8. Port Discovery

Great Place to Take Kids
Port Discovery is a great place to go if you have children. I have a niece age 4 and a nephew age 7. We've been going for years and they always enjoy it. It is educational as well as fun. They are constantly changing the exhibits so there is different stuff each time we go. Coming from a law enforcement background I was concerned about the place from a safety standpoint (aka It is a pedophile's paradise). However they have good security measures in place to handle this. Upon entry all families get wristbands with matching numbers (or back stickers for babies and toddlers). Upon leaving the wristbands are scanned and if the adult and child's wristbands don't match up, that child is not allowed to leave with the adult. One time I paid separate from my niece, nephew and their parents so my wristband didn't match theirs. When we left my niece and I walked out about 30 paces ahead of my sister. Since my wristband didn't match hers they stopped us and wouldn't let me leave with her until my sister caught up with her matching wristband. I was pretty impressed by this. Also the environment appeared clean. It seemed like kids up to age 12 would appreciate it. I would recommend bringing aspirin as the kids can get pretty loud.