Sony Wonder Technology Lab

The Sony Wonder Technology Lab is actually free but I recommend you call ahead to reserve a ticket. If you just show up in person, it could be a long wait. I went on a weekday morning when it is less crowded. Most of the exhibits are of the hands on interactive variety, so this place is great for kids. You can play with remote control cars, stand in front of a screen and get your dances moves motion captured, have yourself recorded on a TV, or mix music to name some of thew many activities here. This place also gives you some history on the Sony company with many of their early electronics on display — see the evolution of the Walkman players or the various video game systems they’ve developed.

Great educational attraction, both for kids and adults. AND IT IS FREE!!! It talks about technology evolution, shows them how to program, has a lot if interactive play and in the last floor some video games. To be well done you might need 1.5h. That was our biggest surprise in NY.
But beware, reservations need to be made otherwise you will have to wait in line.

A generous 3 solely for the smiles from the staffers, this place has seen better days. Huge, underutilized yet filthy bathrooms are gross. The odd process of the whole experience seems even worse when you realize how overstaffed it is. Inconsistent volume to the exhibits, and no need sign up on site for tix ahead of time (The last entrance is 30 minutes prior to closing.) Multiple entrances, a huge bright space that I’m surprised they justify… and the museums category slightly misleading, with only one museum-​type area, mostly just interactive tech exhibits.

It took me an hour to get there in a cab with my wife and two children. We were psyched to discover this place, which had gotten a good review in Time Out New York as a children’s activity.
We arrived at 4:30, an hour before closing. We bought our tickets — this exhibit is NOT free btw! — but we were not allowed in until 4:45. Then we had to listen to introductory speeches and then (rather pointlessly) «log in». By the time we were actually in the exhibit, it was after 5 p.m. Fifteen minutes later the guards were already telling us it was closing time. My children were having a great time, exploring some of the interactive exhibits, and the guards would be impatiently hustling us along. One guard even ushered us into a freight elevator, I think to steer my kids around a whole floor of exhibits that they would have been tempted to explore.
When I commented on this situation to one of the guards at the exit, stating that they should not shut the place down so soon after admitting us, she stated: «Well it was your choice to come in.»
The guards were one of the worst features of the exhibit. They seemed to know nothing about technology and were just there to shepherd us through and holler at us when we didn’t know what to do. Basically typical New York service-​job types, like transit workers or even fast-​food workers. They just wanted us all out of there so they could finish their shift.
Another problem — in which I agree with another reviewer «Robin R.» — is that the exhibits themselves often didn’t work! Probably from too many people handling them, like at an amusement park, and not enough inspection and repair. And then, even when the exhibits did work, the technology was not all that amazing — a lot of it is like basic Photoshop, or stuff that an iPad could do, or else slightly interactive visualizations, where some projected image could be moved around or modified by the visitors as they moved around in front of it. But these seemed a lot more simplistic than I would have expected. The best exhibit I saw was an interactive thing where you would stand in a little booth and move around, and this «avatar» projected onto a screen in front of you would echo your movements. But the avatars weren’t modifiable, there were just four of them that were permanently there, and they didn’t look cool, they were kind of dorky. And then one of the guards was hollering at us that such-​and-​such a booth worked better for kids, or such-​and-​such a booth didn’t work at all — etc.
This being said, my kids (aged 5 and 3) loved this exhibit, and it was painful to be hustled out before we had fully explored the place.

This is a place that’s towards kids, i bet if i was 6 i would have enjoyed much more. The staff is friendly enough and it is a very easy ride that doesn’t take more than one hour. The kids there were much more pumped than I was.
Their bathroom was filthy and i didn’t enjoy going in, lot of paper all over on the flor and the trash bin was overflowing… just not nice

A free technology museum that focuses on the advances in technology and Sony. It’s a free museum, so that’s a plus, but it’s crowded with school kids and summer camp kids, so be aware of that. It’s very interactive and appealing for the kids, but as an adult, it felt a little out of place. It’s definitely oriented towards the 4 – 14 years old range, but I liked some aspects of the museum such as the news studio and the dance machine, but there’s lines, so be prepared.

SONY was a big advertisement. I came with a group and it was a good experience, but there is still some stuff I would change. There could be more information about the technology itself. Once they showed a movie about snow, and I sat there thinking, «cool, but I want to know more about SONY» Lots of the fun stuff was easy to miss, like the holograms of the SONY products right when you come in. The video games were cool, but there should have been a wider variety of them. The surgery, wall and dancing was cool, but we couldn’t get to do lots of activities, mainly the newscast because of the long lines. A tour of the actual SONY lab would also be really interesting and informational.

Pretty cool place. Giving you and your child opportunities to explore the digital world.
What you will find are interactive stations activated with a personalized pass card you set up in the begining of your journey. I personally think it could use updating… some of the stations were not operable and the robotics controller was sloppy.
Also…over all the building was warm, too warm. Some fresh air piped in from outside would have been a nice addition. If you are out of town, making a special trip doesn’t seem prudent. In comparison the science center Baltimore is much nicer with interactive stations, IMAX, visiting exhibits, observatory etc. The Sony Technology Lab didn’t have much to step up the interest for future designers.
Over​all​.to me, it’s more suited for a younger kids my son is 12 y/​o and not awed as easy as some. He enjoyed it just not struck by it.
Besides the warmness mentioned… there weren’t many places to sit. We had a pregnant lady in our group and I’m sure she would have like to sit along the way.
You do need to make a reservation for you group in advance.

Weird relic of a technology showcase from when Sony was a more relevant company in consumer electronics.
If I worked for Sony I would think about closing this down or revamping it altogether to go more heavily in showing off its media, video game content, or music prowess as it is just painful to watch this place show off the Walkman, the Sony Ericsson cell phone, and the PSP in an era when Apple ran it over with the iPod and the iPhone.
The kids seem to enjoy some of the exhibits however, if only you can peel some of the less self-​aware ones off the video game consoles so that others can get their turn…
But hey — it’s free!

Free
Robots
Exhibits
And more aimed for
Kids. Reservations are recommended.

The idea is great and seems really cool at the onset, but we were quickly disappointed. The kids have cooler technology in their pockets than the exhibits there. The explanations are too slow for the attention span of these kids.
Quite a few things don’t work properly– for example, waited 15 minutes to get into «news room» booth. Then when the film «aired», there wasn’t sound and half the screen was missing.
I also thought they may have enough technology, to keep the bathrooms clean, but apparently that’s too much to ask.

I give 4 stars because it really is a great experiences for everyone of all ages, it doesn’t get a 5 because they have EXTREMELY rude staff. The ones who are at the door, if anyone has a question they do not care who you are, you get the same answer either, go to this line or go to that line, or they will reply like you’re stupid and say «well if you listened to me before you would know you are wrong.» Who says something like that? Terrible staff, great exhibit though.

The experience was great but the service from the front desk and other workers was horrible. One worker reprimanded another unnecessarily in front of others while being rude to the guests. Other workers simply did not talk or greet guests at all. Shame.

Very nice that this interactive exhibit is free — entertaining for both adults and kids!
The Sony lab has a two story walk through explaining (mostly to kids) how technology has advanced and functions.
You can do your own newscast, a pretend technological surgery, run robots, build characters, watch animations and more.
The one downside is that even in the short time since it has opened, already some technology is dated. Also, we went an hour before closing and very few people were inside, yet we still had times where we’d have to wait for things.
I wouldn’t recommend with lots of other people, but it was a fun hour activity and would be good for kids 8+ or so.

Huge waste of time. With so much to do in NYC I was really disappointed that we chose to spend time here. We made reservations weeks in advance which is great, BUT they have a system where they give you a reservation number (which we left in the hotel) and then when we tried to pick up the tickets without it, the TECHNOLOGY lab had «no way of finding the reservation without our reference number.» I am pretty sure that a computer in 1990 could find it, but this place has no means of finding anything?
When we did get in (we had to wait for the next group) many of the machines were not working (this was a very bad Sony advertisement since most everything did not function) and it was about 20 degrees too hot in there. .Not a lot of people in there so I am not sure why they had the heat cranked like that but it was pretty tropical.
Next, the stations themselves. There was this robot station that looked pretty cool — LOOKED being the operative word. No one could figure out what was going on — other parents, kids, everyone there had no idea what they were trying to do with this exhibit. It was pretty funny watching about ten sets of kids and parents read the «instruction, «then re-​read them, look confused and try to find someone who had any idea what was going on.
Also there are no chairs in this place. Lots of parents sitting on the floor. The only thing I liked here was the Lemur movie, otherwise I thought it was a complete waste of our time.

Loved this place.
1) It is free. How can you hate that? If they charged for the experience, yes, one can criticize it.
2) They have many interactive things to do.
3) The atmosphere is cool.
4) But it is more designed for kids. However, adults can have fun as well.

Free and WONDERFUL place to take your children!!!
There is a wait unless you get your tickets in advanced (tickets are free either way). Will likely take 1 – 3 hours, depending on how fixated your little ones get. :)

I love that you can reserve your tickets way ahead of time and it’s free! Being the OCD person I am, I reserved them well in advance about 4 weeks in advance for this past Saturday.
We got there bright and early for our 11:00am reservation. We waited in a line outside the main doors for a while because another group of visitors were taking the elevator first. We looked around the lobby, which was quite spacious, and took a few tourist photos in front of the «Sony Wonders Technology Lab» sign. Then it was finally our turn to go up the elevator! I do love the glass walls that allow you to see how high up you’re going.
Each person was given a card in which it contained your profile (picture, name, favorite color) and then you would check in at each station by scanning it. It was pretty cool.
I had quite a few favorites.
First was the one where a character’s movement was synchronized with your own. First you stepped into this TSA like scanning thing, and then it correlated your body’s movements to the character on the screen and then dancing time! Then it showed your «music video» as the character dancing to the song. It was pretty fun to do.
Second was the simulated newscast exhibit. My brother is super camera shy so he wanted to be behind the camera but then my mom beat him to it with her camera shyness (or maybe she was just too shy to have to read off a teleprompter) so she got to operate both cameras while my brother and I were hosts. I was the host and he was the reporter. There were different types of news reports: there was one on polar bears, hurricanes (that’s the one we did) and etc. Each group gets about 5 minutes in this newscast exhibit and then after you’re finished you get to watch it all on the TV screen just outside the exhibit. I would totally do it again because my first time I was a bit confused about when to read the prompts…
Third was being able to play the PS3. I know the PS4 is what’s hot right now, but my brother and I had a BLAST playing Lego: Avengers on the PS3. We left the station after playing for a good while since we saw other kids crowding around the PS3 and PS4 stations but when we saw that no one was playing it, we ran back over to resume our play.
Overall it’s a nice place to go with your family and explore the whole place together. I just wish there was more to it.

Fun place to stop for an hour. Make sure to get tickets 7 days in advance — they are free! We didn’t have tickets, stopped in on Thursday about 11:30 and got tickets for 4 (2 adults, e kids) for 12:15. Several school groups there.
I’d say it’s best for ages 6 – 10. My nephew (11) enjoyed some of the computer activities, the simulated newscast, and the dance booth that animates a robot with your dance moves. His classmate, he is 11 years old also, loves computers, but was frustrated by the limitations on each program. For example — they had one station where you could create an animation by moving a model on the screen a few times; he wanted more control– designing the character’s features, the background, and more options. I understand that it’s meant to be a taste of what you can do, but he wanted the full experience. Wonderful resource for field trips and family visits.

This place is great. First of all, it is completely FREE to go. Inside, the staff is friendly and the tech is great. There are a ton of hands-​on things to play with, kiosks that allow you to do cool personalized things with your photo, robots, audio and other things, and they even have the new PS4 to play with. One of the cooler stations was a fake newsroom where kids could get in front of a green screen and read fake news from a teleprompter. You could then send the video to your email.
It is a great place to take kids that are interested in how things work, electronics, audio or anything computer related.
Some of the kiosks were not working properly, as computers tend to do sometimes. The staff helped when they could, but otherwise not a huge deal.