Fun, at Last, Begins at Discovery Center

The Discovery Science Center opens today with thousands of reservations from the general public made for the next two weeks, but it is far from booked for the following weeks.

About 6,200 people have reserved admission to the center, officials said. But the Santa Ana museum is prepared to handle 1,000 visitors a day, 500 each at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Through January, the hands-on, children-oriented museum is open only to those with reservations.

“Until the end of the year and the beginning of January we are very busy,” said Peter Cominskey, vice president of visitor services. “While we have a fair number of days booked up, we still have many that are open.”

The center accepts reservations from schools months in advance and so far 21,000 children are scheduled for field trips to the museum. Some schools have arranged for overnight stays, during which the children will have the center to themselves and then sleep among the exhibits.

On Friday, the science center was officially dedicated as it welcomed a suit-clad phalanx of local officials and VIPs.

Scientist and philanthropist Arnold O. Beckman, 98, sat on stage after he was escorted in by the Katella High School Marching Band.

Then after the proclamations had been issued and speeches were completed, the audience filed inside to play with--or rather, to try out--the center’s 100 exhibits.

Orange City Councilman Mike Alvarez sat down to try his hand at navigating a model airplane through a rush of air. Intently working the joystick, he balanced the plane against the winds while the craft gained altitude.

“It’s like an adult toy,” he said after finishing. “As soon as kids start telling other kids about this place it’s going to be phenomenal.”

Assembly members and city council officials lay on the bed of nails, sat in the earthquake simulator and ran their hands in the wet sand of a miniature stream that demonstrates erosion and how canyons are created.

Joe Carter, a former Anaheim science teacher and administrator, roamed with the others from exhibit to exhibit, but with a more critical eye.

He was on the center’s exhibit selection committee and scrutinized the exhibits Friday for how well they worked. Peering at a gravity exhibit in which balls whirled through spirals and down chutes, he noticed two had landed in a corner.]

“Hmm, I’m not sure that’s working right,” he said. “But some of these are very dynamic and others are not--we’ll just have to look at them and make adjustments as we go along.”

The overall theme of the morning, however, was that 14 years of perseverance had preceded the day’s celebration.

Before visitors entered the center, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. told officials from other parts of the county that the museum was a regional resource.

“This is yours, this is all of ours and it’s for every single child that wants to dream, that wants to learn and that wants to accomplish things.” he said.