The Magic of Magic Wings

If you're from the Midwest, you'll probably have a better understanding of this post.  This is particularly true if you've ever been to Wisconsin Dells.  Wisconsin Dells is a giant water slide park.  There are several random exhibits in the area, like the one where my friends and I fed over 100 tame, white tail deer or the house that appears to defy gravity (really it's built on an angle). 

I posted a few weeks ago about museum passes, and someone made a comment about the butterfly museum.  My older son is very intrigued by butterflies so I thought it would be a lot of fun.  A friend of mine and I therefore decided to carpool to Magic Wings near Springfield, MA. 

As we were approaching, I racked my brain for the name of this butterfly place.  I thought it might be Magic Wings.  As I tried to confirm that name in my mind, one image immediately popped into my head:  Wisconsin Dells. 

We went inside and after some confusion about where to get tickets, having to park our strollers which are not allowed in the gift shop or the actual butterfly conservatory, we walked into the exhibit.  At first I was very disappointed and a little miffed that I had just spent $20.  The first room had a bunch of display cases with different butterflies, small reptiles, and quails that had just hatched.  I repeatably saw the slogan "more than butterflies" throughout the museum.  Before I wanted to see more, I wanted to actually see butterflies.  Once I realized this wasn't the actual butterfly conservatory, I felt better about the exhibit, and I did chuckle at the slogan and the displays.   

The actual butterfly conservatory was really cool.  Well, it depends on who you ask.  My boys and I really enjoyed it.  Butterflies swooped down from all over the place.  Despite the pictures on the wesbsite though, we didn't have many butterflies land on us.  In fact, I don't remember a single butterfly landing on us, a point which my 4 year old was quick to point out in disapointment.  Neither my friend nor her son were as impressed.  She said she felt like she was in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds except with butterflies.  A bunch of the kids there looked uncomfortable, but then again a lot of others really seemed to be enjoying it.  They also had some small cages of birds, more reptiles, and a small pond with giant goldfish in it.  These random combinations only further reminded me of the Wisconsin Dells.  My boys loved it. 

Based on my friend's first experience, it was just the boys and me for our visit after our lunch break.  We all had a good time.  My only complaint was that it was warm (understandable because of the butterflies.)  Also, I found several of the other customers to be a little rude and pushy.  I wouldn't recommend going there on the weekend; even on Tuesday it was pretty crowded and hard to move around in the conservatory.  Apparently there is more space available for butterflies than I realized.  When he got home from work, my husband asked which butterfly museum we had visited.   We'll have to check out the other one too.

Comments

[margaret]

When we went, it wasn't crowded, but we didn't have any land on us either. Did they still have the quails running around? The girls were more interested in chasing the chicks that time.

We went to the one in Boston (at the MoS) but it was much smaller.

[SallyHP]

H loved the 'idea' of it...just not the gynormous butterflies that kept landing on his head. I'm sure my convulsions when one landed on me didn't help much.

Oh, also, it was Spring Break for CT, which was why it was so crowded.

[Amy]

We've been to The Butterfly Place in Tyngsboro, MA (I think???) and loved it! No butterflies landed on us, but did on those around us so we got some great pictures and up close experiences. Sweetie loved it and I don't recall being outraged by the admission price. Check it out sometime!