Worth the drive. We tried 3 times to see the Big Boy. Happy we got to see it here. So much history,…read moreso worth the lesson and knowledge. Great and friendly staff btw. Made my son's birthday perfect!

I grew up in the area and last visited Steamtown when I was a child. I've since moved away, but was…read morevisiting family in the area and my wife and I decided to re-visit Steamtown, which was a great choice. The site is really quite well done and is thorough and organized. We learned quite a bit here and we really enjoyed getting a full picture of how the industry developed and thrived in the Scranton area. Steamtown is a gem and I'm very glad that we decided to re-visit it after all these years!

Run! Don't walk! Be prepared to laugh your head off. Dorothy is FANTASTIC. So much rich history &…read moreso much fun to be had. She is amazing with kids as well. Truly, so funny. Also, yes it's long. Which is a DELIGHT. It's so kind of Dorothy. Be prepared for 3.5 hours or so; she has so much to cover! I think she's probably only scratching the surface.

This was awful. We booked on a whim because we were making the trip to go to the nearby aquarium…read more We should have known better when we had to go down an suspect alley and park behind a house. We had to wait outside the 'Abracadabra' door which was a horrible seating arrangement. It had standing, dirty water everywhere and everyone outside was getting eating alive by gnats and mosquitoes. The host finally came out but never said who she was or even her name. She must have been having an off day because she was not received well. It was awkward. The building itself was someone's home. The downstairs was the showroom and two beyond cluttered 'museum' rooms. The ceiling had severe water damage. The showroom smelled awful. There were gnats overwhelming the bathrooms. In the "prop room" the ceiling was cracked and in need of maintenance. Molding was falling off the walls. There was even garbage, plates and drinks left out from some kind of celebration. At it's prime I'm certain the collection and rooms looked prestigious but years later, no upkeep and cleaning just left it sad. The show started with the magician giving a blurb about herself starting with she was raised by an abusive alcoholic father. You could tell this was more about Dorothy than Houdini. The monologue was done via microphone that was tied around her neck and blared out of a speaker that had a loud, annoying feedback that no one tried to correct. This shifted into an old DVD that's displayed on blurry television. The audio/visual were terrible. At some point they forgot to update the equipment. For the price that you pay for admission, you would feel they would upgrade the devices. We learned about Houdini and the way Dorothy engaged with the audience was just weird and she would giggle when it got creepy, awkward. There also was an old man sitting in the back of the room, just staring at everyone and not talking. You'd think, the person would be introduced but we didn't learn about him until an hour later. The history was painful and it was almost a look but don't touch and listen to me dialogue. Dorothy told the kids not to jump off bridges but they could eat swords. She told another kid that he was going to be locked in a mill crate like Houdini. The cake topper was the child she yelled at for touching something. The child started wailing and rushed to hide behind her mother. A child sneezed in one room and she snarled they better not have given her Covid. I mean her, when there were other people in the room, but really - who says that! Let alone to a child. The long drawn out history finally gave way to another video displayed poorly to the audience while the magician got ready. Before starting the video she asked if any one knew how Houdini died and she said the creepy old man in the back did. He stood up and just shrieked loudly for 20 seconds. Dorothy, creepy guy and another associate found this hilarious. The audience was confused. The video displayed the magician doing escape artist tricks and the jinx bullet trick. Very different from the basic magic that was about to happen. None the less performed to very loud 70's instrumental music. It almost felt like being at a child's birthday. Except we did the same trick over and over. We changed gears but it was basic. The magic was fun but the slight of hand was so obvious it took away the magic. It seemed like the touch was gone. I wouldn't recommend.

If you're anywhere near Scranton and even remotely curious about transportation history, this…read moreMuseum is worth popping into. But let me say up front, if you have a dog, plan accordingly. The museum shares a parking lot with Steamtown and is a non-profit dedicated to preserving and restoring historic trolley cars. The museum building itself is not a dog friendly. We had our dog with us so we took turns going inside and honestly that was fine. It just meant that we couldn't spend as long as we wanted. There are clean bathrooms inside as well as exhibits about electric rail, old photographs, artifacts and even restored trolley cars inside. And the best part for me, BY FAR, is that even though the museum is not dog friendly, the trolley ride is. I highly highly recommend the trolley ride for any and everyone. The gentleman running the trolley were so friendly and welcoming with lots of stories to share. After you board, you travel along a historic line through the Lackawanna valley passing woods, bridges, and streets where one of the gentleman has to get out and hold a sign so that the trolley can get across traffic. It also goes through a tunnel which is really fun. Sitting in the wooden seats and feeling the clack of the car while you watch the beautiful scenery go by almost takes you back in time. We even saw a bear in the woods during our trolley ride. It was a really fun experience. Compared to the ride, the museum itself felt informative and well intentioned but not nearly as exciting. And as much as I appreciate the history and preservation efforts, if I'm being honest, I would skip the indoor exhibits and head straight for the trolley ride! It's the best 12 bucks you will spend in Scranton.

While not the only trolley museum in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington, PA)…read morethis one is unique to the area. This museum shares a parking lot with the Steamtown National Historic Site and fits in quite nicely. When I showed up in this area I opted to do the trolley museum first and I am glad I did. Rates to enter the museum are reasonable. $7 for an adult, $6 for senior, and $5 for a child (ages 3 - 17). They also do offer a ten mile roundtrip trolley ride. You can do this in conjunction to viewing the museum or do it separately. I highly encourage you to do this in conjunction to the museum. The prices listed above, just add $5. Trolley ride itself...$10 for an adult, $9 for senior, $8 for a child. Believe me, it is worth it. I was lucky enough to have arrived about a half hour before the next trolley ride departed. The museum itself, is not huge, and I will get into that later in this review, so you can do both in a very short amount of time. If you purchase a trolley ride you will receive a wristband to verify that you paid the entrance fee. Around ten minutes before the trolley leaves station they tell you where to go to board. There is a train platform about midway up the parking lot, it is a bit of a hike. You do not have to wait to go to the platform, you can head that way at any time. You are then allowed to board the trolley, find your seat and lock in. You are on an original trolley car and are about to head five miles to the baseball stadium and then turn around and come back. This ride is relaxing and informative. Along the way you will make a few stops, one of the first is at the barricaded entrance to a long closed coal mine, then you will stop near the manmade waterfall, then sit back and enjoy your ride through the tunnel. At the end of this, you are at the ballpark where they have a maintenance garage with other trolley cars either being stored or worked on. This is one of the few ballparks in the country that utilizes a trolley to transport people to and from the park. In the building they have a map of the track you just took to get here and it is broken up into the phases it took to have this line up and running. Then you reboard the trolley and head back to the platform outside of the museums. As for the museum portion, definitely worth your time to go through each section. There is the big informative section with artifacts. Each display has a breakdown of the items and information on the use of those items. There are some interactive aspects here as well. One particular thing is the refurbished dissected trolley car. This show you how one was built and how it worked. They do have a garage here as well and there are several trolley cars in storage and in different stages of repair. There is a kids room and even if you are an adult, check it out, if only for the train track suspended from the ceiling. Do check out the store on your way out. Staff were super pleasant. Great museum. Oh! I almost forgot, the electric trolley was the whole reason Scranton is called the Electric City.

Really 4 stars, but our tour guide was awesome, so I'm going 5 stars! This isn't something I'd…read morerecommend going way out of your way to visit, but if in Scranton, and the mine is open, do go in for the free and informative tour. Quite amazing to see a "working" mine with fossil features, rail cars, and black diamonds (anthracite coal) everywhere. I'm glad this attraction is now fully open and available for the public to see. This is one of many places to visit while in Nay Aug Park. Free parking and lots of walking trails. Go and enjoy!

My experience was more like a 3-3.5, but I'm rounding up -- both because weather is not in the…read moreorchard's control, and because as an adult I don't think I'm necessarily the target demographic. Unfortunately, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot it began to POUR rain. We waited it out in the car for a while, like 20 minutes, but it didn't seem to be stopping, so we attempted to leave, but because so many other people were leaving traffic came to a standstill and it took us 10 minutes just to get to the end of the parking row -- which was kind of a blessing because the sun came out more and we decided to stay and chance it. There seems to be only one entrance and like 1-2 exits which kind of seems like a safety concern. Admission is a bit pricey - about $23 per person on the weekends if you don't buy online. I guess it's a good price if you enjoy mostly everything, but for that you'll need time. We grabbed a snack. There are a lot of food places - BBQ, grilled cheese, pizza etc. I actually thought the prices were pretty decent and the food was high quality for the price. We split a gourmet grilled cheese which was melty and tasty, and got a honey lavender cider which was absolutely delightful. We did the wagon ride out to the tulip fields. You can pay to pick your own but we just admired them. There are a lot of colors and different varieties, and cute photo ops all around. There was a scenic train ride that went through the fields. There were also a bunch of carnival rides, which we didn't go on. I read that there was axe throwing but we missed that. There was live music in the food area as well. They have some other fun things like giant bubble blowing stations, lots of snack stops, a retail space with gourmet goodies. Our second big thing was going to the petting barn, psyched about the "baby animal" experience. This consists of baby chicks and ducks. If you want to get up close and hold them you have to wait in a long line - we were waiting like half an hour to hold a duck for like 30 seconds. It was very cute and wholesome but honestly I wouldn't do that again. The chicks were unfortunately too young so we could only pet them, not hold them. It was a little underwhelming and I've seen other farms do baby animal days with much more variety. There were some other animals (that you could get up close to more immediately) like pigs, alpacas, goats, and highland cows -- some of which had cute babies. I don't think anything besides the flowers was open for u-pick, but I believe you have to pay extra for that anyway? This place is huge and very popular but I did get the sense that for the amount of people it draws, there are limited things to do. Granted, it was a holiday and a weekend, so I'm sure that contributed to the crowds. But also a TON of people left during the rain storm and we still were waiting in some pretty long lines so I can't even imagine how it would be if it was sunny. Overall this place is cute and I think everything is top quality, but ultimately I think it caters more towards families who have time and money to kill. It's probably a good deal if you live close and get a seasonal pass and come multiple times a year for all the different festivals- I do like that they have different things going on at all times. I wouldn't turn anyone away if that was their thing and I'd recommend it to a certain type of person -- but this is probably a once and done or once in a blue moon type place for me.

Great experience for our six year granddaughter. There is a lot to do for children and adults,…read morealike. Very safe environment for kids to run. The barnyard animal barn was the cleanest I have ever visited. The corn pit was probably her favorite attraction. Followed by the berry and wild flower picking. Fantastic afternoon of fun for entire family. Check their website for up to date picking availability. Plenty of food and beverage options. Highly recommended.

I really enjoy this space, always interesting art on the walls and some interesting group…read moreactivities, like the figure drawing sessions

This art gallery is in the center of town. I was invited to attend an art presentation by a friend…read more VIRGINIA, a local art instructor, displayed her students' art for the public's perusal. Most of the items that were on display, were also up for sale, priced from $50. This event attracted many people. The place was packed. A food presentation was available free of charge to all the attendees. This was a very pleasant affair, well orchestrated. I would assume this gallery leases space to would -be art enthusiasts from time to time throughout the year.

Reaper's has gotten criminally expensive over the years, but I'll still continue to do it year…read moreafter year because it really is that great. Tickets are based on day of the week and time of year, the closer you get to halloween the more expensive it gets. It's also cheaper to go on a weeknight than it is a weekend. My group always goes at the end of September on a weekend and it's about 75 bucks per person. The lines do get crazy and move SO slow. I'm talking a couple feet every half hour. There has been years we've waited over three hours to get in. The later at night you go, the easier it is to get on. The entire experience itself takes about an hour and a half. You start with a hayride through the forest with tons of scary scenes and actor performances. Then you get off the hayride and walk through the attractions for about 45 minutes. At the end there are two additional attractions, pitch black and sector 13. Pitch black is no joke, it is total darkness and incredibly claustrophobic. There's also no guratnee you'll be walking through with your group, like any of the other walking attractions you might get seperated. While its expensive, the production is incredible and every year they set up something new.

The wait time is atrocious.... The line is long and boring, moving at a snails pace at about 10 ft…read moreevery 20 minutes..this needs to improve and my group really regretted coming. It killed all of our vibes. Waited about 3 hours..

Beautiful little orchard about 30 minutes away from downtown Scranton. It's not in your face known…read morethat you can pick your own apples but if you ask one of friendly workers, they guide you through the process. It's $10 to pick a small bag or $25 for a large bag (my group got about 70 small apples in the large bag). After picking, they have a large selection of ciders, pies, danishes, honey, and more delicious treats to take home. It was pretty busy on a Friday and worth the trip for the cider itself!! I heard Lakeland orchard charges you $20 just for admission fee per person so this is a little cheaper and quieter experience!

OMG The smell of fresh donuts when you walk in this place is amazing! They have so many products…read morehere, I wanted one of everything! But I settled on Apple cider donuts, a gallon of Apple cider, and a strawberry roll. oh and Apple butter! They have so much more and even carry hard cider. I was told they are in the process of making a brewery, winery, slightly in the building and the back of the parking lot which makes me super excited!!!