For the Locals: Moody Gardens in Galveston

Are you local to the Houston/Galveston area? Or how about just a Texan looking for a local place to have a small vacation at this summer?

Check out Moody Gardens in Galveston!

Moody Gardens is known on Galveston Island as “the pyramid place”! When you drive onto the island you can see the pyramids in the distance and you are automatically intrigued to find out what they hold.

 

At Moody Gardens®, you can experience life at the Rainforest Pyramid® – now open after $25 million in enhancements – featuring an assortment of exotic and endangered plants and animals from the rainforests of the world. Explore the Aquarium Pyramid® where you can meet a real penguin in our Penguin Encounter.

Then, tour travelling exhibits at the Discovery Museum and immerse yourself at the MG3D, 4D and Ridefilm theaters. Enjoy beautiful Galveston Bay on the Colonel Paddlewheel Boat and a little summer fun on the new lazy river at beautiful Palm Beach. Finally, take a swing at the Moody Gardens Golf Course and escape to the four-diamond Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa & Convention Center. Visit Moody Gardens and prepare to experience life!

Our family had the opportunity to check out Moody Gardens in June and let me tell you, this is one of my kids favorite vacations! They love that it is not a long car ride(they about died going to Florida in February) and there are so many fun things to do!

This summer you can check out the Dinosaurs Live exhibit. This is my son’s favorite. What boy doesn’t love dinosaurs? It was the very first thing we did as soon as we got our tickets! You can even dig for dinosaur fossils!

The Aquarium Pyramid is my favorite as well as my daughters and youngest sons. I have always been fascinated by ocean life and the Aquarium and Moody Gardens does not dissapoint! You can also get up close and personal with a penguin! It is really cool and I totally recommend it!

The Rainfirest Pyramid is brand new! They recently renovated it and let me tell you it amazing! They did a fantastic job on it! Piece of advice, go to this pyramid first thing! It gets hot in there quickly so the earlier you go, the cooler it will be! Now don’t get me wrong, it is hot in there to begin with but imagine how bad it is after lunch! As you can see from the photos, you have a opportunity to get very up close and personal with a few of the creatures in the pyramid. Be careful though and please read signs. Do not feed the animals, etc.

Discover Museum was another favorite of my kids. It is filled with a amazing bones exhibit! My kids really liked learning about the bones in our bodies as well as animals! Also located in the museum is  RideFilm! Strap on your seatbelts and get ready for a amazing experience! When we were there, the Ride Film was Happy Feet! Very cool but not meant for everyone. Small children could get scared with the quick movemets.

Want to check out a movie while you are at Moody Gardens? How about a 3D movie?! 3D is all the rage and Moody Gardens has it! You can see anything from Sea life to Dinosaurs to Bugs and they even show Rio in 3D! We checked out Rio and my kids loved it!

Every been on a Colonel Paddle Boat? Well now you can mark it off your bucket list! This paddleboat also offers dining while aboard! Another tip: take the evening cruise. We went at 3pm and it was so hot that the kids were ready to get off the boat before we even started!

Moody Gardens also have Dora and Diego in 4D this summer!  We skipped out on this one because the last time my kids experienced a 4D attraction it was not pretty. Yes we were those parents covering the mouths of their kids to keep their screaming to a minimum. I am guessing though since it is Dora and Diego it is a lot tamer than the Bug Adventure we did at Disney World.

Last and certainly not least is Palm Beach.  This my friends is my kids favorite part of vacation. The beach. While not the “real” beach, it is still their favorite. Palm Beach was recently renovated to include a lazy river, a wave pool, and a 18ft slide.  My absolute only complaint on this one was the height requirement on the water slide. I could understand it if the kids were being dropped into a large pool of water, but there was literally 2-4inches of water at the bottom of the slide. My kids were very disappointed that they could not ride the slide. Even the 2 year old was upset. Other than that, we had a blast! During the summer on Friday evenings, Palm Beach has Bands on the Sand. The cost is $10 but you get to experience local bands while you enjoy Palm Beach.

Moody Gardens also offers Pyramid Kids Camps where your kids can get up close and personal with the exhibits and do a bit of learning this summer! Pyramid Kids Camps start as young and 3 years old and goes all the way up to 14 years old.

What about a hotel? Moody Gardens has that too! Moody Gardens Hotel is located right on the grounds of Moody Gardens! I love staying at Moody Gardens Hotel! They are really accommodating and have tons of great activities for kids called The Kids Crew!  We did a movie out by the pool one night, the kids had their arms painted(they did not want their faces painted) by a clown, arts and crafts, and of course s’mores night! Kids Crew also has Wii Competitions, football games, and more! Still not convinced to stay on site? How about Kids Eat Free when you eat in the main dining room at Moody Gardens Hotel?! That is right, I said FREE! The breakfast buffet was my kids favorite meal!

 

As you can see, Moody Gardens offers a ton of great attractions right here in Texas! So book your trip now! Stay close to home and enjoy what the gulf coast has to offer!

You can follow Moody Gardens on Twitter for news and updates.

Don’t forget to become a Fan of Moody Gardens on Facebook! 

**Disclosure: I was given free day all access passes to Moody Gardens Attractions in exchange for this post. No other monetary compensation was made and I paid for my family’s hotel room and meals on my own. 

 

 

 

Tagged as: Galveston, Houston, kids, local, staycation, tips, travel, vacation