Giant crayon billboards that popped up in Buffalo this summer invited visitors to “Draw the best day ever in Rochester, NY” at the city’s newly expanded Strong National Museum of Play, a world class museum adventure an hour down the New York Thruway.
The innovative museum originally created to house the collections of Margaret Woodbury Strong opened in 1982. She had established the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination in her house in 1968 to showcase her massive collection of dolls and thousands of other objects.
The only child of wealthy parents who encouraged their daughter’s love of collecting, she died in 1969 and her will left her collections with more than 300,000 objects and most of her more than $77 million fortune to establish a museum. Today the museum boasts what is considered the world’s most comprehensive doll collection.
Over the years the museum doubled in size and then on June 30, 2023, the new $75 million 90,000-square-foot expansion formally opened.
“The Strong is putting Rochester back on the map as a top destination for family fun and for gamers of all ages,” said Steve Dubnik, president & CEO of The Strong. “This expansion project has been years in the making and reflects The Strong’s commitment to exploring the power of play and its influence on our development and culture. We’re proud to offer guests of all ages a unique and playful experience that they will never forget.”
The world’s only museum devoted solely to play; it is the centerpiece of the city’s all new Neighborhood of Play. The next-door 100-room Hampton Inn & Suites opened this summer, offering family friendly accommodations including canine members. An overnight at the Hampton Inn allows families to totally immerse themselves in the museum experience.
It is very much a museum for all ages and interests from an historic carousel to a high ropes course, to butterflies, to video games galore. It is the place for children and adults alike to come to touch, explore, and play. During my visit, grandparents were everywhere with grandkids leading the way.
The new outdoor 17,000-square-foot Hasbro Game Park, a colorful play area, was developed with funding from Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld, whose family founded toy giant Hasbro in 1923.
Speaking at the expansion opening ceremonies, Hassenfeld called the museum “an incredible magic kingdom. It truly is, as it’s been said, the greatest repository of play in the world today. There is no comparison.”
The park includes a 10-by-14-foot replica of the Scottie dog token from Monopoly, a five-headed dragon from Dungeons & Dragons that visitors can make breathe mist and fire with the touch of a button, a rideable Game of Life spinner, towering Candy Land candy canes, and giant Scrabble tiles spelling PLAY.
Everywhere children were jumping, climbing, and playing. Then the bubble lady walked out armed with bubbles, bubble guns, and other bubble making necessities. Almost immediately, she was surrounded by a crowd of small visitors gleefully making bubbles.
Back inside, the expansion includes a new welcome atrium. A new connection building — the Portal of Play — acts as a gateway to the existing parking garage and expanded space.
At the top of the second floor is the new world’s largest, playable Donkey Kong arcade game. It is nearly 20 feet tall. Also on this floor is the immersive ESL Digital Worlds, which offers visitors two progressive, video game centric areas.
In Level Up, they can create their own personalized avatars and set out on challenging and puzzle-solving quests. In High Score, guests will learn about the business and art of the video game industry and discover the stories behind the World Video Game Hall of Fame and Women in Games exhibit.
Want a challenge? Check out the Skyline Climb (extra charge), the museum’s high ropes course. Suspended above the carousel atrium and Bill Gray’s Diner, adults and children can traverse beams and balance obstacles, maneuver ropes and bridges, and leap off a zipline platform. There are two courses geared toward different sizes and skill levels. There is the low-rise course for guests below 48 inches and the high-rise for guests 48 inches and above.
Do you have younger children? Take a ride on the museum’s largest and most colorful artifact, an operating 1918 Allan Herschell carousel built in North Tonawanda’s Herschell Carrousel Factory.
The beautifully restored carousel features 20 jumping horses, three stationary ponies, a chariot, and a whirling tub. Riders feel right at home among the brightly painted scenes of Upstate New York inspired by the Erie Canal, Lake Ontario, and nearby High Falls.
Another favorite is the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, the only year-round indoor butterfly garden in upstate New York. It is in a glass-enclosed structure with a luminescent roof shaped like outspread wings. There is an additional charge to enter this magical place. A host welcomes us, and we watched a video about the garden and butterflies. As we crossed into the tropical home of the winged creatures the noise level immediately lowered. Even toddlers were fascinated by the butterflies and stood quiet and still when they were lucky enough to have one land on them. We are all reminded to check our clothes before leaving so the butterflies remain in their home.
Wegmans Super Kids Market remains one of the museum’s most popular exhibits. Kids run the store. They cruise the aisles and fill their grocery cart with realistic replicas of food products. Then they scan barcoded products at working check-out counters. At the expanded toddler area, little ones can pick, count, sort and weigh organic veggies; crawl through a raised hoop house; and sit under the apple tree. Produce a commercial or cooking show at the WKID-TV station.
Reading Adventureland is another popular area with 12,000-square-feet of fun that invites guests to laugh, play, learn and read. The Yellow Brick Road takes visitors into five literary landscapes inspired by children’s literature:
Mystery Mansion: Decipher codes and scour for clues like Nancy Drew as you navigate through secret doors and hidden compartments.
The Wizard’s Workshop: Here mermaids, unicorns and dragons dwell.
Fairy Tale Forest: Cross the Troll Bridge, step into Cinderella’s pumpkin coach, climb a Beanstalk to the Giant’s Castle, and act out favorite fairy tales at the Fairy Tale Cottage.
Adventure Island: Become a game piece on a giant board and spin your way through adventures that will have you exploring a shipwreck, scaling a cliff, and crawling through cave tunnels.
The Upside-down Nonsense House: A topsy-turvy house filled with ridiculous rhymes, silly food (green eggs and ham), wacky weather, tongue twisters and mirror illusions.
One History Place is another perennial favorite of younger visitors who enjoy trying on clothes from more than a century ago, putting on a puppet show, learning what kitchen chores were like in great grandparents’ day when modern appliances meant a butter-churn, a washboard, an icebox, and an ice-cream crank. Play the real antique piano or climb aboard the small-scale railroad car. Activate electric toy trains.
Play Pals invites visitors to play house, heal a teddy bear, and save the world. The exhibit traces the evolution of dolls, action figures, toy soldiers, and plush animals throughout American history.
Step into a life-sized dollhouse. Check the vital signs of your favorite stuffed animals. Try on clothes in the fashion dress-up area. Check out dolls, action figures and stuffed animals from every decade including Thomas Edison’s talking doll, a 1930s Mickey Mouse, and Mabel, Margaret Woodbury Strong’s beloved doll.
Climb the dramatic National Toy Hall of Fame exhibit staircase and view a gallery of 21 portraits of classic toys, some that move and interact with guests. Inductees in the Hall of Fame include the Yo-Yo, Erector Set, Etch A Sketch, Frisbee, G.I. Joe, Hula Hoop, Jacks, Monopoly, Raggedy Ann, Silly Putty, Slinky, Teddy Bear, Top, American Girl dolls, alphabet blocks and View-Master. Every year new toys are inducted into the Hall of Fame and the public is invited to nominate toys.
Don’t leave without a ride on the Strong Express Train. This is for children and adults alike. The mini locomotive chugs down the track surrounded by scenic postcards from across America. There are colorful passenger cars and a caboose of course.
An exhibit of an old-fashioned wooden fishing boat and gear posed the question: “Is Fishing Play?” the answer: “Sport fishing begins in keen expectation. Tending to reels and rods during the off season, tying flies, baiting hooks, and finally casting or trolling for the prize, prolongs and heightens fishermen’s pleasure. Anglers wait and wait for surprise strikes. Intense contests follow. Remember that play need not be “playful.” And though fish (the “game”) may “win” by escaping, they are not at play. But the anglers are.
Travel Tip of the Month: For information on Strong Museum visit museumofplay.org or call 585-263-2700. The museum is open daily 10 am-5 pm and until 8 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Visitors can leave the museum and return the same day with hand stamps. Get tickets online and save $2 per ticket. Tickets are half price first Friday of the month beginning at 4pm. There are also two-day rates. Anyone who receives SNAP benefits may purchase a ticket for $5 and up to three additional guests.
Consider a yearly family membership for unlimited return visits. Parking in the ramp is $5 for museum visitors.
Visitors are permitted to bring snacks, drinks, and brown bag lunches to the museum, but they should be consumed in the food court. The museum has three dining options: Main Menu (Food Court), Puppy’s Game Cage, and Bill Gray’s.
For Hampton Inn & Suites Rochester Downtown visit Hilton.com or call 585-450-3801.
Deborah Williams lives in Holland, NY and is a veteran travel writer whose work has appeared in national and international publications. She is the recipient of the Society of American Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas Gold Travel Writing Award.