Kids in Prague

IQ Science Park & Luna Park, Babylon Complex, Liberec

Activities, Day Trips on 02 May 2011 by Darina

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I don’t know of any Science Museums here in Prague and seeing as we had Kuba, our clever Canadian nephew visiting we decided to introduce boys to IQ Park in Liberec. The IQ Park is part of the Babylon complex which has lots of entertainment for the whole family.

Liberec is a 1 hour drive form Prague up North and we have mentioned this region earlier as a place to try Skiing with Kids. Originally our plan was to go back to Liberec and cover the whole Babylon Amusement Centre but it turned out to be impossible, because you cannot visit it all in one go, unless you decide to take advantage of the accommodation on-site and stay for 2 days.

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Here is what Babylon Centre offers so you get a better idea of it’s scale: the Aquapark, the IQ Park, Lunapark, Children’s Castle Indoor Playground, a Labyrinth, a Golf SImulator, Bowling, XD Theatre, a Laser Game and for Adults a Disco and Casino. Not a bad offer, not bad at all. There isn’t anything like it in Prague.

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The IQ Park itself is spread over 3 floors and you can easily spend 3 hours going around and experimenting with all the various installations. Our clever Canadian Nephew went straight away to the water control section and started building his own electrical plant! Its amazing how quickly kid’s learn how to speed up the stream by placing various obstacles and I think it’s a brilliant way to demonstrate the principles of physics; something I never managed to comprehend. Maybe if I spend enough time there myself I would finally get some basics in my old age :-)

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What I wasn’t able to take a picture of was a rotating, dark tunnel with stars. It tricks your mind and you think you are turning as well and before you know you bend to the side and lose your balance. Its an interesting feeling of being drunk without having had a drop of alcohol. Small kids can get scared within this exhibit, but my demolition squad went all the way… of course!!

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The rest of my family didn’t really get why I was so amazed by a toilet system behind a plastic wall where you can actually see what happens. I kept showing it to everybody and all I got was understanding looks, something like: “We knew you will lose it soon, but so soon?”  But I was really amazed I can show it to the boys. Such a simple system and it works :-)

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Some of the things I could not explain to boys unfortunately and we might need to go back because of that. For that I will have to engage myself in few years of basic school books. What I could serve them with was a human body figurines and the organs puzzle. My anatomy teacher would be proud of me because I did manage to put all the organs to the right places. After all I graduated from Nursing School and wanted to work in the operating theatre.

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What we could play on and on with was a shape following sticks. My boys pressed their faces to it and on the other side came their copies and it actually looked like them! There are so many things there to try and touch, smell and to figure out how things work. I wish there would be something like this in Prague. Maybe I should open one :-)

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If you are interested in eating there, there are several restaurants. We went to the: Kleopatra restaurant with an Egyptian Theme. The restaurant was very proper and there wasn’t any indoor play area. We didn’t mind, knowing what all lies ahead of us and lets face it, kids need to go to proper restaurants sometimes to learn how to behave.

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They had very good food and the offer of a Kids Menu was handy. The boys felt like adults when 2 waiters simultaneously lifted the steel cover off their plates!

LUNAPARK
Last stop we made was to the amusement part within the centre. It is literary a small version of Lunapark where you pay one entry fee and you go everywhere for free afterwards.

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What a great system. Your kids can just run form one place to another and you don’t have to worry about CASH spent. Inside you can eat some hamburgers and get basic refreshments like drinks, ice-cream, chocolates and other stuff kids cannot live without :-)

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If you get there on a day when not so many visitors are there, the majority of the attractions will not be attended all the time and you have to go to the Ticket Check Point to ask them to run it. At first I was disappointed thinking they are broken – but we learnt the system in a few minutes. They run the attractions without any problems when you ask, but it’s a bit of a hassle. Eventually we asked the man to let the carousel run 3 x in a row, because the boys were very happy on it.

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TICKET SYSTEM:

Now let me explain you the ticketing system. It is cheaper if you combine ticket for separate attraction in one ticket, possibly in the FAMILY TICKET. I payed for the IQ World and |Amusement park for 2 adults 2 Kids, 1 adult over 50 attending out Nephew who went for free because he was under 110 cm. I payed 660 CZK which I don’t think is bad at all. Out of this I know was my Mom who’s fee was 50 CZK as a attending person over 50.

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I am not sure how good is their English at the Main Cashier – you’d better get ready and figure out what you need before hand. You can find all their prices on their web in separate section for each and every attraction, but ask for combination.

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The important think is to know, when you get combined ticket – you stick it to the machine to let you in – it will come out so you can use it on another attraction section. Eventually it will be withheld at the last one you enter. I have difficulties explaining it now in English so I am not sure how well they would do in Babylon. Btw. I had problems understanding them in Czech and I had to ask twice And I am Czech…..

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Be ready this isn’t the capital and there are is still lots of traditional old Czech behaviour. What I mean by saying “old” is I mean : “post communistic”. Just take it easy there :-)

You might be interested in the Aquapark and Wellness visit. Sorry, here I cannot serve because I haven’t gone there yet. When I do I will sure cover it for you.

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OPEN: 10:00 - 20:00

ADDRESS: Nitranská 1, LIBEREC

DIRECTIONS: From PRAGUE
By Car: Go Direction of City ‘Mlada Boleslav’ 4 - On Highway you pass ‘Mlada Boleslav’ 5 - After ‘Mlada Boleslav’ go Direction ‘Liberec’ 6 - Take Highway Exit *Babylon Liberec
By Bus: 1. - Go by Subway to Metro Station ‘Cerny Most’ 2. - Go upstairs to the street 3. - Bus Station in front of Station ‘Cerny Most’ 4. - Take Yellow ‘Studenty Agency Bus’ 5. - Bus departs every 60 Minutes 8- Fee is 3 EURO per Person one way 6. -Tell Driver to stop at BABYLON Hotel Liberec NEARBY CITIES

FURTHER INFORMATION: http://www.centrumbabylon.cz/en/babylon/