SPY MUSEUM IN D.C.
 

Taking my 11 year old nephew to D.C. for the day 9/28/09. We have a pretty full agenda and one of the things we are toying with is the Spy Museum. I just can't get a clear understanding from the website. Any feedback on this place? Is it geared towards older children...is it worth the money?

Thanks for any opinions:)

It was one of the favorite things my then 11 year old daughter did in DC on our trip. I was there in October of last year (a lovely time to be in DC), and yes, in my opinion it was worth the price. Your nephew is the perfect age. You go in and obtain an "identity" that you keep through out your visit.

I highly recommend it.

I've been twice, most recently with my nephews ages 11 & 15. The museum is fantastic and I highly recommend it, too--you can spend hours there. My only concern would be crowds which may not be an issue this time of year. We took my nephews on a busy, end of summer, Sunday and many of the displays, etc., were difficult for the kids to see. Lack of engagement = lack of interest. There are several hands-on, interactive stations they couldn't get to and I would say the youngest lost interest sooner than later. Still, we managed to spend two hours there. When DH & I went during a weekday we felt as though we had the place to ourselves and spent the better part of an afternoon there. I hope you go and enjoy!

AnnMarie - we were there I believe during the week too and it was great.

A note of caution: if you already have a full day, I don't recommend going to the Spy museum unless you are willing to take something else off the agenda. The Spy museum can be a bit overwhelming and really takes time to do properly. It's not the kind of thing you want to squeeze in between other outings.

Wow! You guys are great and exactly the responses I wanted to hear. I will let Ryan (the nephew) make the choice. We are training down from Philly early morning, touring the Capitol, visiting one of the Smithsonian museums and of course lunch. Our train home is not until 7:30pm so we may jut be able to fit it in. Thanks so much again!

I would do it ebdlemond02. We saw a lot of museums on a 2 week trip we did back east in NYC, Philly & DC & Williamsburg and my dd would say it was her favorite.

Thanks for the advice. My newphew is extremely mature and intelligent and I know he will be up for it.Once again I did not want to spend the cash if it was a dud.
I believe after hearing from people like you it is a "done deal"! I will report back...

Again, thanks to all the advice. After training it down to DC from Philly, we toured the Capitol, hit 1 of the Smithosonian museums, lunched at Ben's Chili Bowl (according to Ryan they have the best hamburgers ever!), we ended at The Spy Museum. Since we only had about 2 hours left and we decided, with help from the young man at the entrance, to take part in the interactive hour long spy mission. It was money well spent for us, $14.00 a person, and it gave Ryan a taste of espionage. Upon our return I think we will go through the actual museum. Thanks to all again:)

I think you made the right decision to do "Operation Spy" since you only had 2 hours left. Touring the Spy Museum takes a bare minimum of 2 hours. "Operation Spy" is good for middle school-aged kids (such as your nephew) but my high school-aged son found it a bit hokey.
I would note for future visitors that "Operation Spy" is advertised for those aged 12 and over. They obviously did not enforce that age restriction for you, ebdelmond02, but they might for other visitors.

I understand that the Spy Museum is fantastic for kids.

What about adults? Will they enjoy the museum too (without participating in the "spy mission")?

traveller: We've been to the museum twice with two different groups. I noticed that the adults were more interested in the gadgets like the lipstick that's a gun, and James Bond's car. It's a fun place for kids, but if it were a choice between the Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum, I would pick the latter as my recommendation for the adults.

Traveller, like my high school aged son, I found "Operation Spy" a bit too contrived. It was clear that the mission had to be done in a certain way. I would have much preferred a mission that was truly interactive and that had different outcomes based on different things the participants did. (But that would probably be too difficult/expensive for the museum to create.)
Anyway, both I and my son enjoyed most aspects of the museum itself. I would say that most of the exhibits are geared toward older teens/adults, mainly because they require a lot of reading and some knowledge of history as well.
Having said that, I went to the Newseum today for the first time and I think it's a great museum for older teens/adults. There were so many interesting exhibits and films--too many for us to see in one day. So that's why I was pleased to find out that our admission ticket covers two consecutive days of admission and we're going back tomorrow to see the rest of the museum!

traveller - we (adults) LOVED the Spy Museum. We went with out 2 sons (then young teens) and my MIL. We had "budgeted" about 2 hours for the museum.....ended up spending 3.....and could have easily stayed longer. I felt rushed even with that amount of time!

O.k., then we go there with our family from 20 thru 84...

I should also mention that we spent about 30 minutes in the gift shop! Some great, fun stuff in there. Granted, by (then) 13 year old was the most excited, but even DH was tempted by a few things!

Go - have fun - do the interactive stuff. I especially enjoyed the WWII code-deciphering stuff.