A few weeks ago, I found out my entry for a contest sponsored
by Coyne PR & Crayola was chosen as a winner to go the Crayola Experience!
Woo hoo!!! We've been counting down the days, eagerly awaiting our
adventure. Last week, the day finally arrived! Friday morning, my family piled into the car. We
were ready with snacks, drinks, toys & games to keep the boys occupied for the
ride. We set off on our journey to Easton, PA. As we traveled further into the center of
town, we saw the building…all bright yellow with crayons & markers jumping
out of the top. We all got excited that we were finally there & looked for
parking. Please note, you’ll be expected to pay for each hour that you've
parked there.
We got inside an hour after the Factory opened. Wow! There’s
a lot of people…I’m glad we already had tickets & didn't have to stand in
that line! Since we won our tickets, our entry was free. However, for the rest
of you out there who are reading this looking for info, it costs $15 for anyone
over 3. Kids aged 2 & under are free. Seniors (over 65) get in for
$13. We were greeted by a happy ticket taker who gave us goodie bags with a
map, as well as tokens for each of us to use to make our own crayons/markers
& other various creative exhibits. On the first floor is the gift shop
& Café Crayola which offers a view of the “world’s largest crayon”.
SECOND FLOOR – Wrap it up! Art Alive! Workshop, Crayon Factory,
Modeling Madness & Marker Maker
At the top of the steps is the make your own crayon part.
There 7 colors to choose from. You put your token in the
machine & type in whatever you want to print on the label. A naked crayon
pops out along with a sticker label that you need to apply yourself. My sons made
“Nathan’s Blues” & “Klomoso” green. After some of my friends found out I
was going, they wanted crayons too. I used my tokens for them, making “Meghan’s
purple” & “Foxy Pink”.
After we were done making crayons, we moved onto “Art Alive!”
In this part, you take a seat at a pad-type device & either color in a picture,
or draw your own. I honestly think my 3 year old had more fun shadow dancing
than making/seeing his picture (see photo on the side). When you come out of
that part, you go into the Workshop area. It’s a section with a few different
parts. There’s a giant table full of crayons & coloring sheets. My boys managed to get 2 spots to sit & color for a minute. There was a
side room for sand art, fabric art, airbrush art & clay, but it appeared
that most of the machines in there were out of order. There’s also the “Toddler
Time” area which offers some bead blocks, a lever machine that makes stuff fly
around (kind of like wall pinball), a small sitting area & wall of light
pegs (think “Lite Brite” on a slightly bigger scale).
After that was the “Marker Maker” section. You’ll need
another one of your tokens here. It was so cool to see how markers are made!
You can see through the front of the machine as you press buttons 1-4 to move
the marker making process along. We made yellow & red only because the
lines in this section were so bad, that these were the only colors we wouldn't
have to wait 15 people deep to use. Not only that, but out of the 15 (plus or
minus) machines available, at least 2 were out of order. Next to the marker
section was an open area with tables & paper to test out your new markers.
Every single spot in this area was taken up, as well as standing room, so we
didn't get to color here.
The last part on this floor is the “Factory” part.
This was the thing that my husband & I were most looking forward to. A
little slice of our childhood a’la Mr. Rogers. We got inside the theater 15 minutes
before the show was set to begin. It was already so packed, that all the
bench "seats" were taken & it was very crowded standing room only. No
employee outside the door counting people, or monitoring how many were trying
to squeeze inside. When we got in there & realized that this isn't an actual tour of the actual factory or how crayons are actually made…we left. I
expected hard hats & machinery. Turns out it's just a table of hot wax, an employee to walk you through part of the process &
some animated crayon side kicks for the kids. This was a huge disappointment.
THIRD FLOOR – Playground, Activity Studio, Waterworks, Doodle
in the Dark
As you enter the 3rd floor, there's the Waterworks.
This is a small area where you can play on some water tables with boats. There
were a good 30 people here, as well as a lengthy line of people
waiting their turn. We skipped this part as I wasn't going to wait 30 minutes to
do something we could do at home, without any lines. As we entered the Activity
Studio, there was a sign on the outside of the door that said “Max capacity 250”
(that’s not the exact number, but it was close). I’m only mentioning this because,
when we went in, there were easily 300+ people in there! Every single table was
taken, every available seating was gone. Some were sitting on the floor. People
were using the walls to lean on to color their stuff. My sons
really wanted to do the multi-level playground, however, there was a line
coming out of the entrance as well as kids all backed up on the steps leading up inside
to the climbing parts. My youngest is too small to climb all those steps by
himself & there was no way my over 6’ husband or me (5’ 10”) were fitting
in there to help him. Not only that, but I didn't like the fact that you
can’t really keep track of where the kids are once they get inside. This led to a
very upset 3-year old. We managed to make things better by moving along to the
Doodle in the Dark part. There are a few glow
boards to doodle on, but not nearly enough…especially when some parents refused
to let their kids share a board with other kids. There’s a section of light
up floor with games like stomp the balloon & hockey where it looked like a
kiddie mosh pit (see photo on the side). There's also a part where you could
dance on a pad & your moves were mirrored by animated crayons on the wall.
FOURTH FLOOR – Melted Crayons
We've been experiencing a heat wave recently. The day we
went, it was well over 90 degrees. When we got to the “Meltdown” section on the
top of the Factory, it was stifling! All those vats of melted wax didn't help. Drip art was packed, so all we got to do
here was the painting with melted wax (see photo on the side).
FINAL REVIEW
The “pro” of the Crayola Experience? There’s only one…Your
kids will have fun. It’s a great place for them to be creative & get “hands
on” with everything in there (unlike a regular museum). It makes a good day
trip if you’re already in the area, staying in the Poconos, or spending a weekend
at Dorney Park.
Otherwise…I’m sad to say, the rest are “cons”. I honestly
didn't think it was worth the drive. We spent around 4 hours in the
car (round trip) & only 1 hour inside the building. My kids were disappointed that due to the over-crowding & busted
equipment they weren't able to do participate in everything offered. Considering
you pay to use everything in the Factory, it was quite frustrating to find so
many of the attractions “out of order”. I
was annoyed by the crowds because I feel there should be a better way to manage
the flow of people. For instance, take the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD.
They have timed tickets so they’re only letting so many people in the building
at a time. While it may still be crowded, it’s at least manageable.
Another problem that I saw during my time there was how
unfriendly it was for really little kids, anyone with a stroller, elderly, or
handicapped. I’m guessing that at some point, this was the actual place were
the crayons were made. Because of that, there are steep steps leading up to the
various floors. There’s also industrial high-gloss hardwood floors throughout. I saw at least 4 little kids slip & fall. I saw another
kid with an ice pack on his head (not sure how he got hurt). The steps are
difficult for little kids to climb. While there is an elevator available, due
to the crowd, there was a line for that as well & it seemed to take forever
to get between floors. I remember looking into taking a trip to the Factory a
few years back, but it said online strollers weren't allowed. I didn't
go then because my son was too small & I needed the stroller. Now I
understand why they weren't allowed. Again, another thing they could learn from
Baltimore is to rule out strollers all together & offer a kiddie backpack
instead. This would help take up less space & allow parents to get around
easier with small children.
Another thing that my husband & I discussed on our lengthy
ride home was how there’s really no reason for the Crayola Experience to be
located in Easton. I thought the only reason it was here was because it was the
actual factory. Since it is NOT, there’s no reason why it couldn't be moved or
(better yet) a 2nd location be opened in Philadelphia at either the
Franklin Institute (science!) or the Please Touch Museum. This would also work
in NJ at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City or the Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill. Or
even in DE at the Children’s Museum in Wilmington.
And, it wasn't just me that had a bad time, go check out Yelp
or Trip Advisor, both sites have reviews much like this one. I kind of wish I
had read those reviews before setting out on our trip. While I am very thankful
to have had the opportunity to spend the day with my family (always a good
thing), I’m glad it was free or I would've been even more disappointed. I’m
hopeful that since this review will be reviewed that someone will take these
issues seriously & work on making this a better experience for other
families in the future.
