Accessibility Notes by Space
Explore the accessibility features of our exhibits and experiences to plan a visit that meets your needs.
Find accessible spaces with ease
Use the icons below to filter museum spaces by accessibility features and plan a visit that fits your needs. If you need assistance, directions or recommendations while at the Museum, visit the Info Desk on Main Level 2 or ask any staff wearing a lab coat or Griffin MSI t-shirt.
Entry Hall
Space
Loud Noises:
During busier times when the Entry Hall is full of people, this creates a lot of noise.
Sensory Note:
The Entry Hall is a large space with big signs, big stairs, video screens and lights.
Rotunda
Space
Sensory Note:
The Rotunda is a large, open space with views into other exhibits.
Loud Noises:
The Rotunda has music playing throughout the day. Sometime you will hear loud noises from other exhibits.
Bright Lights:
Lights above the Rotunda project different colors and patterns that move across the floor.
The Art of the Bicycle
Exhibit
Sensory Note:
This exhibit tends to be a quieter part of the Museum.
Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition
Exhibit
Mobility:
Student art on the balcony can be accessed via stairs. Speak with staff in the exhibit for elevator access.
Seating:
There is no seating available in the exhibit, due to pandemic protocols.
Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light
Event
Sensory Note:
Every 30 minutes fake snow falls from the ceiling, near the Information Desk.
Bright Lights:
This exhibit is in the busy Rotunda, and has bright and moving lights.
Loud Noises:
Holiday music plays throughout the main floor of the Museum.
Coal Mine
Tour
Mobility:
Stairs in the tour make it inaccessible for wheelchairs and strollers.
Sensory Note:
You will stand in tight and enclosed spaces.
Low Lights:
Moments of complete darkness.
Loud Noises:
Moments of sounds like a loud boom and operating machinery.
Seating:
A chair can be provided in each room of the tour by request.
Movement Opportunities:
Includes rides on an elevator and a train.
Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle
Exhibit
Sensory Note:
This exhibit is located in a quieter area of the Museum. A quiet audio track narrates what to find in the Fairy Castle.
Earth Revealed
Exhibit
Seating:
This exhibit is an opportunity to sit down.
Low Lights:
The exhibit is dimly lit.
Extreme Ice
Exhibit
Seating:
Opportunity to sit down and watch a movie at the exhibit entrance.
Fab Lab
Workshop
Mobility:
It can be difficult to see some of the machines operating in the Fab Lab. Facilitators in the space can make accommodations by request.
Seating:
Seating is available in the Fab Lab.
Farm Tech
Exhibit
Mobility:
The exhibit has a real tractor and combine to explore. To get to the driver seats of these vehicles, there is a staircase to climb.
Seating:
This exhibit has nearby benches for sitting.
Tactile Opportunities:
There are opportunities for hands-on play with interactives in the exhibit.
Flight and Ride Simulators
Simulators
Mobility:
There are stairs to enter the simulators and small enclosed spaces inside, making the simulators not wheelchair accessible.
Sensory Note:
The flight simulators turn you upside down and the entire capsule moves and shakes to make it feel like you are flying.
Sensory Note:
An ADA station is offered that is wheelchair accessible and doesn’t feature additional motion. Ask an employee at the flight simulators for assistance.
Giant Dome Theater
Show
Mobility:
Elevator access and wheelchair accessible seating are available. Ask any Giant Dome Theater staff member if you need assistance.
Loud Noises:
Volume from the movies in the theater can get loud enough to shake the seat (may vary by film). Noise-dampening headphones are available by request at the theater.
Assistive Features:
Closed captioning, audio amplification, video description (may vary by film), and noise-dampening headphones are available from any Giant Dome Theater staff member.
Henry Crown Space Center
Exhibit
Seating & Sensory:
There is seating available for the One Small Snack food station.
Mobility:
There is a staircase that leads down to take a closer look at the lunar lander, which can also be easily viewed without walking down the stairs.
The Idea Factory (for guests 10 and under and their families)
Exhibit
Loud Noises:
The exhibit can get loud from the sounds of young guests playing.
Seating:
There are many opportunities to sit down inside and outside the exhibit.
Tactile Opportunities:
This exhibit has many opportunities for hands-on play with interactives, some including moving and spraying water.
Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze
Exhibit
Sensory Note:
At the exhibit entrance, there is a video projected on a large screen in a dark room.
Sensory Note:
The Mirror Maze can be visually disorienting. You can choose instead to bypass the maze portion of the exhibit.
Low Lights:
Colored lights inside the Mirror Maze are dim and slowly change colors.
Pioneer Zephyr
Exhibit
Mobility:
The Zephyr’s exterior and surrounding exhibit are wheelchair accessible.
Sensory Note:
There are bright moving images that reflect off the surface of the train.
Seating:
There are seating options inside the train and along the side and back of the train.
Science Storms
Exhibit
Mobility:
There is an escalator within the exhibit for travel between the first floor and second floor portions of Science Storms. Elevators are available outside of the exhibit as well.
Sensory Note:
There is a 40-foot vortex in the exhibit. If you are near it, you can feel the wind and moisture from the vortex.
Bright Lights:
Interactives project different colored lights and sometimes flashes of lights.
Loud Noises:
The Tesla Coil above the exhibit fires every 45 minutes, creating an extremely loud sound. Videos and interactives throughout the exhibit present loud noises.
Ships Gallery
Exhibit
Low Lights:
This exhibit is dimly lit.
Movement Opportunities:
A ship’s deck is recreated in this exhibit for guests to play on.
ToyMaker 3000
Exhibit
Loud Noises:
This exhibit’s machinery makes noises throughout the exhibit.
Transportation Gallery
Exhibit
Sensory Note:
A real 727 airplane periodically flashes lights and has wheels that lower from the plane.
Low Lights:
The lighting regularly dims to simulate night time.
Loud Noises:
Sometimes loud noises from nearby exhibits can be heard in this exhibit.
U-505 Submarine
Exhibit
Mobility:
There are several flights of stairs throughout the exhibit. Elevators are available to take you between each floor.
Loud Noises:
Videos and interactives throughout the exhibit feature sounds of explosions, aircrafts, and other wartime footage.
Sensory Note:
One video shakes the floor of the exhibit to recreate wartime conditions.
U-505 On-board Tour
Tour
Mobility:
Stairs, uneven floors and tight quarters aboard the submarine make the tour not accessible to wheelchairs.
Sensory Note:
You will stand in tight and enclosed spaces.
Sensory Note:
Moments of flashing lights recreating explosions.
Low Lights:
Moments of complete darkness.
Loud Noises:
Moments with sounds of bells ringing and explosions.
VR Transporter
Simulator
Mobility:
There are stairs to enter the VR Transporter, which makes it not wheelchair accessible.
Sensory Note:
The VR Transporter uses a virtual reality headset and seating that moves and shakes to make it feel like you are in space.
Sensory Note:
An ADA station is offered that is wheelchair accessible and doesn’t feature additional motion. Ask an employee at the VR Transporter for assistance.
Yesterday’s Main Street
Exhibit
Mobility:
This exhibit’s floor is cobblestone, making it a rough and bumpy surface.
Sensory Note:
The exhibit is quiet with only a couple of background noises.
Low Lights:
The entire exhibit is dark with only a few lights.
YOU! The Experience
Exhibit
Content Advisory:
YOU! The Experience contains displays of real human specimens preserved through plastination or other means. While these specimens offer a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the human body, the displays may be disturbing to some guests. Please be advised that several of these displays are located within the main areas of the exhibition.
Lighting:
The Prenatal Gallery exhibit is dimly lit. While bright lights that can be seen and heard throughout parts of the exhibit.
Loud Noises:
Videos and interactives feature sounds.
Seating:
Some interactives have opportunities for sitting.
Movement Opportunities:
Features of the exhibit invite movement at the Movement Wall.
No accessibility features are listed based on the selected filters. Please select a filter above to find the relevant accessibility information.
Need extra help? Let us know.
If you require additional support for your visit, our Guest Service team can help you plan. Please note that some requests may require more time. Complete the Guest Service Request form at least one week in advance of your visit if you would like to request: