*this post is freshly updated for 2024!
Where is Crayola Experience?
The Crayola Experience is located in Easton, Pennsylvania. It's easily accessible from Rt. 78 and even easier from Rt. 22 if you live in the Phillipsburg area. Look for directions on the Crayola Experience website or use your navigation system. The hardest part about the drive is the weird circle thingie that you have to maneuver around at the center of Easton. I never can comprehend those Pennsylvania lights.
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| photo by S. Wright |
Where Can I Park at Crayola Experience?
Here is a blurb right from the Crayola Experience website about parking in Easton:
There are two parking garages in Downtown Easton: Pine Street Parking Garage (Pine St. between South Third & South Fourth St.) 25 South Third Street Hours/Pricing: 8am to 5pm/$3.00 per hour* South Third Street Parking Garage (South Third St., across from the gas station) 123 South Third Street Hours/Pricing: 8am to 5pm: $2.00 per hour* There is also on street meter parking for $1 per hour, with a 2 hour limit. We do not validate tickets for parking. *Rates may vary during city held events.
It's Not Just The Crayola Factory Anymore!
If you've been to the 'Crayola Factory' in the past, you will find it significantly improved since your first trip. It was renamed The Crayola Experience around 2013, because it's far from being just a factory! The first thing you'll notice is the paint job on the outside of the building. There is NO mistaking this building, and little ones get sooo excited when they see their colorful crayon pals creeping all over the walls! Great photo ops here now, too, as the kids can pose in front of their favorite colors.
Admission and Fees
Check the Crayola Experience info page for current costs (people often gripe when I don't publish ticket costs, but most venues change ticket costs often so I don't like to give false info). Children under 2 are free, and 65 and over get a senior rate. There is also an option to get an annual pass, which allows you unlimited admission for a year, a discount at the Crayola store, and free admission for 2 and under (they offer various levels of annual passes and they each offer different perks). Military discounts (with valid ID) are also offered, and there are special military-themed days throughout the year when members of the military (with valid ID) can get in for free!
*One of the BEST things about a Crayola Experience ticket (in this mom's opinion, anyway) is that you don't need to reserve a date/time to visit. Soooo many places are requiring advanced reservations lately and I feel like that's so difficult for families. Crayola Experience tickets are valid for any operational date once purchased (and they expire a year from purchase date).
Other fees: upon entry they will present each guest with silver Crayola tokens, which you can use in various machines throughout the building (you can also purchase extra coins from vending machines if you run out, but that will cost you $1.00 for two tokens, so use your freebies wisely!).
What is Crayola Experience?
You can view all of Crayola Experience's attractions on their website (click here to visit their Attractions page). There are four floors to explore, and you will find more than 25 hands-on activities, machines, and play areas for various ages. The token machines were a hit with my kiddo, who was almost 5 at the time of this visit. He loved putting his token in to watch the different items being made. There are many added computer screens for the kids to touch and explore, and most of the instructions were very user friendly.
The Crayola Factory used to house a canal museum of transportation, and your entry fee would allow you access to both. The canal museum is no longer there, but the boating exhibit remains. Renamed 'The Waterworks,' kids can now cruise little painted Crayola boats through waterways and pick up plastic coal from the coal chutes. My son did the whole route three times with different colored boats each time. It was one of his favorite things in the building!
Your experiences on each floor vary- you can create masterpieces with melted wax, use glow markers in the dark on doodle boards, play with light-up peg boards, color pictures with your favorite crayons, pose for computer generated photos, make creations with model magic, and use dry erase markers to draw on giant sea creatures, just to name a few.
There is also a SCRIBBLE SCRUBBIES area for you fans of the fun Scribble Scrubbies toys! Here's a helpful video from their YouTube page that best describes what you will see:
They also added a playground structure in the middle of the building complete with tunnels and slides. It made me a little nervous to let my little one run off into this infrastructure with throngs of older, screaming kids, but he seemed to enjoy himself and came out unscathed, so I guess it's alright in my book! But that explains why I have no photo of this. Gotta keep my eye on the kid, ya know! Visit their detailed attractions page to see a 3D map of what you can see when you visit.
**The Crayola Experience has added a live manufacturing show since our last visit. We haven't seen it yet, but in the early days of operation they used to offer a show similar to this and we loved it! It's always neat to see how crayons are made. This show is included with your admission fee.
What Age Group is Crayola Experience For?
Somewhere along the way, I had a friendly older couple stop and ask me how old my son was. They were looking to bring their grandson to the Experience but weren't sure if it was right for his age group. I told them it really depends on the child- some kids love art and can remain pretty focused when it comes to coloring and exploring with different mediums. There is a small toddler area for little ones to play with light pegs and balls:
But are the play areas alone worth the entry fee for toddlers? You'd have to decide based on what your child likes. If I knew my little one didn't like to sit and "create" just yet, I might try waiting another year or two before making my trip to Easton, but that's just my opinion.
The Crayola Store
I hate to admit it, but my favorite part of the visit was The Crayola Store (learn more about it here). It is now housed inside the building itself (it used to be in the building next door and was smaller than the new addition). There was so much to look at and buy, so many cute things that I wanted to take home, I had to control myself. I also vowed to return for Christmas gifts this year, since the store is accessible without having to pay for admission to the Experience. I think you can even park at the metered parking on the streets if you just wanted to run in to do some quick shopping. The only negative here was that I got stuck on a looooong line at check-out because there were so many kids from field trips trying to buy goodies before their buses left (can't we create a 'field trip cashier,' Crayola? A separate line or something? Just a suggestion...)
Restaurants and Food
Another positive change is the elimination of the McDonald's that used to be your only dining option when visiting (unless you went outside the building to the streets of Easton). The McDonald's has been replaced by the cute Crayola Cafe, which features sandwiches, salads, pizza, hot dogs and pretzels and more. We had a pretzel, hot dog, bottled water and a fruit cup, which came to just under $10.00. Here you can also see "Big Blue" (the world's largest crayon). I have heard other moms say that they brought their own lunch and ate outside, which is a great idea (see tips below).
Other fees: upon entry they will present each guest with silver Crayola tokens, which you can use in various machines throughout the building (you can also purchase extra coins from vending machines if you run out, but that will cost you $1.00 for two tokens, so use your freebies wisely!).
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| Marker Maker Machine |
What is Crayola Experience?
You can view all of Crayola Experience's attractions on their website (click here to visit their Attractions page). There are four floors to explore, and you will find more than 25 hands-on activities, machines, and play areas for various ages. The token machines were a hit with my kiddo, who was almost 5 at the time of this visit. He loved putting his token in to watch the different items being made. There are many added computer screens for the kids to touch and explore, and most of the instructions were very user friendly.
 |
| Making some melted crayon art (photo courtesy of S. Henneman) |
The Crayola Factory used to house a canal museum of transportation, and your entry fee would allow you access to both. The canal museum is no longer there, but the boating exhibit remains. Renamed 'The Waterworks,' kids can now cruise little painted Crayola boats through waterways and pick up plastic coal from the coal chutes. My son did the whole route three times with different colored boats each time. It was one of his favorite things in the building!
Your experiences on each floor vary- you can create masterpieces with melted wax, use glow markers in the dark on doodle boards, play with light-up peg boards, color pictures with your favorite crayons, pose for computer generated photos, make creations with model magic, and use dry erase markers to draw on giant sea creatures, just to name a few.
There is also a SCRIBBLE SCRUBBIES area for you fans of the fun Scribble Scrubbies toys! Here's a helpful video from their YouTube page that best describes what you will see:
They also added a playground structure in the middle of the building complete with tunnels and slides. It made me a little nervous to let my little one run off into this infrastructure with throngs of older, screaming kids, but he seemed to enjoy himself and came out unscathed, so I guess it's alright in my book! But that explains why I have no photo of this. Gotta keep my eye on the kid, ya know! Visit their detailed attractions page to see a 3D map of what you can see when you visit.
 |
| photo from Crayola Experience Facebook page |
**The Crayola Experience has added a live manufacturing show since our last visit. We haven't seen it yet, but in the early days of operation they used to offer a show similar to this and we loved it! It's always neat to see how crayons are made. This show is included with your admission fee.
What Age Group is Crayola Experience For?
Somewhere along the way, I had a friendly older couple stop and ask me how old my son was. They were looking to bring their grandson to the Experience but weren't sure if it was right for his age group. I told them it really depends on the child- some kids love art and can remain pretty focused when it comes to coloring and exploring with different mediums. There is a small toddler area for little ones to play with light pegs and balls:
But are the play areas alone worth the entry fee for toddlers? You'd have to decide based on what your child likes. If I knew my little one didn't like to sit and "create" just yet, I might try waiting another year or two before making my trip to Easton, but that's just my opinion.
The Crayola Store
I hate to admit it, but my favorite part of the visit was The Crayola Store (learn more about it here). It is now housed inside the building itself (it used to be in the building next door and was smaller than the new addition). There was so much to look at and buy, so many cute things that I wanted to take home, I had to control myself. I also vowed to return for Christmas gifts this year, since the store is accessible without having to pay for admission to the Experience. I think you can even park at the metered parking on the streets if you just wanted to run in to do some quick shopping. The only negative here was that I got stuck on a looooong line at check-out because there were so many kids from field trips trying to buy goodies before their buses left (can't we create a 'field trip cashier,' Crayola? A separate line or something? Just a suggestion...)
 |
| photo from Crayola Experience Facebook page |
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| photo by S. Wright |
Restaurants and Food
Another positive change is the elimination of the McDonald's that used to be your only dining option when visiting (unless you went outside the building to the streets of Easton). The McDonald's has been replaced by the cute Crayola Cafe, which features sandwiches, salads, pizza, hot dogs and pretzels and more. We had a pretzel, hot dog, bottled water and a fruit cup, which came to just under $10.00. Here you can also see "Big Blue" (the world's largest crayon). I have heard other moms say that they brought their own lunch and ate outside, which is a great idea (see tips below).
**Crayola Experience Easton renovated and reinvented their eatery, which is now known as Cafe Crayola. You can enjoy new menu items from their newly renovated kitchen.
Jersey Momma Tips of the Trip:
*if it's a nice day, you can bring your own lunch and eat outside the cafe. There are little tables out there now and even a cute little frozen yogurt shop that you can visit after your meal. There are giant markers and crayons that the kids can climb on and take pictures with, too.
*some attractions within the building are now additional fees. For example, some puffy paint projects and sand art were available for an extra fee. So be prepared to pay a little extra than your basic admission if you want to experience all of the add-ons. We skipped most of them, as my son did not seem interested. That was fine by me!
*we visited on a weekday in June, between the hours of 11am and 3pm. Although it wasn't crowded, some attractions did become overly congested due to a few field trips that were attending from various schools. They almost completely cleared out of the building by 2:00, so we wondered if we wouldn't have been better off visiting just a little bit later so as to avoid those small crowds. Just a thought. If you're visiting on a weekend, consider coming early and purchasing your tickets online in advance to save time.
You can visit www.crayolaexperience.com to help plan your trip or to see in more detail what it has in store for you. They also have a Facebook page to help you stay informed of their events and attractions. Be sure to check it out!
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*Hours and availability are subject to change. Food and beverages are based on availability
I have not tried this new cafe out yet personally but I will update this post when I do!
*if it's a nice day, you can bring your own lunch and eat outside the cafe. There are little tables out there now and even a cute little frozen yogurt shop that you can visit after your meal. There are giant markers and crayons that the kids can climb on and take pictures with, too.
*some attractions within the building are now additional fees. For example, some puffy paint projects and sand art were available for an extra fee. So be prepared to pay a little extra than your basic admission if you want to experience all of the add-ons. We skipped most of them, as my son did not seem interested. That was fine by me!
*we visited on a weekday in June, between the hours of 11am and 3pm. Although it wasn't crowded, some attractions did become overly congested due to a few field trips that were attending from various schools. They almost completely cleared out of the building by 2:00, so we wondered if we wouldn't have been better off visiting just a little bit later so as to avoid those small crowds. Just a thought. If you're visiting on a weekend, consider coming early and purchasing your tickets online in advance to save time.
You can visit www.crayolaexperience.com to help plan your trip or to see in more detail what it has in store for you. They also have a Facebook page to help you stay informed of their events and attractions. Be sure to check it out!
Congrats on an awesome first entry! Looking forward to the next one, the one after that, and the one after that! Just a thought, ( if you haven't thought of this already), contact your next venue, let them know about your reviews/blogs, and sometimes they will give you a discount code to offer your readers!
ReplyDeleteSweet! Thanks, NikkiNic!! I'm on it!
ReplyDeleteThanks or your review! We are headed there tomorrow. I'm so glad they got rid of the fast food. Hoping the new cafe is good!
ReplyDeleteHeaded there this week. Did you just show your AAA card there?
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for the late reply on this one (shame on me), but yes, I did show my AAA card.
ReplyDeleteThank you! My girls going in a field trip and I am not going :( but I can prepare them!!
ReplyDeleteAww, too bad you can't go with them, Dalila! But I know they'll have fun. Maybe you can go back again with them another time. Thanks for reading!
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ReplyDeleteHi there! Thanks for reading and commenting. When I visited I used a AAA discount. I'm not sure if they still offer it, so you might want to call ahead to check. I would also check their Facebook page or google for Promo codes before spending full price on admission. They also offer discounts to military, teachers and first responders at certain times of the year. Exhaust all of your options before spending full price on admission! Good luck! (oh, I also updated this post because I thought mentioning the price I paid was a little confusing for readers, so thanks for pointing that out. I've since changed it!)
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