I recently visited the Franklin Institute and thought the trip warranted a review. The building is still beautiful with polished marble and real open feel. Can't forget the museums center piece a grand statue of good ol' Ben Franklin. Here is a random photo of it I found online of some family not looking very happy. I don't know why the entrance is one of my personal favorites, maybe they were on their way out which could explain it. Keep reading to understand.
I was disappointed to discover that a large number of the exhibits are just computer screens with some kind of activity. Most don't even have a keyboards just a super sweet trackball. I don't remember this as a child. Not only were the computer exhibits something most of us could do from home but a handful have the windows blue screen of death or some kind of error causing them to be useless.
The exhibits that were not one computers were missing components or broken. My expectations that it would be maintaned are not unrealistic with the cost ($50 for two adults, includes grearal admission and a IMAX film, temporary exhibit not included "Cleopatra") and volume of foot traffic. The lack of maintenance is really kind of sad. I can only guess that there is a very massive amount of foot traffic that travels via The Franklin Institute every year.
One of my favorites is the train exhibit. They have a huge Baldwin locomotive named the 60,000 because it was the 60,000 locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive works in Eddystone, pa. This train used to work even while it sat at the institute but unfortunately it was broken during my visit. They also have a mini track with various wheels so kids can see what trains use the wheels they use today. They only had a pile of wheels, making me wonder whether there should have been a train to test them on. If this was the case no mini train was present. This is just a sampling of exhibits that were unmaintained.
The IMAX theater was just as great as I remember with spectacular sound. The screen enables the viewer to be totally immersed in the film. I saw "Hubble" with amazing shots of the earth and other planetary bodies from over own planets orbit. The film also included various galaxies that appear like some futuristic artwork.
Don't take my word for it and go see for yourself.