The Omniplex Of
Oklahoma City

A Smithsonian Affiliate
2100 NE 52nd Street
Oklahoma City, OK

by Lin Stone

 
click for a larger pic.

  The Omniplex Science Museum of Oklahoma City is part of the Association of Science-Technology Centers ASTC Travel Passport Program.  For just $75 per year you can have a Grandpass and come as often as you want, to as many different facilities as you want to visit, scattered all over the country.  Both grandparents and up to six grandchildren can enter at the same time. 

You can also buy tickets at the front desk.  The price is $13.50 per adult and $10.50 per child.  As you can see, just two trips would pay for your grand pass, not that I'm promoting anything besides good sense.

The Omniplex of Oklahoma City is right beside the zoo and free parking is more than ample, most of the time.  The address is 2100 NE 52nd. Street -- and the phone number is 405 602 6664.  Visiting hours are from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday with an extra hour on Saturday.  Sunday hours are from 11 to 6.

Seeing the movie, comes extra but will leave you spinning with gratitude.  This is the I-Max type of theatre, with the bottom of the screen way below your feet and the top of the screen way over your head, and the sides exceeding past even my perfect peripheral vision limits.  It is impossible to watch the movie; you can only watch parts of it, much like trying to decide in real life where your attention will focus.  The choreographers are determined to make you seasick, air sick, or car sick, if not all three at the same time.  The sensation of movement is an essential part of every segment.  Whether it is an alligator coming up to look over the dinner menu or a category 4 hurricane pounding on your door, you will feel like you are moving.  When you come wobbling out of the movie your world will be stabilized, and YOU will be the one that can't keep balanced.  Needless to say, most kids will love it. Prices are $8 each for small children, more for adults.  There are only two choices of features to see, Take It, or Leave It.  It would seem that only documentaries get filmed for this type of movie theater.  That is understandable; production costs must be horrendous.

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The Red Earth Museum is on the second floor and has over 200 exhibits of Native American art and handicrafts.  There were three pictures of the Choctaw Lighthorse Brigade, and many pictures of tribal life and paintings of posed men and maidens.  Quite a few examples show why so many Native Americans could drop off along the Trail of Tears and be absorbed into Euromerican culture without too much objection.  There's even a picture of Geronimo, riding in a touring car at Fort Sill.  There was no objection to my taking pictures of the pictures, but the lighting is horrible for that exercise.  Flash, isn't very good either, because of the glass.

 

Today's generation of children will be more interested in the interactive science projects than they are in Native American Art.  There are also traveling exhibits such as: Our Body: The Universe Within that had 15 complete bodies obtained from Beijing China -- and there were also 135 other anatomical body-system and health-related exhibits.  Traveling exhibits cost extra, usually twice as much as a single visit, and Grandpass doesn't help a bit.  However, if you aren't a Granparent on Grandpass you only have to pay for the Traveling Exhibit fee, and the entrance to the other features are included in the price.

It provides a penetrating look at what only doctors and scientists normally are privileged to see firsthand.   This gives us a chance to go “under the skin,” as the exhibits expose the intricacies of the human body.

By highlighting anatomy studies over the past 1,000 years, this inspirational and educational exhibit casts a light on the alluring mystery of the human body.  Visitors also will see how the body’s beautiful complexity has influenced generations of artists and scientists.

Through a brilliant, compelling and dignified exhibition, visitors will connect with these human artifacts on a personal level that will help them to better understand their own bodies. The exhibit’s cutting-edge MicroWorld display features high-magnification images of healthy and diseased skin, organ and cell samples. The images under extreme magnification allow visitors to investigate otherwise invisible cell levels that impact our health.

After the WOW is gone, simple projects seem to draw more attention than the complex displays of things like, rocket motors.  For example, two heavy pendulums are attached to a single bar about ten feet high.  Pull one pendulum back and let it go.  The other one will resist moving, then move slightly, then continue to gain momentum.  The first pendulum is meanwhile slowing down until the two speeds match.  Then the second pendulum continues to pick up speed while the first one slows to a standstill.


The Dinosaur stands head and shoulders
over the other displays.

But it's the thirty foot long ECHO TUBE that was getting the most attention on one of the days I visited.  Magnets, and moving balls come second.  Then there's the chance to send the earth spinning for the sky like a hot air balloon.  Then you can play music on Pan's Pipes, look at yourself in funny mirrors, and take the time to test your sense of balance, which I failed.  Then there are dozens of other hands-on displays to enchant every child in your string.  Best of all, there is LOTS of room to roam around in as you explore virtually every mode of science known to man, including fruits of the flea-sized fruits of the electron microscope.

Jupiter and Saturn are soaring in the sky, with other planets fixed appropriately.  For those fascinated by astronomy there is a working planetarium with half reclined seats to lie back in while being educated about the night sky.  The present locations of Planets are pointed out and drawings of various constellations are then flashed right over the stars so you can see them for yourselves.

Gadgets abound in this museum, along with optical illusions, all combined with basic educational materials to make it all sound wonderful and exciting.  Children will be fascinated with the opportunity to see for themselves how things work, look, and feel.  It is a perfect place to have a birthday party and the staff pulls out all the stops to make it the most memorable event of the child's life.

Click HERE
For more pictures

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