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Seattle Center Walking Tour, Seattle
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Seattle Center Walking Tour
Guide Location: USA » Seattle
Guide Type: Self-guided city tour
# of Attractions: 8
Tour Duration: 1 hour(s)
Transportation Mode: by foot
Travel Distance: 1.9 km
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Jeffery Hayes
Author: doris
Seattle Center is a 74 acre campus within the city that combines a park, museums, entertainment and a fairground. It is one of the most famous places in Seattle where the entire family can have fun. You can visit the famous Experience Music Project Museum or go visit the Children's Museum that will offer an absolutely unique experience for your children. Take this walking tour to discover the amazing Seattle Center.
Tour Stops and Attractions
Key Arena
1) Key Arena
The Key Arena at the Seattle Center plays host to major sporting and music events. The arena can seat over 15 thousand spectators and has won accolades as one of the safest and most comfortable stadiums in the world.
Key arena is located north of downtown Seattle in the 74 acre Seattle Center that was originally built for the 1962 World’s fair. The stadium has well known basketball teams as its tenants including the Seattle University Redhawks basketball team, the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics, WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds and the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. The public supported arena is funded by the income earned through rents and events that take place at the stadium.
The Key Arena was built on the site of the former Washington State Coliseum. The stadium was built to suit modern NBA standards after adding many facilities that were lacking in the Coliseum. The reconstruction was carried out by the Seattle office of NBBJ architects who are the second biggest architectural firm in the US. The stadium was also equipped with ultra modern sightlines and acoustics. There is also a five story parking garage that can hold 600 cars. Besides basketball games, the stadium also hosts music concerts and ice hockey events.
For sports enthusiasts and music lovers, an event at the Key Arena provides an enriching and enjoyable experience.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and 3bulletproof16
International Fountain
2) International Fountain
The international fountain forms part of the Seattle Centre that was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. The fountain as it is today bears no resemblance to the original international fountain of 1962.
The appearance of the International Fountain was changed completely in 1995. The fountain was replaced and the landscape altered and expanded making it a human friendly fountain. The first international fountain had iron nozzles and jagged edged white rocks. The new fountain has a bowl where even children can play safely. The fountain today, is environmentally friendly and the water undergoes three recycling treatments making it the cleanest water in Seattle. The fountain also has five synchronized water displays.
The International Fountain has newly designed and landscaped surrounding with shade trees, lawns, sculptures that children can climb, and planters. The landscape was designed by Kenichi Nakano and Associates. The WET Design Company formulated the mechanics of the fountain. The bowl has a diameter of 220 feet and the dome stands 10 feet tall with a width of 27 feet. The fountain also has a water capacity of 9000 gallons.
The International Fountain is not only a beautiful structure of the Seattle cityscape but a place that will give hours of family entertainment for visitors and their children.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Joe Mabel
Mural Amphitheater
3) Mural Amphitheater
Mural Amphitheater is one of the most popular outdoor venues that hosts the major summer festivals in Seattle. It is located in the heart of Seattle Center, with the beautiful Space Needle in the background. The amphitheater's main highlight is the amazing artistic mural created by Paul Horiuchi in 1962.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Joe Mabel
Space Needle
4) Space Needle
The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington, and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over 2.3 million visitors in all for the World Fair. The Space Needle is
605 feet high at its highest point and 138 feet (42 m) wide at its widest point and weighs 9,550 tons. When it was completed it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and Ianbullock68
Sight description based on wikipedia
Fun Forest Amusement Park
5) Fun Forest Amusement Park
Fun Forest Amusement Park was originally established for the World Fair in 1962. At that time it was named "Gayway". The Fun Forest is located at the base of the Space Needle and features 19 amazing rides and a spectacular indoor Entertainment Pavilion.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Joe Mabel
Children's Museum
6) Children's Museum
Located at the Seattle Center’s Center House, the Children’s Museum entertains and educates children of all ages and their parents. The lowest floor of center house is the location of TCM. The museum is an educational facility for children and not a children’s play center. Children learn about Seattle and its surrounding places and other cultures from the exhibits on a visit to the facility.
The Children’s Museum is the brain child of a group of creative Seattle parents who formed a nonprofit organization in 1979 to educate their children in an entertaining and informative way. The museum was first part of the Wing Luke Museum in Chinatown and later shifted to the Pioneer Square Store Front. The facility moved to its present location in 1985.
Highlights of the Children’s Museum include a Playstage Theater, Imagination Station, Activity Annex and an Exhibit Center. TCM also hosts several children friendly travelling exhibits. The museum encourages field trips from schools around Seattle and beyond. Children need to be accompanied by adults while visiting the museum. The facility has a children’s play area of 22,000 square feet. Children from 10 months to 10 years are welcome.
The children’s museum is an interesting and fun place for visitors and their children. The facility stays open all week and for longer hours on weekends. Children under one year of age are admitted for free.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and cliff1066™
Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame
7) Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame
Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame is a museum dedicated to the history of science fiction and popular music. Experience Music Project explores and celebrates musical diversity with an extensive archive of sound recordings, films, photographs, fanzines, and manuscript materials, while the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame opens wide our imagination to the possibility of other worlds, new creatures and different ways of being.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and Nagyman
Memorial Stadium
8) Memorial Stadium
Built in 1948 after World War II, the stadium is dedicated to the memory of the former students of the Seattle High School who died in the service of their nation. A memorial wall has all the names of the old students who did not return from the war.
The Memorial Stadium occupies the North East Corner of the grounds of the Seattle Center. At first the stadium seated 12,000 spectators but expanded to seat 17,000 spectators in 1974 to 1975. The facility hosts several events besides sporting events. The Seattle Sounders Soccer team and the A-league Sounders Soccer team played in the stadium till they moved to other new stadiums. It is the home field of the Seattle Majestics - a woman’s American football team.
The Seattle Public Schools own and operate Memorial Stadium. Major high school tournaments, especially football tournaments between high schools in the school district, are played on the grounds. The stadium also plays host to music concerts and other cultural events. A major Seattle event hosted here is the Bumbershoot, a well known annual international music and arts festival. In 1962, the opening ceremony of the World’s Fair was held at the venue.
The stadium is located in 401, 5th Avenue North and visitors may get to see a sporting or music event hosted by the venue while paying homage to the Seattle students who lost their lives fighting for their country in World War II.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Joe Mabel
Sight description based on wikipedia
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