Petrosains Museum Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

On the 4th floor of Suria KLCC mall you will find, alongside the many opportunities to shop, a wonderful science museum called Petrosains.  It is a science discovery center, covering 70,000 square feet, built by the Petronas Oil company.

The center was started to show the commitment the company has towards being socially responsible but it is really a way to teach the history of technological advances of the oil industry, that part I don't love.

But, and it is a big but, we had a great time and the kids learned so many different types of science fact that it was hard to feel sour about the oil component.  They seem to embrace many sciences and even digg the various types of alternative energy sources.

Entrance to the Petrosains Discovery Center

Unfortunately, we have picked a 2-week chunk of time that coincides with the school vacations so our usual, wait until the weekdays and then we'll have the place to ourselves, is just not working out.  We decided to head out and just accept that we will have to wait a bit.

We took a free shuttle offered by our hotel but you can access KLCC by train, bus or taxi. As we approached the door we realized quickly that waiting in lines was a certainty.  We arrived around 11am but the first possible entrance time was for 130pm.

No problem as we needed to eat anyway.  I highly suggest you eat a meal before entering the museum because there is very little food inside and it takes 3-4 hours to go through the whole museum.

The calm before the storm!

We returned at our allotted time and got into line.  There was a free interactive play area right next to the line so the kids can still be entertained as you wait.  We only waited a few minutes and then we were moved to another line.  This was the point when our little guy decided that was enough waiting, he is still working on some tolerance issues:)  So we stored our bag (free of charge to use the lockers) so I could help him more and got out a lolli and suddenly the world was in balance again.

The dark ride on the way in!

We only waited about 15 minutes and then found ourselves on a ride, which coupled with the candy, made everyone happy.  A 4-5 person car comes along, and brings you to the actual start of the museum.  Really it was quite an efficient way to have people enter the museum, as it staggered everyone's entrance in such a way so that there was no real back up at the exhibits.

Exploring simple machines

A replicated oil platform, complete with living quarters

Excavating!

For the next 4 hours we enjoyed it all; watching small experiments being performed and explained, digging for dinosaur bones, exploring an oil rig, learning the different types of alternative energy, creating and racing our own cars, withstood a hurricane, dug with an excavator, and so much more.  My guys are 13, 8, and 4 and there really aren't very many museums that can entertain them all, but Petrosains did it!

Looking for fossils

This was a really cool area!

A great day!