MovieChat Forums > SpaceCamp (1986) Discussion > I JUST GOT BACK from Space Camp!!!!!

I JUST GOT BACK from Space Camp!!!!!

posted 10 years ago by MsMollyGolightly
3 replies | jump to latest

Bear with me, Im so psyched...
Since I was a kid I watched this movie 1000x.
Ive met Tate Donovan, Kelly Preston and Joaquin Phoenix, and when I did, Kelly and Tate were digging it, laughing when I brought up this being the best movie ever! Joaquin not so much, I think he was in a bad mood.

anyway, Im 40 now, and they do a "Family Program" the kid has to be at least 7 or 8.

so me and my husband and son reserved, and went for 4 days.

It cost about $1400, and we slept and ate there. Literally its a kids camp.
We had to eat corn dogs and tater tots, chocolate milk -I was dying
We have to make our own beds, and its exactly like the movie..
We slept in the Habitat, and learned a lot.
When I say "Just like the movie" MY GOD--- totally to a T

when you get there, they give you your team, but they aren't colored. We were on team Gemini.
They DO assign you positions, that rotate, and you perform "Missions" by following a script.
I got to be Pilot on the 3rd Mission, and my little boy was shuttle commander...

Its a thing or a place you go like once in a lifetime.
I had aches and pains, and blisters all over, the program is 14 hours a day with a graduation.

The instructors aren't no "Andie Bergstrom" - they are the types of kids you see working at Disney or Six Flags.
We did however pay extra for lunch with an astronaut, her name was Dottie Metcalf, who went up in 2010 for 15 days on Discovery.. shes my age, and she showed and talked about the video, it was cool.

we all wore the SC jumpsuits, they were $90 a piece, and they give your free camp clothes, it was cool.

Im totally not bragging, but I wish I knew someone who went.
It was worth the money, I travel a lot, and normally we are in Disney, or a cruise, the carribean or Europe around this time, this was a different type of vacation. My kid is still talking about it.

ALTHOUGH, I don't recommend flying into Huntsville, its crazy boring there, we instead flew from our home in Vegas to Memphis and drove in to AL.It was a 4 hr drive, and I wanted to show my son Graceland and the Civil rights museum. So I made it more of a vacation..

just thought you would all like to hear, since it was on my bucket list from my childhood!

[–] davcalla777 9 years ago

U thoroughly enjoyed your story, and though I'm sorry it was so expensive, but it sounds like you really got to enjoy a childhood dream, I myself am 39 and saw this movie 1000s of times growing up, and I've always wanted to take the SpaceCamp vacation too, though I read recently even here on IMDB that space camp was now a one day tour of the facility and that's it, omg I would love if space camp had they're camps just like in the film, complete with teams, lol, and considering I live less than 4 hours from Huntsville Al, after reading your post, I just might look into it, Thanks

[–] Fluke_Skywalker 9 years ago

I wonder, for adults, is it family only (i.e. parents with kids)? I'm 41 and have wanted to attend Space Camp since seeing an ad in Boy's Life magazine as a kid. But I don't have children (though I suppose I could borrow my niece and nephew lol) and TBH, not sure I want to share the experience with a bunch of crumb crunchers or tweens.

But if there were an adult Space Camp--and by "adult" I don't mean one that includes zero-g fornicating, though I'm not opposed to the idea--I'm there.

----
A journey into the realm of the obscure: http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/

[–] jobie123 9 years ago

Very, very cool. Sounded like it was a blast. So glad to hear Tate and Kelly were cool as well. Definitely one of my favorite films. I still have the novelization (check the "images" section - I uploaded two pics of the book.)