Located near the Kalamazoo Airport, this unique place is a wonderful way to spend a day with your children. It’s the Air Zoo, an aviation museum. The admission to the museum is free.
Enter through a lighted cloudscape curved hallway. My six year old twins wanted their picture taken here so it would look like they were flying. We entered into a huge hanger type building with dim light that took a few moments for our eyes to adjust.
We looked around at a vast array of airplanes and other vehicles displayed inside a wonderfully decorated building. Planes hung from the ceiling, one was even upside down, and were also sitting on the “tarmac,” surrounded by wonderful short sand bag boundaries. Our children had never been so close to aircraft before and were simply amazed by everything from the large wings to the way the planes were painted.
The walls of the building and even the floor are an elaborate mural centered on the history of flight and include some great pictures, including DaVinci sketches and Icharus, who flew too close to the sun and melted his wings. The mural is actually the largest hand-painted mural in the world. My older two children engaged in a scavenger hunt that included finding planes, jeeps, and parts of the mural.
The only expense comes in when buying your tickets to the events and rides offered within the venue. Children over 48 inches tall can ride all rides while those 42-48 can ride all but the flight simulators. (Yes, the Air Zoo has actual flight simulators). We had two children in each height category and took the divide and conquer approach. I took the younger two, and the husband took the older two. We bought four tickets at $12.00 apiece for unlimited rides. We opted to sit out the rides this time (yes, even the flight simulators). Individual ride tickets can also be purchased for $2.00 each.
My children loved the balloon race ride where they could zoom quickly through the air and pretend to be balloonists. They also loved flying in the airplane ride and making their airplane fly up and down in the air. They rode each ride at least 4 or 5 times and there was no wait in line as we were there on a Sunday afternoon and there were no school groups there.
The 3D Space Shuttle Ride was also a big hit with all four kids as they traveled from a countdown takeoff out to the space station and back.
There was also an exhibit room devoted to Guadalcanal where my nine year old was duly impressed by a Japanese sword in one of the display cases. There was also a hands on kids’ room with small rides for toddlers, big blocks to build your own planes, and a magnet board to design your space station. Although we did not visit either, they also have a caf© and a gift shop.
Our family gathered together for the B17 WWII bomb run in the 4D theater. With air blowing in our faces and our seats tilting backward, we all enjoyed this new experience while getting our history lesson as well.
There’s also a Frisbee golf course on the grounds; the course is free and you can bring your own Frisbees or buy some at the gift shop. For more details and to plan your trip, see the Air Zoo Website.
