You have seen countless commercials on television that have the tagline, "Not your father's...". The one that comes to mind recently is by Buick. Well, after visiting the Kennedy Space Center a couple of weeks ago, I think that the same phrase can be used by them.
I think the last time we visited the space center was in the mid-1980's when my son was a young child. I kind of remember that it was nice, but nothing really stood out to me other than back then it wasn't Cape Canaveral, but rather Cape Kennedy. Before our trip this year, I went online to check out some touristy stuff to do and the space center was near the top of the list. After visiting, I can't believe what they have done since my last visit.
The center is a full-day attraction (we didn't do everything that we wanted to and could have stayed another half day) and the tours, movies and displays were outstanding. When you first walk in, the rocket "garden" is the first thing you see, and seeing all of the many rockets there was really cool. My favorite stop was at the end of the tour when you get to the Apollo/Saturn V Center to get close and personal with these amazing rockets. Standing below this Saturn V booster rocket gives you a great appreciation of how powerful (and big) they are and the risks that the brave astronauts faced that traveled into space.