Children’s Discovery Museum Santa Ana Review
The Children’s Discover Museum in Santa Ana (Discovery Cube) is located less than 10 minutes from the Disneyland Resort area. It is advertised as an area “attraction” in many publications in an attempt to attract tourists. While it is a fun place to visit, you need to go there with proper expectations.
The Children’s Discovery Museum in Santa Ana (also called the Discovery Cube - named after the unique shape of the building) is located just off of the 5 Freeway at Main Street in Santa Ana. The museum features many interactive exhibits mostly aimed at grade school children. There are also special exhibits that change throughout the year. Most of the exhibits involve fun explanations and experiments of scientific principles. My school aged children were entertained by these exhibits for about 4 hours. After the 4 hour mark, we had experienced everything there was in the museum. Our favorite exhibits were the bed of nails (you can actually try it out!) and the interactive hockey exhibit (have pucks shot at you or beat the virtual goalie). There is also a small rock climbing wall for everyone to test their skills on.
Pre-schoolers are likely to enjoy the exhibits and interaction also, but they won’t get the full effect since they won’t understand the concepts. For example, there is an exibhit where you can heat a balloon and watch it rise. My pre-schooler enjoyed watching the balloon go up and down, but didn’t get the full benefit of learning that my older children got.
There is a gift shop in the Children’s Discovery Museum that has some really fun toys. The prices aren’t bad either. Lastly, there is a Taco Bell, located right inside the museum. So if you work up an appetite on the exhibits, you’ll be all set.
If you have the time during your visit or if you are a local, I would recommend visiting the Children’s Discovery Museum in Santa Ana. The prices are great and your grade school children will enjoy the exhibits. Just don’t go expecting Disney type of entertainment. It’s a little more quaint and you have to interact with the exhibits and look for the principles behind the exhibits to get the most out of the experience.
Compared to other area attractions, this is a very inexpensive alternative, too…less than $20 per person.
