We have never been to Kennedy Space Center as a family, in fact my husband is the only one who’s ever been and that was over seventeen years ago. With us trying to see all of Florida this year, KSC was a “must” on our list, especially considering our son’s interest in all things space!

We ordered our tickets for will call and that was about our biggest complaint of the entire day. We stood in line for probably 30 minutes, which was pretty frustrating! I figured we would walk up, pick up our tickets, and be on our way. Needless to say, my patience was not the greatest because of my expectations. We had read a blog or two about visiting KSC as a family, as well as viewing KSC’s full day itinerary. We had just arrived at the space coast the day before from several days at Disney World, so we ended up sleeping in the day of our KSC visit. We arrived around 11am, so we were already behind. I highly, highly recommend following their itinerary and arriving right when they open at 9am. We really could’ve used a few extra hours to go see some attractions we ran out of time for. There are several extra add-on tours which we would’ve done if we were there more than one day. They seemed really neat and informative.

The following is included in general admission: Atlantis exhibit, rocket garden, bus tour with The Apollo/Saturn V Center, Astronaut Encounter Theater, Journey to Mars, and the IMAX Theater. I found their timeline recommendations pretty on target. Unless your someone who flies through exhibits, it will take you the recommended time, if not longer, depending on your age group and interest level. The Vehicle Assembly building was closed to the public while we were there because they were in the middle of a project, but that seemed like a tour we would do had it been open.

The bus tour is an absolute must and I feel like it was the perfect way to start the day. KSC recommends you start with either the bus tour or Atlantis due to their popularity later in the day. However, I recommend the bus tour first because it gives you a great view of all KSC grounds, as well as a great historical background and current mission updates. It gave us (and our 6 y r old son) the background needed to fully appreciate the other exhibits.

When we go back years from now, we will absolutely plan two full days and make sure to sign up for a few special tours. We sadly missed a satellite launch by two days, so seeing a launch is absolutely on our return list also! Learning is an adventure and this was a wonderful field trip for all of us!