The KidsQuest Children's Museum is not only a fun place to bring your kids for a birthday party or just a fun afternoon, it is a learning experience, too. Since December 2005, the venue has attracted all kinds of different families with its wide array of exhibits and play areas for kids. KidsQuest Children's Museum annually changes its offerings. It also has private parties and a few different membership options for discount ticketing.
The AMC Loews Factoria 8 cinema is located on Factoria Boulveard SE right next to the business park that it shares a parking lot with. Unlike its neighbor, the cinema is rather out-of-date, with its interior/exterior stuck back in the 1980s. Other negatives are limited parking across scattered lots, relatively small auditoriums and the fact that you won't find any midnight showings here of the most anticipated new releases.
What you will find however, is a large concession stand, stadium seating (for the most part) and moderate to large-size projector screens with Dolby sound. The cinema has a nice large sign board along the outside walkway leading up to the ticket office where it lists the films currently being shown, their times and even upcoming films that will be playing at the cinema shortly.
Arterra is an art gallery just minutes away from downtown Bellevue. Call for more information on visitor information.
For kids from infancy to 5 years and beyond, Gymboree offers a place to develop skills and interests from music to sports to art. There are classes that teach social interaction through play for specific age groups, as well as family class time.
The Bellevue Square location offers memberships that include parenting information, free classes and free open gym time. Gymboree can also host a birthday or party for any occasion.
Pacific Northwest School of Music teaches the Suzuki method and provides both private and group lessons. In 1964, Shinichi Suzuki sent the first Suzuki music instructor to the United States, Mihoko Hirata. Hirata began her work at Holy Names Academy, helping two Catholic nuns develop the Suzuki method music program. In 1970, she started the first Suzuki school in the Pacific Northwest, the school which was the foundation for the Pacific Northwest School of Music.
The Meydenbauer Center, located in downtown Bellevue across the street from City Hall, can host theater events, large conventions or corporate meetings. The convention center has 54,000 square feet of convention meeting space, including a lobby, exhibition rooms with room for thousands of people, a theater space with a stage, ticketing area and 410 seats. Services at the conference center include packages that include event planning, technical and audio-visual assistance and catering. Parking is available in an underground garage, and the venue is walking distance to the Bellevue transit center. The theater has been host to jazz music, ballet, drama, the Bellevue Philharmonic, and other types of shows and concerts.
The Hallway Gallery shows and sells works by painters and sculptors from around the region and the world. The Gallery is owned by husband and wife Amy Spassov and Erik Hall; both are artists whose work is on display in the space. All art in the bright, airy gallery is for sale, and there is no cost to view the work.