Moody Gardens is a tourist complex and a hotel
Written: Jan 11 '09 (Updated Jan 12 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Aquarium Pyramid, Rainforest Pyramid, Discovery Museum Pyramid, other attractions, location, Great Hotel.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: The Moody Gardens tourist complex is great place for some family fun and the hotel on the premises is a good place to stay.
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| texas-swede's Full Review: Moody Gardens Hotel |
Since we first came to Texas (in 2000) we have stayed at the Moody Gardens Hotel in Galveston several times. It was my wife who first discovered Moody Gardens while looking for a place to stay while visiting Houston. We also took my brother from Sweden and his family to Moody Gardens the last time he came to visit us. Moody Gardens is not only a nice and classy hotel to stay at while you visit Houston, NASA Johnson Space Center, and Galveston; it is also an attraction in itself since it is located within the Moody Gardens tourist complex. This review covers both the hotel and the tourist complex.
About Moody Gardens Hotel
The Moody Gardens is a tourist complex and a hotel located on Galveston Island in Texas. The tourist complex is a great place to go for families and the hotel on the premises is a family friendly high quality hotel. A room with two queen beds is from $150 to $180 in winter and $200 to $240 in summer. We were also allowed a roll away cot in the room which made it possible for five people to stay in one room. In my opinion this is not too expensive. Moody Garden is not Days Inn, it is a full service luxury hotel with 24 hour room service, a refrigerator, comfortable beds, an indoor and outdoor tropical swimming pool, a swim up bar, a good hotel restaurant, a golf course, and plenty of useful services like childcare, laundry, sauna, a gift shop, and a barber. They also have a beautiful private beach with soft white sand called Palm Beach; however, it is only open late spring and summer. Another thing that we liked about the hotel was the connecting rooms. When the boys got older they wanted their own room. It was never a problem to arrange for connecting rooms so that we could allow the boys privacy at the same time as we had them safe nearby. I also liked the fact that the hotel parking is free and next to the hotel. They do provide valet parking but we saw no reason to use it. The best feature of the Moody Gardens hotel is that it is part of the Moody Gardens tourist complex which means that you can walk straight out of the hotel and into one of the three famous pyramids, the paddle boat, the IMAX Theater, the ride theater or some other attraction. So we did not think the room fee was high.
If you want to visit Houston or the NASA Johnson Space center, or Galveston and other tourist attractions in the Houston area, and you have young children, then Moody Gardens is the perfect place to stay. It is located on the Galveston Island not far from interstate I-45 (take 61st street and then Stewart). Galveston Island is a fun place to visit; it has long beaches that are open year around, great sea food restaurants, the Mardi Gras festival in February, and a lot of interesting attractions, for example, the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum, the Lone Star Flight Museum, historic buildings, Galveston Schlitterbahn water park (the biggest Schlitterbahn water park is in New Braunsfels), the port and the piers, and, of course, Moody Gardens. Since you so easily can get back on I-45 to get back to Houston (30-40 minutes) or the NASA Johnson Space Center (even closer), Moody Garden is a great location for a week of family fun. Typically we spent half the week visiting Moody Gardens, then one day at the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space center (Mission control), and then a few days visiting Galveston and the greatest sights for kids in Houston (children's museum, natural history museum, etc.).
The address is:
7 Hope Blvd, Galveston, Texas, 77554. Take I-45 South towards Galveston, exit 61st street (after the bridge), then make right on Stewart Rd which becomes Jones Rd. Now you can see and get to Moody Gardens, however, to be exact you also make a right turn on Sky Master Rd, and a left turn onto Mustang Drive, and then a right onto Hope Blvd. The address and directions for the Moody Gardens attractions is the same.
This is the Moody Gardens Hotel web site.
http://www.moodygardenshotel.com
About Moody Gardens tourist complex
What made Moody Gardens hotel attractive to us were the Moody Gardens attractions, especially the three glass pyramids, the Aquarium Pyramid, the Discovery Museum pyramid, and the rainforest pyramid. The ten story rainforest Pyramid is filled with exotic plants and trees from around the world, butterflies, birds, parrots, monkeys, reptiles and tropical fish. Walking through the rainforest pyramid takes about one or two hours and is a great "otherworldly" experience that will make the kids happy. The Discovery Museum Pyramid is a sort of fun Science Museum for the kids with a lot of interactive exhibits. You can easily spend a few hours there. However, the 12 story Aquarium Pyramid is the most interesting of the Pyramids. You walk through tunnels and corridors winding through and between aquariums and exhibits with sharks, thousands of beautiful tropical fish, sea turtles, sea lions, seals, eels, as well as a penguin exhibit. When you visit the Caribbean exhibit (in the pyramid) you go through a tunnel that is going through an aquarium that contains one-million gallons of water. In summary this is a very worthwhile aquarium to visit.
In addition the Moody Gardens also have an IMAX theater with a six story screen, a ride film (surround sound plus a180 degree screen in addition to the motion) which will take you on a tour through the deep sea. They also have a 4D special effects theater, which is essentially a 3D theater with surround sound and special effects, such as wind, smoke, mist, leg ticklers, and seat buzzers. They also have these kinds of theaters at Disney World as well, however, the ride film and the 4D special effects theater at Moody Gardens was as good as anything similar that you will find at Disney World. We also took the paddle boat ride which took us on a sightseeing tour of the Bayou. On the paddle boat you could also have dinner, and there was entertainment in the form of a pianist and a jazz band. It was nothing spectacular, however, the kids thought it was fun just to go on an old style boat ride and buy ice cream in the boat shop.
I would also like to say something about the prices. The paddle boat is $6.25, the Discovery Museum $6.25, the 4D movie theater is $7.25, and the Aquarium pyramid is $11.95. A one day pass, which includes the Aquarium Pyramid, IMAX Theater, 4D Special FX Theater, Discovery Museum, Ridefilm and Colonel Paddlewheel Boat, is $30.95 (10 AM - 6 PM). A Two-Day Pass which includes unlimited admission for two consecutive days to the Aquarium Pyramid, IMAX Theater, 4D Special FX Theater, Discovery Museum, Ridefilm Theater and Colonel Paddlewheel Boat is $35.95. However, I should add that we got special deals (and packages) because we stayed at the Moody Gardens hotel. Perhaps you think this is expensive considering that Moody Gardens is a lot smaller than, for example, Epcot Center, and more expensive then, for example, the Shedd aquarium in Chicago. I see it differently, first of all this is Galveston-Houston and not a major resort like Orlando. I would not travel far to see Moody Gardens but for Texans this is a good place to visit. If you happen to visit Texas and you have children then I would also recommend it.
This is the Moody Gardens web site.
http://www.moodygardens.com
For more pricing information see this link
http://www.moodygardens.com/plan_your_visit/
Phone number
1-800-582-4673
Conclusion and final recommendation
The Moody Gardens tourist complex is a great two or three day attraction of family fun and we also liked the hotel. I suggest that you say one week at the Moody Gardens hotel and use it for a base when visiting Johnson Space Center, Houston and Galveston. The Moody Gardens is a great place to visit for families with kids younger than 12 years old.
Recommended:
Yes
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