthusiasm, will be picked (it has worked for us twice)

Talk about a fantastic experience (and they learn something too)