We visited here last weekend and noticed there was construction to navigate around. Luckily it was…read moreSaturday and Peking garage was free. Inside we were able use our reciprocal membership for 50% discount. The museum is decent size and stayed for about 1 hour. Water table was really nice and had a stem room for activities too. But our son did not spend too much time in either. He did more of the play exhibits like the rope bridge and store front. There isn't too much for infants like there was at the greater Wausau children's museum. Great location to walk to downtown but probably can't entertain your kids too long.

This is such a fun experience for kids and adults! We got a year membership and have been 5 times…read morein the last month! Highly recommend!!

Visited on a Monday with a 5 and 3 year old and an 11 month old. They had a total blast! There were…read moreso many different things for them to do and it's wasn't crazy busy! The workers were attentive and the place looked cleaned and well laid out! Will definitely be back!

We love touring the Children's Museums in Wisconsin. Today,…read moreWe decided to drive the hour and 15 minutes to go to the one in Stevens point, since we had never been there before. There were definite pros and cons. First the Pros: -It was only $5 a person to get in. -Parking around the area is free. -Everything is on one level, and that makes it easy to keep track of your kids. -The exhibits are different than the other museums. -The art area has so much to do, creatively is endless with all the different supplies available. (Paper, paint, tissue paper, cardboard cones, cardboard tubes, paper clips, yarn, plastic pieces, buttons, puzzle pieces... etc) Now the cons: -The super fun music instruments area will give you a migraine from kids constantly beating the drums. -The bathrooms were very dirty, as was the bubbler drinking fountain... the water also tasted super metallic. -The cleanliness of the whole place was actually lacking in every area. The floors appeared to have not been mopped in...forever. -The dental center that we were excited to play with was the most disappointing. Most things were broken, and there weren't any tools or anything to incorporate during play. -The vet area is a great concept but also lacked so much. -Staff was not overly friendly, as with other places...they weren't mean or anything, but they just all seemed very bored. My boys favorite parts were the "healthy heroes" And the Newscaster studio (which even the newscaster area could have been revamped to make it even better. My favorite part was the art station. We actually spent an hour and a half in there creating our crafts and masterpieces. So all in all, we enjoyed our time here. We wish things were fixed up, cleaned, and had accessories added to the exhibits, but for a small town children's museum, it was a good way to spend a day. Not one of our favorites tho, by any means.

This is a fantastic kids museum. I've taken my kids to many different ones in many areas and this…read moreis one of the best. It's not a huge place but it offers enough activities and play areas to occupy kids for at least 2-3 hours. The staff is friendly and helpful and there is an art area that is open all the time to both independent and guided art projects. The one small criticism I would make, and it is a small one, is that there are not many activities for children under the age of 2. If you find yourself in the vicinity of Minocqua, it is worth stopping by

A gem! A wide variety of activities and areas. Certainly making the most of a space that is not…read morehuge. Wonderful staff. Things were really clean and in great working order. Also, the toy store in the front has some great finds!

This place always is our go-to stop when going east of twin cities. It has a little for everyone…read morefrom toddler space to indoor playground upstairs. The water table is favorite of both our kids. I had to get a stuffed penguin in construction outfit when I saw the promotion.

This is the first children's museum I've been to that I've actually liked! We went on a Friday…read moreafternoon for something to do to avoid air quality warnings and I'm so glad we went. There were so many different activities and sections that I've never seen in play places before, like the car repair shop. Since it's so large, it also didn't feel like it was too crowded and overstimulation wasn't a problem. The water area was the favorite with testing out the water that launched the balls through tunes and mazes and even getting some to spin on water. The brain cave was also pretty cool with its colors. We also appreciated a separate toddler area that had the tree you could put leaves in and they shoot out the top. This kept us occupied for a long while. It's a little expensive for a family if you're not a member, but it was well worth it for us to break up a road trip and get some energy out. I highly recommend if you're in the area!

We visited last weekend for our last vacation before school starts. It was supposed to open at 9am…read morefrom website and museum sign outside. But we waited for 20 minutes until we gave up and went to JoJo's jungle playground. Facebook later posted later opening at noon. We wrote to inform on Facebook as well as instagram message. When we arrived later that day, we were given free admission which was nice. This mall location seems pretty large and seemed to have fitting rooms repurposed for jacket and shoe storage since no shoes allowed inside. Also, some of the furniture showed markdown from store closure. Anyways, there are plenty of toys to keep your kids amused. Also there is separate area for infants under 3. Our son loved the large sized magnatiles to make into his own tent to hide. Also the ice cream truck was his favorite too.

Nice place for cheap admission. They don't seem to add new things or replace items that are broke…read more Running a business where children play requires constant upkeep with equipment or play structures. Lower basketball hoops for the little ones would help. When I think of museum I think of exhibits that change and rotate. What happened to the tinker building area like years ago in older google photos? Rather turned off by play equipement duck taped. Hours are hard to follow and different depending where you look.

Our Pontiac Car Club visited this museum Saturday, June 28. I've been a car nut for 63 years but…read morelearned so much on this tour! The owner of the museum gave 15 of us a two-hour tour, looking at and explaining at least 200 of the 500+ cars on site. He is a walking book of knowledge about automotive history. The owner's love is for Alpha Romero's, but there are dozens of other brands on display, including some American cars, Corvette, Pontiac, Packard, Rambler, Corvair, and Cadillac. If you like cars, this is a must-see for you and your car friends!

The owner of this place is not fit to be around anyone who is looking for a family friendly museum…read moreto tour. We accidentally got on a road on the grounds where we were not supposed to drive, there were NO SIGNS INDICATING THAT IT WAS A WALK ONLY ROAD. There was a small cone in the driveway which neither my husband or I saw since it was the tiniest cone available. He came screaming up to my husband's window swearing at us and telling us to "get the hell out of there". We had children in the car and his anger was over the top for someone running a business where tourists are supposed to be welcome. He practically attacked us, he was so unhinged! I would recommend that this business be shut down and that no one visit there since the owner is so unhinged that he is dangerous to those around him.

I've been coming back to Minocqua at least once every summer for the past 13 years. Finally made it…read morea point to come check out this museum, and I'm glad I did. The information was interesting, and everyone working there was friendly. If you have an hour or so, be sure to stop by and check it out! Also, if you have a kid who likes trains, there's a large scale model train set as well.

Very nice older gentleman showed us around the museum and showed us all of the different stuff they…read morehave from Minocqua's history. It looks small from the outside but looks can be deceiving, they have tons of stuff from an old classroom to a old car and huge train display of Minocqua. Definitely worth the trip, super nice folks.

Giant fiberglass fish of course we had to visit. About $10/ person so not cheap but an interesting…read moreplace even if you are not a fisherman. Besides the giant fish I enjoyed looking at all of the old motorboat motors and learning their history. Plenty of other gear and lures and stuffed fish. Didn't spend much time looking at the "hall of fame" section. Did the climb up the stairs to see the view from the mouth of the giant musky. A great roadside America stop - it's a keeper!

For a non fisherman, this place is an awesome kitschy museum. The staff was super friendly! The…read moreexhibits clean and labeled! We also brought in our lunch and ate at a picnic table.

Some parts are under construction as they are adding on, very nice area to walk. Free admission as…read morewell.

A really beautiful stop both inside and out! The Birds in Art annual exhibit is obviously the fan…read morefavorite, but it's definitely worth a visit even when that isn't going on.

I took my grandchildren to this museum and we loved it! 4 Floors. Lots of history. Activities for…read morethem. And affordable! The two ladies at the front desk were so friendly.

The Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology has actually been in place for several years…read morenow. It started out as the Cray Research Museum and was located in one of the Cray Research Buildings but after the company began to shrink, the museum closed up and the displays went into storage. Later on the CFMI&T moved into a building in downtown Chippewa Falls with the Cray collection. I recently made a day trip to Chippewa County from our place in Upnorth. The visit was partially inspired by John McGivern's "Around the Corner" program from Milwaukee Public Television. He did an episode in Chippewa Falls a couple of years ago that was recently rebroadcast. (You can see it online, if you look for it.) The CFMI&T was featured, which I've wanted to see since it moved out of Cray Research. To be upfront, many years ago, I did some work for Cray Research in CF and the museum is located inside the building I used to work in. Former Crayons know the building was built by the Mason Shoe Company to house their MIS department (look THAT up in your Funk & Wagnall's) with a huge, raised-floor, environmentally controlled room. When the day came that computers didn't have to live better than humans, Mason sold it to Cray Research and it became a training building. Now the shared building houses the Boys & Girls Club, using the old computer room (the raised floor is gone) and the old training rooms house the museum. As you might expect, Cray Research is the keystone of the museum. Seymour Cray was a genius's genius and the founder of the company. Born and raised in Chippewa Falls, he had a storied career. During World War II, Mr. Cray was part of the team that broke the Japanese code. After the war, he was one of the founders of Control Data Corporation and he built the world's first supercomputer, in Lake Hailie, for CDC. He left CDC to open Cray Research and in 1976, sold the first Cray-1 supercomputer, serial number 1, to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. That Cray-1 is in the museum. Sometimes it is called the "Hotel Lobby Cray" (among other nicknames) because it resembles a circular sofa. The design was the secret to its speed because the C shape shortened the distance signals had to travel. You'll find lots more examples of Cray technology here along with memorabilia and interpretive signage. Enough techno-geek talk. Chippewa Falls is also home to lots of other industry. Chippewa Falls is home of Mason Shoes that built a business by selling shoes out of catalogs. (Even Radar O'Riley sold shoes out of a catalog in an episode of M*A*S*H.) The museum houses not only a shoe making display from Mason, but also examples of fire apparatus by Darley (want to see how a fire pump works?) and a display (pun intended) of retail displays from Kell Container (now Great Northern Corporation) still rolling out miles of corrugated cardboard every year. You can play with some educational "toys" from Hubbard Scientific (you probably used some in school science class) and there is a massive display of breweriana from CF's most famous industry, Leinenkugel's Brewing Company. It's a very interesting museum that is open limited hours. (Check first to be sure.) Chippewa Falls has a lot to offer, so afterward, you can relax and have a glass of wine at a local winery or maybe before the museum you can take a tour of Leinenkugel's. Before or after, be sure to take in the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry & Technology.