Telus World of Science set to reopen Discoveryland

By Kimberly Melo and Elizabeth Walters

EDMONTON — Telus World of Science is gearing up for the grand reopening of the newly renovated Discoveryland on Dec. 17.

 Discoveryland, which has served the science centre’s youngest visitors since 1992, needed some rejuvenation.

The new Discoveryland has areas for role-playing, water-play and creative play, as well as space for toddlers and for infant care.

“Our primary objective was to create our region’s premiere early childhood learning environment so children start school excited, eager and ready to learn,” Gillian Crichton, marketing and communications co-ordinator for the Telus World of Science.

Discoveryland supports “playful learning,” Crichton said, offering a variety of activities exploring the arts, sciences and humanities with lots of opportunities to interact with other children.

Many of the Telus World of Science’s 500,000 visitors per year come specifically for Discoveryland, Crichton said.

Telus World of Science has received positive feedback on the Discoveryland Renewal Project.

“Based on customer feedback and requests from parents, caregivers and teachers, we began researching how to best meet the community need for childhood development,” Crichton said.

Janine Waddleton frequently takes her four-year-old daughter to the Telus World of Science, specifically for Discoveryland.

“My daughter always has such a great time at Discoveryland and meets new kids her age every time we come,” said Waddleton. “I am glad they decided to renovate because the equipment was starting to look pretty used. When you have young ones playing, jumping and yanking on equipment and toys, it’s bound to get a little banged up.”

The Discoveryland Renewal Project is being funded by a variety of anonymous donors, as well as the Alberta Lottery Fund, the Butler Family Foundation, the Edmonton Space and Science Foundation, Edmonton International Airports and the Edmonton Public Teachers Local 37 Charity Trust Fund, said Crichton.

The Telus World of Science is now turning its attention to a $150-million expansion set for 2020.

At a city council meeting on Nov. 23, president and CEO George Smith requested $50 million towards the long-term expansion of the Telus World of Science.

City councillors have yet to make a decision, but an answer may be provided as early as Dec. 13.

“The master plan is a long-term plan to expand the science centre into truly a world-class facility,” Smith said at a Nov. 3 consultation meeting.

“We’re still severely undersized at this time, and still limited and what we can offer to the community.”

The expansion plans are part of a larger vision for the development of the Coronation District Park.

As a non-profit organization, the centre plans on raising the money for the expansion through fundraising, government grants and corporate sponsorship.

The Telus World of Science was originally built in 1984 as a planetarium, but is now used for a multitude of purposes.

“We tried to convert the facility into a broad-based science centre. This will allow us to complete that work,” Smith said.

The renovation would include a number of permanent exhibits, a feature traveling exhibit gallery, a digital visualization theatre, a learning and dialogue centre, and a Canadian circumpolar science centre.

Along with all those changes, the centre plans to upgrade the Imax theatre.

“Technology in our Imax theatre is now 27 years old, and of course that technology has all gone digital today and 3D… which we can’t offer at this stage, but we will be able to,” Smith said.

The Telus World of Science and the University of Alberta have developed a partnership to create a Canadian circumpolar science centre, with the goal to bring “real science to the science centre and interpret it for the public,” Smith said.

“There will actually be University of Alberta research labs on site, people will actually get to watch the researchers doing their work, and talk to them, so it’s a very different kind of learning experience than what we can offer today.”

A Star Wars exhibit will be visiting the Telus World of Science in October 2012.