This one is located inside a mall. They open only at 12 noon which is an issue . Hope they opened earlier - say 10 am .. luckily we were in early and there was no crowd. If crowded I'm sure the wait times are more for basketballs, and other kids games . Not many employees to help with 4D shows , helicopter rides etc. we had to go and call them from the front desk .. Overall the place was fun for kids . Luckily it's not insanely expensive . For 20$ it is worth it and with rope adventure it was about 30$. It took an hour for us to finish.. nicely located in a mall. Lots of food options .. parking is good . read more

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What a let down. We drove the hour drive from Utica solely based on a family member's nieces' experience where she said it was amazing. Half of the attractions were down / out of service. Minimal staff to help out. My kids had more fun exploring the mall than visiting this place. We did the rope thing they have and at one point both my kids (9, 7) were on the same obstacle. The young lady working it yelled at my kids "only one at time" in such a rude manner it made my daughter cry and want to leave ASAP. No one told us that was a rule, would have appreciated knowing that before they yelled at my kids. Generally disorganized, a lot of things not working. Not worth the money and time spent. Would not recommend. My brother who lives in upstate and recommended it apologized for it being such a bad experience. On a plus they did have Astro Pops for sale which I loved as a kid and purchased for my children which they loved. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Broken exhibit. Wish I had thought to take pictures of the several other out of order exhibits. - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

You ever walk through a museum and say "wow, that was really small"? Me neither, until I went to this place. The first time I went here was around 10 years ago, and it was definitely fun the first time. But, as time moves on and technology innovates, this place stays exactly the same, and honestly it feels like traveling back in time. One of the exhibits is just google earth on a big screen, which really is not impressive by today's standards. The roller coaster simulator is fun, but also seems dated. And quite often, you'll find certain exhibits don't even work in the first place. The entire museum takes about 30 minutes to go through, and for $51 for 2 people, it's really not worth it. Not what it used to be. Or it is, just poorly-maintained and lost to time. read more

At wonder-works Destiny shopping mall I did only one of the many things they have there. For 20.00 I went on the roads and climbing exhibit. I was harnessed and once comfortable I was able to go on the various ladders and such. I was told that there alway was a staff member there, just in case. 30 to 40 minutes for me was plenty of time and it was easy to find the red arrow exit signs to get back . It was a nice thing to do besides shopping. read more

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Fun for my little one. They need more employees. 33 minutes to get on the canyon climb and we were second in line. Crazy. 1st girl at counter was about as rude and no people skills as could be. 2nd employees was overwhelmed. read more

So many things were out of order. Can't believe we spend over $100 for a family of four on this. What a rip off!!! Edit: The girl at the ropes course was NASTY!!! So rude. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - More out of orde - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Not bad, went midweek and they were understaffed / experience Internet issues. We still had a good time and the person I assume to be the manager was working their hardest to make everyone happy, though some of the other employees were visibly stressed. read more

I took my 8year old daughter & we had a great time. The whole thing took about 2&1/2hours to go through, stopping to enjoy everything we could/wanted to. There were a few things out of order, but it was mostly working and fun. We got VIP tickets (at a discount off of Groupon, which you have to buy over 24hours before you go), so we were able to go on the Canopy Climb. This is a ropes course that hangs over multiple levels of the atrium in Destiny USA. You're securely fastened with a full body harness to the steel structure, but it's still quite a queasy task! The best part for us was that once you step out onto the first platform, you have the option to take one more aerial walk to flat ground again. But at least you can say that you tried it! I definitely recommend this place for kids from ages of about 6-12. read more

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Described as "an amusement park for the mind", Wonderworks is an attraction with 100+ hands-on science exhibits plus laser tag, a ropes course & a 6D motion ride. Wonderworks offers interactive, educational fun for all ages. Visitors are offered a variety of experiences, including being blown away by 84 MPH hurricane-force winds, maneuvering the controls of a NASA spacecraft to land the shuttle, lying on a bed of 3,500 nails, and piloting a fighter jet. While it seems as if its just for kids, there's plenty for adults who still consider themselves kids at heart to enjoy, so a Yelp Elite event definitely peaked my interest, and I decided to attend. The event took place on a Wednesday night and other than our group, it seemed pretty empty, which I'm sure had to do with it being the middle of the week. While most of the Yelpers went for laser tag, myself and my small group decided to hit up the Wonderzones and check everything else out. Some of the exhibits were very fun, like the bubble lab, giant Connect-4 game, and old school carnival basketball game. This part of Wonderworks very much reminded me of the MOST Museum, with little interactive science related exhibits, which I loved as a kid, so I thoroughly enjoyed. There were a few exhibits where employees had to attend with you, and all employees were very friendly and seemed to enjoy their jobs. Fun looking exhibits such as the Xtreme 360 Bikes and Gyroscope unfortunately couldn't accomodate a man of my size (over 250 lbs), so I can't comment on them. I really wanted to check out the 4D Motion Theatre, but there just wasn't enough time before food arrived. All in all, it was a fun little event, but as an adult, I don't see it as something I would go to repeatedly. While its fun the first time, I don't see it as something I would enjoy more than once, but I could see it being a fun place to visit multiple times to a family with children. read more

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I literally downloaded Yelp just to leave a poor review. More than half of the displays did not work or were not open and there was unattended children running around everywhere (and running into people) read more

Attended an event at WonderWorks for the very first time. Had soooo much fun! Although I was told that it was for 'little kids', I guess this 50+ year old was channeling her "10 Year Old Self" because I had a great time! The event only lasted 2 hours and that did not give me enough time at all to experience all the cool things this place had to offer. Began with Laser Tag...which I enjoyed far more than I believed I would. I had never done laser tag before in my life. I loved it! It certainly brought out the competitive side of me. The 4D Theatre was awesome. Really, everything I did was fun. This place is not only fun, it is educational. As a long-time educator, I could really see the value in a field trip to WonderWorks. There were so many great learning opportunities that fit in with Science, Inquiry Based Learning, Higher Order Thinking Skills, and Questioning. Since I did not have enough time to experience it all, I will definitely have to come back. This would be a great place for a family to be entertained for many hours. Lots of fun as well as a cool learning experience. read more

Fun place for adults and kids. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

The mall had an active threat and the wonderworks employees IMMEDIATELY sprung into action. i was with my husband and 5 year old and thankfully we were all safe. i just want to thank Jon and his team, more specifically an employee named Linzy. She gave my daughter a hug and told her the Wonderworks story to keep her distracted and told her she's "the bravest little dude she's ever seen" which made my baby smile. Thank you for keeping us safe and bella smiling.!!! read more

This place was one of the bigger surprises for me in the new area of Destiny. I was chaperoning a large group of high schoolers. So while I figured they would have fun, I didn't anticipate how much this place would appeal to all ages. When we first arrived the private room was all set to go and they were ready with the wrist bands, explaining what would be available to the group. I was impressed with how effectively they communicated all the information and safety precautions to such a large group. Once everyone was set loose, I noticed that while they didn't have every exhibit staffed at all times, there was never a lack of something fun to do. It was actually a bit overwhelming. There is more in there than you would think. For sure more than can be tackled in one day. Laser tag ran smoothly without any malfunctions, like some places that I have been to. And the ropes course seemed very safe. The staff could have been a bit nicer to one or two students with fears of heights but it wasn't bad enough to dock a star. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to explore the entire thing before they close. You might want to start with that. Overall, whether you want to learn the science behind all of the exhibits, or just enjoy spinning around, this place has a lot to offer. I would for sure recommend the unlimited VIP bands so you can experience it all. Get a group together and check it out. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - "xtreme 360 bikes" - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Sunday of Winter Break, they only had one poor girl working the front desk. She did great, but had no help at all.

Was so excited to visit this location, but it was such a disappointment. Half of the interactive displays were broken or shut down. Anything that involved a screen was insanely glitchy. Not worth the money or your time. read more

Every summer my family and I return to the Cuse to see friends and family....every summer my family of 5 ponies up the $25 per person for the total package...and every summer 50% of the exhibits don't work... My new name for this place is "It's a Wonder It Works" The chair I picked in the 3D movie didn't work. The pistol range in the Army simulator hasn't worked for 5 years. The flight simulators in the NASA exhibit don't work. The nail bed didn't work. The virtual air hockey table didn't work. The roller coaster ride across from the nail bed was broke down...the 5th year in a row we missed this one again. I'm thinking this is our last time at this place ever. Vending Machine is broken. read more

If I could leave no stars, I would. Not only do you employ someone with special needs who is in charge of operating a dangerous machine for kids, but half of the rides were either not available or no employees. What a waste of money. read more

We had our daughters birthday here and it was a mess!!! We payed for the unlimited laser tag, took them over 20 minutes to send over an attendant to start the games. 2 workers where outright rude to small children. The hostess didn't realize when setting up our party room our pizza was missing. All the drinks where warm. NEVER AGAIN!! read more

I'm seeing a lot of bad reviews, but I think this location went through some changes during the COVID phase. I've come here once a few years back and loved it so I though I'd come back with my niece and nephew. They loved every second of it. There were a lot of machines out of order, which need to be fixed ASAP due to how much they're charging for the attractions, but everything else was working great. We particularly enjoyed the mini movie area where you watch a video in 3D and your chair moves with the video. I loved it just as much as I did years prior. But they need to lower their prices or at least offer discounts if more than 3 machines are out of order. Or inform the customers before making a purchase that not all the machines work. It's just common courtesy. I paid $58 for the three of us and we were there for about an hour and 15 min. We had some fun, but go on a day that's not as busy. Because some of the machines you will have to wait to use. 8/10 read more

So my first time coming here was for an event and after having so much fun, I decided to come back and try it out again! It is incredibly fun to go through all of the different activities, so much so that you will lose track of time in a heart beat. I would say my favorite activity would be the laser tag. I highly advise you to bring a party of 5-10 as it gets really crazy and exciting! You will find yourself running around blasting your lasers, ducking behind corridors, and stalking your targets like your a commando! Some of the other cool features that I absolutely loved, was the 4D theatre and the bubble lab. I know it sounds silly, but the bubble lab is so freaking fun! You have your selection of tons of different wand sizes and their bubble liquid is perfectly formulated to make the best bubbles! It gets a wee bit slick though, so make sure you be careful not to fall on your behind. The 4d theatre is so cool! I am kind of a wimp when it comes to cheaper motion devices. So you wont ever see me last longer than a minute in those mini roller coaster simulators. I was quite worried it would be the same here. Great news! It wasn't an issue at all. It was super fun, I didn't feel sick at all, and I would do it a dozen more times if I could. They have all kinds of other cools things there. They have rope walk courses, basketball shooters, and natural disaster simulators! The only reason this isn't a 5 star is that while I had an amazing time, I don't see there being a ton of new things being added or rotated. This could cause things to get a bit stale. Fix that and you have a perfect 5 for sure! read more

This review is strictly based on laser tag. Not the rest of wonder works. 1 star. Small area, poor equipment. At least from what I dealt with. read more

For my Rochester peeps: Wonderworks is like a combo of Strong Museum and maybe Horizon Fun FX. It's sort of hidden at the back of the mall and there are no signs that I saw indicating where to park to get closest to it. Once finding it, no separate line for people who bought tickets. There is no reason not to have a separate line or even just a kiosk set up where you can scan your ticket or enter a code. Movie theaters have them. Yes, I was peeved at having printed up my own tickets ahead of time to only end up stuck in a 30 minute line with people who had to buy tickets. After we got in, the exhibits were pretty entertaining. Note: many of the rides do have weight limits or height requirements. We made the mistake of waiting until the afternoon to do the ropes course. After that, my kids decided the LaserTag line was too long. Again, why not have a system for Laser Tag where you register for a time and just show up? Next time, if we return, we'll do Laser Tag first. All in all, there's enough here to make it worth the ride. read more

Good for the young and young at heart! I went with my family (youngest among us was 21, oldest in her 50s) and everyone had a blast. Go for the VIP tickets to access the ropes course and laser tag. We were the only folks there on a Wednesday evening, and it was great! The ropes course is much scarier than it looks from the ground! At one point you can see three levels clearly below you. You get used to it fast, though, and the staff are all carefully trained in safety and rescue. Apparently, they regularly practice lowering folks to the various mall levels from the ropes in case of an emergency. The laser tag was probably the most fun that we had that evening. With a group of 6 friends and family and the course all to ourselves, we were all giggling like little kids. The whole rest of the exhibits are HUGE! There are rooms and rooms of things to explore. I really liked how the majority of activities were educational. You could explore the nature of water, light, and sound, learn about outer space, fly a jet plane on a simulator, make gigantic bubbles, go through a hall of optical illusions... there was so much to do. Definitely good to go to on a weeknight! read more

Excellent exhibits for all ages. Tons of rides and simulators. Definitely worth the admission. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Space simulator. - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

This is such an amazing addition to such a cold city! I drive from Rochester just to bring my kids (9 and 11). They have such an amazing time on the Canyon Climb! They are old enough/ tall enough to go on their own. They are so confident on these ropes it is awesome to watch. The only downfall- It is like pulling teeth to get my daughter to come down from there! At least an hour and a half on the ropes and she still won't get off... she loves it! So much to do and so little time! We cannot wait to get back and experience more exhibits.... and probably the Canyon Climb again! read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Canyon Climb Ropes Course - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Great fun. Plenty of things to do for both kids and patents. Pretty good arcade with some great classics. Just a suggestion; avoid the canyon when it is busy. read more

The place itself it awesome but the staff sucks. The last time we were here one of the employees kept walking around trying to scare my kid. He hated it and so did I. I hate that they feel the need to follow you around all the time, we are the only ones here and someone is always next to us sitting down and staring. He has a disability so he doesn't like people staring at him and It makes us both uncomfortable. 50% of the rides and exhibits aren't working. This place just isn't what it used to be. read more

we had a young lady who was very sweet and went out of her way with my children. unfortunately i do not know her name but she had red hair and a nose piercing. she helped us through every attraction and her attitude was amazing!! we will definitely go back read more

Went there with my kids, had an absolute blast. Get it blast. It's a large facility, place is clean, inviting, safe, it's also the only one in New York that I know of. The exhibits are great but the laser tag is where we really enjoyed ourselves. recommend you give it a try. read more

Great place for a group or family outing. Visited with our homeschool group on Monday morning. We had the place mostly to ourselves and all the kids had a blast. And (moms of young kids, you'll understand why this is important), the bathrooms were SPOTLESS. Seriously impressive. We spent five hours there and could have easily stayed for a few more (but the moms were tired). read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

This place is great! We all loved it! Fun for all, We were 2 adults and 2 children, ages 9 & 14. They had an awesome time, doing Everything! The place is huge. Plan on spending the day. read more

WonderWorks Destiny - Amusement Parks Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Ropes course gets 5 stars. Wonder works itself is a fairly boring experience. Bathrooms were not very clean. But the real kicker is the fact that the astronaut suit has fabric on the inside of the helmet where kids stick their faces to get a nice photo of them in a real suit... all I can think about is the lice hazard. There should never be fabric in something that touches thousands of children's heads. Incredibly unhygenic. Human health hazard. read more

Lots of fun for kids and adults. The bike was my favorite. It's not your usual amusement park ride, you should try to have fun which makes it even more fun. You can even compete with other people which makes it even better. read more

Definitely overrated. Nothing but a glorified and overpriced Chuck E. Cheese for older kids. To be fair, my expectations were probably too high going in - I was thinking it would be of similar caliber to many of the Ripley's Museums we've visited across the country. Instead, it was noisy, poorly organized, chaotic and drab. Our first experience was so blah that we didn't even bother to go back and use the free birthday pass we later received for my son via Wonderworks' Professor's Club marketing promotion. Many of the "attractions" were either out of order or unstaffed during our visit. The activities that were actually semi-working still looked the worse for wear. Since the most interesting activities (gyro ride, wind tunnel, bed of nails, theater) require staff operation and supervision, this was especially problematic. Stood waiting for up to 15-20 minutes at times, while the few attendants on staff wandered around aimlessly to other areas. The layout and lack of staffing discourages a natural flow from one activity to another, leading to large groups crowding into relatively tight, chaotic spaces to wait their turns at the underwhelming exhibits. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of little hands touching every surface in the place, we saw no one cleaning or sanitizing anything the entire time we were there. The bubble area is a slip and fall waiting to happen, as the bubble solution constantly covers the concrete floor in a thin coat of slime. 3 kids fell and banged their heads/arms in just the few minutes we spent in that area. The one area that didn't utterly disappoint was the lazer tag arena. I use the term arena loosely, because it was actually very small. But my younger kids (3, 7 and 8) were impressed enough by it. Again, a case of the space for the activity being too tight to offer much challenge for kids much older than that. My recommendation - skip pricey Wonderworks and visit the reasonably priced MOST museum a few miles up the road instead. Same emphasis on hands-on, science based activities for all ages, but the staff is much more attentive and the activities/facilities are in considerably better condition. read more

My boyfriend and I went with a groupon we bought. It was very fun. We did the laser tag, wonderworks and Canyon climb. The Canyon climb doesnt seem scary but its a different story when you get up there. We paid $20 in total for all three. Definately worth it even for 2 adults. read more

My boyfriend and I (ages 23 and 25) went on a school day and nobody else was there. We had a BLAST. Loved all the different games, the 4D theater, and (our favorite) the bubble lab. Everything kept us busy for a couple of hours. I highly recommend visiting during a time when it won't be busy, I feel like you'll get the most out of it that way! read more

Wonderworks is pretty awesome. I've been here twice and after the first time it's a little bland, but if you've never been here before it's amazing! The whole idea of it being upside down is clever and the inversion tunnel you enter sells that theme nicely! The ropes course was a lot of fun, and if you've been here a few times the ropes course might be the only reason you come back (after the exhibits seem to get old). This place is similar to the MOST in downtown Syracuse, but honestly I'm not sure which is better. The MOST is tradition and has been there a while, it's great. But WonderWorks seems to have more to do and has straight up rides to get in and enjoy. Maybe just go to both places!!! read more

Huge mall. lots of great stores!

I had such a hilariously fun time at WonderWorks this past weekend. We went on the ropes course with our 11-year-old friends, but I felt like a kid myself as I walked with trepidation out over the mall shoppers. The "ropes course" has a series of obstacles connected to different "islands" and several levels where you can walk between. While scary at first, you quickly learn to trust the rope holding you to the "track" above everyone's heads. It is really a very fun thing to do for people of all ages. I would have never gone on my own, but ended up having a great time! read more