Cleveland Museum of Natural History

We visited here on Monday, January 18^th, 2015 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day). They had free admission for everybody this day, so it was very busy. We arrived at 10 am, and the parking lot for the museum was already full, so we ended up having to park in the nearby art museum’s parking garage. Worth the 2 plus hour travel time from Bowling Green, OH. I used to visit this museum a lot as a youngster on school field trips. My dinosaur-​loving 12 year old son was in heaven looking at all of the displays. Some of the displays are dated, but they still get the point across. We enjoyed our time here. There is a restaurant inside the museum, but they were very busy, so we opted to grab something to eat on the way home. I wish the restaurant had a menu outside (along with pricing) so that I could have made a decision on whether or not to eat there versus dining elsewhere.

Fun rainy day activity.

Ahhhh mazing!!! Many discounts available. ½ off for students and or visiting after 5 pm. Open late on Wednesday which is a great find bc most museums close early. It’s something to do with the kids after school that’s educational, affordable and open after school.

Great place to spend a couple hours, especially when there is an interesting exhibit. I remember one a few years ago about race/​ethnicity that was very well done. This past visit we went for an exhibit about saurapods (large dinosaurs). Again, the exhibit was well organized and had plenty of interesting facts. The regular exhibits are also interesting, although some are in desperate need of renovation. I particularly enjoy the dinosaur room and the one with the jewels. Be sure to spend a little extra for the planetarium show. Both times, the speaker was able to explain the constellations, the other galaxies, etc. in ways that are easy to understand for adults and children. This museum is another great asset to this city!

Although I hate to say it… I really can’t endorse this place. As far as attractions in Cleveland go, this is one I would put on the «skip» list. I have been to many other natural history museums in other cities, and the Cleveland one is in desperate need of updating. It is incredibly overpriced for what you get, and all the special exhibitions cost extra even though they are usually small. My biggest complaint is that this place feels very dated to me, in sore need of updating. If this place ever underwent a renovation, I would definitely revisit, but until then I don’t see myself revisiting or recommending to others.

Very interesting museum. We had a great time looking at all of the artifacts. Worth the trip.

This place is terribly crowded, parking is really difficult and scarce. However, once inside, it’s awesome! Great exhibits. Children always enjoy themselves.

My dad had free tickets from work, so we decided to try out this museum. It’s not super big, but there are a good amount of things to see and do. The outdoor exhibit with the live animals was fun and the animals were pretty lively.
The traveling exhibit was about engineering for people with disabilities. Ironically, my family had already seen this exhibit where we live, but it was still fun to experience it again.
We saved the kids’ area for last because we figured the kids wouldn’t want to leave after they went in there, but unfortunately we weren’t told (by the people at the front desk who saw us walk in with several kids, or by any signage on maps or otherwise) that the kids’ area closes 30 minutes before the museum closes. We literally had five minutes to play before it closed and we were kicked out. That was extremely disappointing, for us and for the kids.
Also, you have to pay for parking, which was $ 7, if I remember correctly.

This museum is a great place for children of all ages. My husband and I are in our mid twenties and we had a blast walking around and enjoying the exhibits. The cost is very fair and they offer a great variety of shows. The facility is clean and the employees are very nice and pleasant.
Take at least a half day to be able to explore the entire musuem.

First time visitor with my college student who likes anything astronomy. Went to both planetarium shows. Very informative and entertaining. $ 5 each show. We really liked the extensive gem displays, the mastodon exhibit, the plant displays downstairs, the huge collection of «dead» animals, and the evolution area. A special treat were the live animals outside. The otters were neat, the turkey friendly, the owls a hoot. We should have spent more time outside if we knew there were so many animals to see. The gift shop has a lot of cool things, too. We surprised ourselves and had a great time – four hours!

I love the Natural History museum. In fact, I’m a member. The special programs for adults, teens and kids are fantastic. The lecture series are world class and if they’re not free, they are cheap. The downside: the museum exhibitions are horribly outdated. They don’t look like they’ve changed in 50 or 60 years, literally! I’m sure that is because the museum is about to undergo a facelift. A transformative renovation is scheduled for next year and is long overdue. It could get worse before it gets better during construction but I can’t wait for the completion.

This museum has two parts:
The left side with new and rotating exhibits.
And the awesome dead animal side to the right.
No, some of these dioramas haven’t changed in years. But once you’ve perfectly captured the essence of the savanna, or artfully arranged the stuffed corpses of prey and predator in one last eternal embrace… Why mess with a good thing?
Dude, they have Balto. Like, that’s his real stuffed body in a plastic case for you to see. We ordered the cartoon DVD for our kids to watch that same night.
There’s a zoo portion outside, massive dinosaur skeletons, a kids discovery zone, and then most of the left side of the museum is a multi media, interactive experience to begin with.
Even the food court had Great choices for healthy and delicious food, not just hamburgers and hotdogs and chips.

Cool place to bring your kids, and they have some rotating displays, last one I saw was the silk trail, which was quite the visual and olfactory experience of sights and smells!
The rest of the exhibit is a little stale, but they liven it up with events throughout the year, hosting lots of local group get togethers under the skeletons of dinosaurs

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed the Cleveland Museum of Natural History! I think it definitely deserves to be my 300^th review.
When I went to college in Cleveland, we could get into the Museum of Natural History for free. It was AWESOME. I absolutely love this place!
First, they have certain staple exhibits that are super cool. Dinosaurs? Yes. Animals? Yep. Planetarium? You got it. They have other exhibits that change as well.
I’ve visited here on my own, with friends, with my sorority as a formal event, and as a volunteer for their Enrichment Day. Each time, it has been an absolutely wonderful experience. On your own or with friends, no matter how many times you’ve been, you can always see something you missed before. As a formal event, we had an amazing time. Dancing among the dinosaurs, I mean really? How much cooler can it get? We were also able to explore the exhibits and see a planetarium show, which everyone loved. At their Enrichment Day, kids can come in and do all kinds of great activities. I’ve helped with face painting, arts and crafts, and other activities, and kids seem to really enjoy it.
I think the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a wonderful way to spend a few hours, and I would definitely recommend going if you haven’t been yet (or even if you have). If I were in the area, I’d go right now!

If you have children and wish to teach them a love of science, then teaching them to love dinosaurs is a gateway drug.
This museum doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside is a treasure trove of natural and bio-​geographic history. Plus, marvel at some very unique facts about northeast Ohio’s geology. Who for instance, ever knew that Center Ridge Road was so named because it was built on the exact path traced by a very real geologic ridge called the «center ridge» formed at the time when this whole place we are standing on was a massive glacier formation? Now that explains a lot of why it winds west the way it does.
It is about perhaps a quarter size to a third of Chicago’s natural history museum — but this might be a good thing for the parent who might not want to spend the entire day in a museum. You get the same experience in a convenient, fun, package that’s short and sweet. It is clean, well lit, and staffed with real scientists who know things in-​depth. As a geek and biology/​science major, I love this place, and so can you!

Although it was a quick visit with a friend, the museum is a great place with some rare and special artifacts that no other museum has in their collection.
Unique to natural history museums which often only have dioramas and taxidermied animals, the CMNH has an outdoor exhibit that showcases their rescued animals as well as a small botanical garden.
Definitely an excellent choice for a fun and educational day when the weather outside isn’t pleasant.

Neat museum to visit. Very directed toward kids but we (2 adults) enjoyed walking through and checking everything out. We did giggle that the signs were obviously typed on a typewriter and haven’t been updated in decades.
The living animals exhibit is kinda cool, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time when they were doing the feeding of the coyote and the bobcats. I didn’t get the name of the girl who did the demonstration but she was great, very interactive with the kids and very informative.

So I fist visited this museum back in like fourth grade for a field trip. I went again last year for a date and I am pretty sure nothing changed in all of those years…
However! I stumbled upon a notice for a comedy event there last Friday and decided to give the Natural History Museum another go and I am so glad I did! I walked in to find they had a cash bar that night so I grabbed myself a beer and made my way over to the make your own snack bar and proceeded to fill up a little bag with chocolates, nuts, and pretzels. From there I checked out their new exhibit called Nature’s Mating Games which was pretty interesting. Last up for the night was the comedy show with the theme being awkward dating moments. There were four comics and they were hilarious!
I would love to see more events like this put on at the museum!

Amazing! Awesome! I can’t say enough good things and I can’t wait to come back! My first time ever was this past Friday and I was chaperoning and field trip for my son’s class. I didn’t get to see much as I was in charge of 4 2^nd graders, but everything I did see was great!
Large coat room, cafeteria for eating our snacks, and a whole basement level dedicated to Ohio animals, weather and plant life. The children and I all enjoyed the discovery room!

Love the hours… only food venue closes early… cruel outside animal area.
Hard to decide how many stars… the dinasaurs are 5 stars plus! As others noted… great local explanations… nice number of full animal skeletons.
As a kid the room that shows different regions of the country /​world was a cool way to learn about native animals and people from all over.
As an adult my husband, who was visiting for the first time, was amazed at how many things we had seen at historical sites across the country were reprented in this museum.
It is not New York… or DC… but you can save the travel $ and get a great hands on experience for the things your kids see on the Discovery Channel.
The outdoor area is tragic and needs to be re-​thought. The animals were pacing and anxious and the owls and deer were the only ones that didn’t look stressed.
We went on a night that the exhibits are open late… and would have loved to do some star gazing without the cheesy planitarium show… but the cafeteria closes in the afternoon… and there is little hope of getting a parking space if you try and come back after dinner.