Great fun with our grandson - Fantastic place to take kids. Will entertain and educate all ages. Lots to see so budget 3 to 4 hours (we spent 4 and didn't see a show in the planetarium. Lots of young families with strollers-kids under three are free and memberships for families in the area make it a very reasonable place to visit so lots of nannies and kids and families. Not so cheap for a one time visit but certainly worth the price of admission when you consider you are getting three to four hours of enjoyment. Price breaks if you buy tickets in advance-best prices by purchasing three or more days and picking slower times for entrance. On the other hand, parking nearby that is free is tough to find after 10 am. Check out their website when planning your visit I would warn you away from planning on eating more than snacks there- food is ok but prices in cafe quite high- $11 for one slice of pizza as an example.

California Academy of Science - This is a wonderful learning experience for folks of any age. Its worth the lines. The rainforest and aquarium were really great.

WOW! - We were allowed into the building at 9:30 I am not sure why we had to wait 30 mins until at 10:00 we were allowed in to see the area. The Corpse Flower was magnificent and worth the wait!

Plenty of things to see - Awesome collection. Especially Aquarium, Tropical Forest and Planetarium. A lot od things to see, books yourself about 5 hours to see everything

Good experience - Loved it! Worth the money. My only complaint is the aquarium isn't laid out in a way that makes sense but overall it's good.

Complicated museum layout but some great exhibitions - Visited here recently with my sister. We went to the planetarium - the seats have no neck support and dont recline back so are very uncomfortable for a 30 minute viewing! The aquarium is great and loved the talk on Claude the Albino Aligator. The museum’s layout is a little complicated but the staff are very friendly and the area around is pretty. We came here as we had purchased the city pass.

Least favorite stop on our trip to San Francisco - Took my tween and teen kids here hoping to spend the afternoon learning. Unfortunately after paying an astronomical amount for 2 teens, one child and one adult ticket we were greatly let down. While the exhibits are nice they are very small and VERY crowded. We went mid week on a non holiday week and it was jam packed with field trips and out of control kids thing things, screaming, banging on exhibits and overall just ruining any sort of chance to learn. Then just to see the small rainforest exhibit you have to wait in a very long line, and what they don’t warn you is there is only one way out at the top one single elevator. We were stuck in there trying to get out for over 45 minutes while the elevator attendant put as few people as possible in each round. All while sweating to death and listening to groups of field trips scream and yell and swat at the butterflies. We have been to many natural history and science museums around the country and this one is by far our least favorite design wise, price wise and exhibit wise (and the most expensive). Not worth the $$$ for what you get.

Not worth 50$ - Lots to learn but definitely over priced. The day we went it was crowded 50$ is just a lot for a few hours. Different events were going on. The Aquarium was nice but difficult to read the information on the displays as the lighting is very poor down there. The cafe is overpriced too.

Gouging Visitors, no longer the wondrous experience of yesterday. - I hadn't been to the California Academy or Planetarium for many, many years, so this was a new experience and contrast. Most noticeably, the prices and captive audience gouging is egregious. It cost more than $30 to park for the afternoon...even with a disabled sticker. Hungry? >$50 for a minimal slice of pizza (no toppings-those cost more) and/or one sandwich for 3 adults and a 7 year old, no drinks included. The planetarium shows were short and underwhelming, low image quality and amateurish narrative, a ghost of the exquisite precision German planetarium projector of eras past buttressed by engrossing intelligent tutorials from world class professionals. The aquarium, though rebuilt, is more or less the same, e.g. nice. Other things, the indoor "rainforest", ok for what it is, nice walk for kids; the minerals nice, interesting; the alligators - not much, other exhibits: ok, but nothing super. Nice view from the roof, but the weed garden and narrative- bleh (looks like my backyard (au naturel). Foucault pendulum is still there, but absent some of the kid-curiosity awakening posters. The building itself is new, high, open, multi-story and airy (compared to that of yesterday) . Shame the contents and presentation do not follow suit. Summary: pleasant afternoon but aftertaste was a feeling of having been taken advantage (think captive audience or pickpocket) Next time, go to the Exploratorium or De Young instead, even if repeating.

Average - We came here as part of the city pass as it’s one of the museums you don’t really get a choice on, not sure it’s worth $40 entry alone. The Aquarium part was interesting enough and we went to the planetarium too but didn’t spend too long anywhere else really, it didn’t seem to have that many interesting things for us to spend longer than 2 hours there and glad we didn’t pay for entry outside of using the city pass as I think we’d have been disappointed