Telus Spark

It’s a really nice building, but as someone who goes quite regularly to the TELUS World of Science in Edmonton, I found this place less welcoming. Yes, the Edmonton location is dated and needs an update (which is coming soon), but I just felt nickled and dimed here. $ 5 for parking before you even get in? We were there for Body Worlds exhibit and I was shocked at the number of screaming children in there. Isn’t this supposed to be a respectful space to view these exhibits? I would think that staff would ask them to either quiet or remove the children, as this was a more serious, quiet, ADULT exhibit, not Harry Potter (don’t get me wrong, I loved the Harry Potter Exhibit, but there’s a time and a place for things!). I was disappointed at the size of the exhibit, as well, compared to the price you paid. $ 26? Yes it also gave you entrance into the rest of the space, but honestly if you were more than 10 years old, it wouldn’t take long to go through the rest of the building if you decided to (we didn’t. Way too many kids running wild, and we had better things to do). I guess I’m spoiled because I normally do the Adult Nights in Edmonton, which is great and chill with no need to watch your step because a toddler is having a fit.

Science! And alcohol! Hooray!
Adult Night at Telus Spark is really fun but oh so busy night. Eager beavers that we are, arrived at 5:55pm to discover that Calgary gets really excited about a night out with no kids. There was a huge line waiting for the doors to open. Credit to the staff they were on it checking ID’s and getting tickets scanned so people could go science.
Didn’t realise that you needed an extra ticket to see the Body Works exhibit and we weren’t the only ones. Staff helped direct us into the ticket line and make sure we were able to get back into the museum as our tickets had already been scanned. If you haven’t had a chance to see a Body Works exhibit you should go. Unbelievable amazed at how they show all the muscles and blood vessels and the like. Also glad we hit this up first as it seemed a popular choice.
As it was their Valentines addition: Little Shop of Pleasures was on hand showing off toys they sell, World Health had peoples heart rates up with Zumba, you could draw your junk and display it (correct anatomical drawing on hand to help), throw your your heart ache in the giant ball that was then set on fire later on, oh and you can drink through it all.
Best part of the night was seeing all the adults defy the height restriction and climb around in the play area of the kids zone.
Lets not jest, it is insanely busy for the first 2hrs of the event until people space themselves out, and if you want to see one of the talks I recommend you are quick prompt on it as soon as the doors open cause the auditorium fills up quick. But its a really fun night out and great to see adults at play and just having a good time.
Will definitely be back for future events and to try the giant slide outside!

I only gave this 3 stars for a couple reasons:
We came down here to see Body Worlds: Vital. We didn’t check out the rest of Telus Spark due to time constraints, so I can’t base this review on it.
As for Body Worlds… Believe it or not, but I was disappointed. I expected so much more. I had seen Body Worlds quite a few years ago when it was in Edmonton and the display was incredible. This one, was lacking. Yes, they had bodies in some interesting displays, but a lot of the display was just pieces in cases. I would have preferred more bodies, and the intricacies of how they work. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just picky… Definitely wasn’t worth the drive down, plus $ 25 admission (plus tax) AND the $ 5 parking… man… Good thing we had other plans for the weekend…

Extremely disappointing. High ratings for adult nights don’t count, this isn’t a bar.
I went in there wanting so badly to love the place and left completely disappointed. There is an almost total lack of science in there. It’s almost like a corporate circle jerk too. There’s very little for kids to have fun with. Very little explanations for why certain things are happening in the displays. The IMAX movie hurt my eyes the whole time. Big doesn’t mean good quality. The food court is terrible. There’s basically a sandbox where you can place sand and watch it run down a stream. What they’re lacking is any explanation for kids to understand why this is anything better than a lava lamp.
I’ve now been there twice. The second time was because I’m part of a group there for Maker Faire. Maker Faire was amazing. It’s what the science center should be. Robotics, drones, leds, demonstrations, entertainment, etc. Without Maker Faire or Adult night (alcohol), the place is a shell of a building with some crappy displays.
Honestly, unless you’re doing adult night or maker faire, don’t bother.

$ 5 parking, $ 70 entry.
Highly marketed, half finished, zero effort. Just like everything else Telus does.
I remember the old (tiny) science center, before Telus got their grubby paws on it. Always something new, always well done. Telus found another way to print money while giving no effort…
The most interesting thing was a stop motion dinosaur sexcapade a couple of random kids made. Funny stuff.
The old electronics for the kids to take apart (with no tools) was garbage that I would have left in the dumpster when I was young.
The theater part would have been an additional $ 40 for the four of us (nice extra cash grab there), perfect little slap in the face right there.
Between the Telus propaganda with their graffiti tagged sign and the overdone tarsands info there was about an hour worth of walking around.
The most interesting piece was the ball motion sculpture and it only ran for a little while.

I try not to compare between cities, but in this case it’s hard not to. Having been to the Telus World of Science in Vancouver just last year I was expecting something like that for the Spark. Perhaps I was expecting too much or even the wrong thing, but it was so not worth the admission fee they were charging! There was literally nothing for the adults to do. It was probably fun for the kids to construct various things but that was pretty much it. My friend and I basically paid $ 21 each to babysit our kids at the various stations.
And oh on top of that you have to pay a $ 5 parking fee.
Don’t think I’ll be returning anytime soon…

40 million dollars and 1 million a year to operate, total fail. Corruption, disease, cancerous city officials and construction companies. I wonder if allison redford needed a new 100 foot porche’ limo when nenshi ok’d this… A square warehouse with 2 floors and a bunch of useless instillations that would have made the old centre cry. I grew up going to the old science centre, and as the theatre was used for plays, I also saw many shows there. The spherical star-​gazing alone puts the new building to shame.
I put myself in the mindset of a child and still i was horribly dissapointed at everything the centre had. the best is an interesting ball machine that only comes on once a day for 5 minutes… an electronic sound-​light painting screen. Brando would just start crying «the horror — the horror»…

Was at Spark twice in one week this week *snaps my suspenders*. First for Unilocal’s engineered eats beakerhead and second for the giant walk through brain presentation with the free radicals.
I have been to spark before and even though I have been here I can’t get over the space they are lucky enough to occupy. I’ve done most of the permanent exhibits and they don’t seem to change often and they really seem mostly geared to children. That being said, I really love a number of the features that come through and I love love the dome shows. I had already seen the wild weather show but they gave it to us for free at the kick off party so I saw it again. I want to visit the moon where it rains diamonds…
I had heard about adult’s night before might be gimmicky but after chatting with some staff that seems to be something I’ll have to do sometime soon.

I got to check the Telus Spark centre out as part of a free event. I must say that I was a little disappointed in all that it contained. I’m not sure quite what I expected. There are lots of stations where you can explore and learn about science related things and the Dome Theatre is amazing. It is definitely a good place to spend a few hours in especially if you have kids. As an adult I don’t think I would find it a place to return to again and again. The staff were great and always ready to demonstrate something but it is a place for kids. Adults would derive some enjoyment but it’s one of those places that you sort of check off your list as seen it.
The theatre is amazing though. I would go back for the shows in the Dome Theatre more regularly, There are 4 projectors with so far only 2 used for each show, one projecting the top half of the dome and the other the bottom half. You can go and just see the show or you can pay a combo fee that includes admission to the Centre. A good idea they’ve started is the 1^st Thursday of the month is Adults Only evenings. It’s a fun place to spend a couple of hours in even as an adult but not something I would do regularly, I would probably check out the Centre once a year or every couple of years but would check out the shows more often.

Expensive but spent way longer there than I imagined I would. Entertaining.
Gone are the days of the Science Centre with the shadow wall and the giant keyboard. This place is high tech and clearly in an oil and gas –wealthy province. I missed the earth sciences but did feel fully entertained for the three hours I spent here seeing all of it. Enjoyed the stop motion animation and the On Fire free Demo. Check it out. Better to do with a friend or group as it’s interactive and most booths work better in a pair. Liked that they had free cell phone charger stations in the cafeteria but kinda wish they had been at the beginning so I could have made use of it instead of at the end of my visit when I just needed a little something to tie me over. Overall pretty fun for the nerdy dorky me but kinda expensive.

Kids had a blast, lots of hands on exhibits to play with.
I’m originally from Toronto, so I’ve been to the Science Centre there, and this doesn’t even come close to it… BUT… it’s still a great place for kids to explore and learn. They have a great area for the kids to play, learn, and most importantly tire themselves out.
The staff were great, and they had a few «labs» in the main foyer from time to time.
This is completely focused towards kids, so if you’re some post-​grad scientist… unless you’re working there, you won’t enjoy it too much. Probably. but my kids loved it, and we could probably spend days there tinkering.
One thing is, they advertised some huge outdoor exhibit with a massive slide. But they hadn’t even broken ground on building it yet (so that was a bummer).

I wish there was a way to give negative stars…
I can’t believe what happened. I remember the original science centre – it was great! Hands on, cool look, fun activities, rides, planetarium… it was great!
This new one was designed by someone totally clueless! $ 20 to get in (after paying for parking) to do what? Touch some iPads: ooohhh! Look at core samples (not touch, just look). There was a Great Wall dedicated towards sexual education. Awesome!
Way to waste millions and build the worst science centre in the country

There is no place better to take preschool children on a weekend. There is so much for them to do in the preschool area, it’s hard to get them to go home. They learn by doing and have so much in the process. There is also a great climbing gym. The parachute games and water area are really fun too. We have a pass and go almost every weekend. We recently went to an experiment in the theatre on fire and gas and we were totally enthralled. Everyone in the audience was from young to old. Then the kids rode a hovercraft across the floor in the main area. This was well worth the wait in line.
The five year old was so proud of himself that he could climb to the top of the outside climbing structure and go down the slide by himself. He did it several times.
In the winter science centre lets young children use up a lot of energy even when it is really cold outside. Don’t listen to the nay-​sayers but try it yourself.

I’m glad I finally got a chance to check out Telus Spark!
It was actually better than I thought it was going to be based on all of the reviews. We went on adults night, and it was definitely more busy than I expected it to be, so it was kind of hard to sample many of the interactive pieces, since there were lineups for many of them.
The music was really good, there was a DJ and it wasn’t too loud. You can tell from the outside how big the building is, so everything is quite well spread out, with a lot of empty space.
The kids space is pretty rad, with a nice jungle gym and little play areas set up almost like sand boxes.
I was happy that we weren’t charged for parking, because that was one of the things that irked me about the center before I went to it, that they are charging $ 5 for parking after a pretty high entry fee of $ 20 already.
I really liked the dome theater — I think that the chairs definitely could use a bit more ability to lean back, so that you can see the whole screen. We were sitting in the very top row, and it was still hard to see the details around the top edge of the screen. The chairs just need to be able to lean back a little further. Top row is definitely the best vantage point for the dome theater. It would be nice if you could bring food/​drinks into the theater as well like popcorn or something. There are two entrances for the theater, one at the bottom and one at the top. Usually I think you enter through the bottom and leave through the top.
Overall it was pretty cool, I think that they’ve made science centers a bit more interactive than they used to be, but I miss the random plaques and exhibits of the old science centers, because when everything is interactive and there aren’t that many stations for each activity, you really end up just walking around aimlessly unless you have time to wait in the lineups for things.
I think they could make better use of their space and decorate the rooms a bit better as well. I miss the space themed rooms with the dark ceilings and stars and hanging planets.

So expensive… I’m from Toronto which has an amazing Science Centre and reasonable prices (I paid around 10 $ for entry) which is also very big so I’m definitely biased; however, 20 $/​person is such a turn off when you’re not being Wowed.
I found Telus Spark «monotonous» and boring. I’ve been there 4 times in a year (what I get for having many child relatives) and each time, little changed. The exhibits and activities were relatively the same, which I don’t find fair in terms of the price.

We went tonight despite the mixed bag of reviews I have read about adults night. (every 2^nd Thurs of each month this happens) We had tickets from our social club from work that were discounted 50% off so why not go check it out? I was also OK with the $ 5 parking. I saw security riding his bike diligently down all the parking aisles so at least our cars are being looked after. Parking was tough to find, it was a busy night! Make sure you bring your parking stub as you will have to get that paid for inside.
All staff were genuinely very nice and awesome with any questions. They love first timers like us! There is a map at the entrance so you can see where you are going.
There were 5 exhibits you could go into — we hit them all. They were OK. I liked the Earth and Sky the best. I think I realized that I learned about myself this night — that I was even into water and wind and how it effects the earth because I was reading ALL the placards about it all. I could have cared less about rocks in my Gr 9 geography class! So who knows, like me, you may come in here and learn something!
Many of the adults were having fun, participating in the little activities in each zone. My husband enjoyed the energy area best but of course — he is an engineer!
There were alcoholic drinks to buy if you wanted to wait in line. We skipped this as well as other lined up events going on in the lobby (collect your own DNA to take home?, find your blood type, learn how to knit, etc) It was cool that many people had their dogs with them to promote awareness on pet therapy. I had to pet them all and the owners were all so friendly!
Washrooms and the building itself was clean and I loved that there were hand wash stations everywhere.
There is a café upstairs where you can get hot food, smoothies, juice, pop, yogurt, salad. We took a walk through and it was great! Bright and lots of seating.
Lastly, we enjoyed the gift shop. I am the furthest thing from a geek, even if I were to try but there were a lot of cool «science-​y» things in there. Of note — books for kids with a dinosaur on the front that is titled «All My Friends Are Dead». LOL What? And one other one to remember for the kids — «Here is The Scoop On Your Poop». Things have changed a lot since I was a kid! Science is not as boring anymore!
We had a nice date night out and we would consider going back to adults night maybe once a year to see what is new and changed.

First of all let me expressly say thatFirst of all let me expressly say that I did not pay to see the exhibits but got to view some of them while I was attending a show (Suds for Floods).
I thought Telus Spark was a great place to hold a show. The ability to have lots of food trucks and beer breweries there to serve their delicious food/​drinks was amazing. If this event happened once a week or month, you would definitely see me there every time. I really enjoyed the music as well.
Now about the exhibits, I guess you bring your children here to convince them that science is awesome. I may be a little biased, but I believe that science is awesome and the exhibits were able to demonstrate some of that effect. While I was wandering through I discovered that all of the exhibits I saw were interactive. I thought that was a nice touch to spark (pun intentional) people’s interest in the different topics that they covered. As a person who works in oil and gas, I found it kind of strange how many exhibits were related to the oil and gas industry. I know here in Calgary we love our oil and gas, but there’s a lot more cool things in science that don’t relate. I didn’t see the entirety of the exhibits while I was there (too busy enjoying the live music), but if upstairs was that oil and gas related I would be disappointed.
Looking forward to coming back to Telus Spark for one of the adult nights that I’ve been hearing so much about.

My girlfriend and I came to check out the new science centre in January for an adults only night. The theme of the night was «Find a new hobby». It was pretty great.
In the main hall they invited local clubs to come set up shop and show everyone what they were about. There was stamp collecting, R/​C vehicles, chess, and Lego among others. Most importantly, there was a cash bar. Though you couldn’t go into the exhibit areas with your beverage (damn spilly talkers ruining things for the rest of us), you could wander through the main hall and chat with the different clubs while you sipped away.
From what I could tell the vast majority of regular exhibits were open. Even the younger kids area. The tree house/​fort was full of people running around in their socked feet. I would argue that this area was the best part next to the booze.
If I’m ever in town again when an adults-​only night is happening I’m definitely going to make an effort to visit again.

Ok. Another Vancouverism to start. We have Science world and I thought that sucked. Well, I’m sorry Science World… I was wrong.
Telus spark had the animatronic thing on so we decided to go. That was a bust. A bunch of models on a stand, most of which don’t do anything, and those that do are sucky? Wow.
On being bored of this «great» exhibit after 10 minutes we took our 5 year old to the rest of the sights.
1 — play with sand in water
2 — build a pipeline out of plastic tubing
3 — roll some balls down a drum
There should be an age limit to 5 max there.
Completely underwhelmed.
I’m not sure if our 5 year old was more advanced, but she seemed bored stiff… as did a bunch of other kids. For $ 60 and 2 hours, we should have found indoor mini golf.

It’s OK to try this place out once just to say you’ve been there. The architecture, although interesting inside looks like an indecisive prison from the outside. Maybe that’s why they had to shine multi-​coloured lights on it at night?
I went during one of the adult only nights. The children’s exhibits were not bad. The other exhibits were Zzzzzz (boring) Really, I’m not there to learn about soil erosion or how oil is made. oh wait I forgot we’re in Calgary.
It was way too expensive for our ticket for what we got out of it. To top it all off we had to pay $ 5 for parking.
I’ve experienced better science centers before at half the price this one charges. I say they need to step up their game or they’ll end up loosing money.