How Does the Museum Compare with Established Children’s Museums Nationally?

I AM Children's Museum Compared to Established U.S. Institutions

NATIONAL PERFORMANCE PROVIDES A STRONG BENCHMARK FOR PROJECTED ATTENDANCE

Children's museums across the United States demonstrate that highly interactive institutions can generate significant annual visitation across a wide range of facility sizes and market types.

For the I AM Children's Museum, the most relevant comparison is not simply total attendance. It is the relationship between facility size, visitor volume, market strength, programming, repeat visitation and destination appeal.

INSTITUTION	FACILITY SIZE	ANNUAL ATTENDANCE / REACH	VISITORS PER SF	MARKET POSITION
Children's Museum of Indianapolis	472,900 SF	1.3M+	2.7+	National Destination
Strong National Museum of Play	285,000 SF	700K+	2.5+	National Destination
Boston Children's Museum	88,575 SF*	418K+	4.7+	Major Urban / Tourism Market
Minnesota Children's Museum	67,000 SF	375K+	5.6+	Regional Destination
The DoSeum	65,000 SF	~300K	~4.6	Tourism / Regional Destination
Orlando Science Center	207,000 SF	~500K--600K	~2.4--2.9	Established Central Florida Institution
Glazer Children's Museum	52,297 SF	~250K	~4.8	Urban / Tourism Market
Marbles Kids Museum	39,000 SF	500K+	12.8+	Downtown Destination
Children's Museum of Virginia	~30,000 SF	~225K	~7.5	Regional Destination
Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine	~30,000 SF	258K+ served	~8.6**	Regional Tourism Destination
I AM CHILDREN'S MUSEUM	34,700 SF built campus (2,700 SF historic home + 20,000 SF indoor museum + 12,000 SF outdoor) plus ~2 miles of Discovery Trails	250K Opening / 300K Mature	7.2 / 8.6	Orange County Tourism Destination

*Boston figure reflects program/exhibit space used for comparative density analysis. **People served may include onsite and outreach participation and therefore should not be treated as directly equivalent to turnstile attendance.

WHAT THE BENCHMARK TELLS US

250,000 VISITORS IS NOT AN AGGRESSIVE OPENING ASSUMPTION

The I AM Children's Museum projects approximately:

250,000 annual visitors in the opening period 300,000 annual visitors at mature operation

That equates to approximately:

685 visitors per day at 250,000 annually

and

820 visitors per day at 300,000 annually

when averaged across a full operating year.

For a destination located within the Central Florida tourism market, those volumes are consistent with the performance demonstrated by established children's museums of comparable scale.

SMALLER DOES NOT MEAN LOWER ATTENDANCE

One of the most important findings from the national benchmark is that attendance does not increase proportionately with building size.

Large national institutions naturally accommodate significant visitation, but several smaller children's museums demonstrate substantially greater visitor density.

Examples include institutions in the approximately 30,000--67,000 SF range serving roughly 250,000 to 500,000+ people annually.

This matters because the I AM Children's Museum is intentionally designed around a high-use, experience-rich model rather than building unnecessary square footage.

The goal is not to build the largest children's museum.

The goal is to create one of the most productive and compelling family destinations for its size.

THE ORANGE COUNTY ADVANTAGE

National benchmarks demonstrate what children's museums can achieve.

Orange County provides market conditions that few comparable children's museums have.

The I AM Children's Museum will operate within one of the world's most established family tourism economies while also serving one of Florida's largest and fastest-growing residential regions.

That creates multiple visitor pipelines:

CENTRAL FLORIDA FAMILIES Memberships • Weekend visits • School breaks • Camps • Birthday parties • Seasonal programming

SCHOOL VISITATION Field trips • Title I access • Bears Who Care • Early learning partnerships • Homeschool programming

DOMESTIC TOURISM Families already traveling to Central Florida seeking additional experiences during multi-day vacations

REPEAT TOURISM Vacation-ownership guests • Repeat Orlando visitors • Grandparents traveling with children • Florida drive-market visitors

CONVENTION & BUSINESS TRAVEL Families accompanying convention and business travelers • Pre/post-convention family experiences

HOTEL & RESORT GUESTS Family itinerary partnerships • Concierge referrals • Rainy-day experiences • Arrival/departure-day activities

REGIONAL DAY TRIPS Lake • Osceola • Seminole • Polk • Volusia • Brevard and surrounding Central Florida counties

ATTENDANCE IS BUILT THROUGH MULTIPLE DEMAND CHANNELS

The 250,000--300,000 attendance projection is not dependent upon a single audience.

It is supported by a diversified visitation strategy:

General Admission Local, regional and tourist families

Membership Repeat visitation from Central Florida households

School Field Trips Orange County and regional K--12 partners

Early Childhood Education Head Start, preschool and early learning partners

Homeschool Families Weekday educational programming and recurring experiences

Camps & School Break Programming Summer, teacher workdays and holiday breaks

Birthday Parties & Celebrations A recurring family visitation driver

Seasonal Festivals & Events New reasons to visit throughout the year

Rotating Experiences Programming and exhibit changes that support repeat visitation

Corporate & Convention Programming Family and community experiences connected to Central Florida's business and convention economy

Community Access Museum for All, scholarships and Eight Waves programming

THE REPEAT-VISITATION MODEL

Children's museums operate differently from many traditional cultural attractions.

The product is not designed to be experienced once.

As children develop, the way they interact with an exhibit changes.

Programming changes.

Seasonal experiences change.

Camps create another entry point.

Field trips create another.

Birthdays create another.

New exhibits create another.

Outdoor experiences create another.

Family memberships make repeat visits economically attractive.

That makes frequency of visitation an important component of the operating model.

A single household may interact with the institution through a school field trip, family admission, membership, camp, birthday party, festival or community program during the same year.

THE INDOOR MUSEUM IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE

The attendance benchmark should also be understood within the context of the complete I AM Children's Museum campus and programming model.

The visitor experience extends beyond the indoor museum through:

2,700 SF restored Historic Home Welcome Center

20,000 SF indoor museum experience

12,000 SF of outdoor eco-educational experiences

Approximately 2 miles of immersive Discovery Trails

The Tree of Possibilities

Nature, water, engineering and environmental learning

West Orange Trail connectivity

Historic arrival experience

Educational tourism trails

Seasonal outdoor programming

Community events and festivals

The project therefore functions as a broader indoor + outdoor destination experience, rather than relying exclusively on the 20,000 SF indoor museum experience.

DESTINATION PROGRAMMING DRIVES RETURN VISITATION

The museum's programming strategy is deliberately designed to keep the visitor experience changing.

SIGNATURE IMMERSIVE EXHIBITS

Hands-on experiences in:

Art & Creativity Building & Engineering Media & Video Production Career Exploration Early Childhood Community Life Environmental Learning Storytelling Innovation

ROTATING EXPERIENCES

New exhibitions and experiences create reasons for families to return rather than treating the museum as a one-time attraction.

SEASONAL EXPERIENCES

Spring Break Summer Back-to-School Fall Holiday Winter Break Special Community Weekends

OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES

The Tree of Possibilities and outdoor learning areas expand capacity while creating programming that can change seasonally.

A CONSERVATIVE MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY

The I AM Children's Museum does not need to capture a large percentage of Central Florida's total visitor economy to achieve its attendance projections.

At 250,000 annual visitors, the museum requires approximately:

20,800 visits per month

or approximately

4,800 visits per week

At 300,000 annual visitors, the requirement is approximately:

25,000 visits per month

or approximately

5,770 visits per week

Those visitors are distributed across residents, regional visitors, schools, members and tourists rather than relying entirely on destination tourists.

That diversification substantially reduces reliance on any one attendance source.

BENCHMARK RANGE

COMPARABLE SMALL/MIDSIZE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM PERFORMANCE

National examples demonstrate annual visitor densities ranging broadly from approximately:

4--13 visitors per square foot

among established interactive institutions, depending upon market, facility configuration and methodology.

I AM CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Opening Target | 7.2 Visitors / SF

250,000 Visitors ÷ 34,700 SF

Mature Target | 8.6 Visitors / SF

300,000 Visitors ÷ 34,700 SF

The I AM projection therefore sits toward the higher end of the benchmark range, but within demonstrated performance for successful smaller-format children's museums.

That higher utilization is supported by the project's location within the Central Florida family tourism market, its indoor/outdoor campus, school and community pipelines, repeat-visit programming and diversified attendance model.

IMPORTANT CONTEXT FOR THE COMPARISON

SQUARE FOOTAGE ALONE DOES NOT PREDICT ATTENDANCE.

Attendance is influenced by:

Market population Tourism volume Location and accessibility Quality of exhibits Membership penetration School participation Programming frequency Marketing investment Special exhibitions Community access Operating days and hours Outdoor capacity Repeat visitation Regional partnerships

For that reason, the benchmark should be used as a reasonableness test, not as a mathematical prediction of future attendance.

And on that test, the I AM Children's Museum's projected attendance is supported by demonstrated performance within the national children's museum sector.

WHAT MAKES I AM DIFFERENT

Many museums begin with a building and then develop outreach around it.

The I AM model begins with an existing community infrastructure through Eight Waves and expands that work into a permanent destination institution.

That creates established pathways into:

Orange County schools

Title I students

Early childhood education

Middle and high school students

Families requiring reduced-cost access

Community organizations

Volunteers

Corporate partners

Colleges and workforce partners

The museum will not open its doors and begin searching for a community audience.

The community pipeline is being built before the building opens.

THE BENCHMARK CONCLUSION

THE NATIONAL DATA SUPPORTS THE SCALE.

Comparable children's museums demonstrate that facilities in the 30,000--70,000 SF range can successfully serve hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

THE MARKET SUPPORTS THE OPPORTUNITY.

The I AM Children's Museum will operate within an unusually strong combination of family tourism, residential growth, school enrollment and repeat Central Florida visitation.

THE MODEL SUPPORTS REPEAT USE.

Memberships, field trips, rotating exhibits, camps, birthdays, festivals, outdoor experiences and community programming create multiple reasons to return.

THE PROJECTION REMAINS DISCIPLINED.

The museum is planning around 250,000 opening-year visitors and 300,000 mature annual visitors rather than assuming immediate performance at the level of the nation's largest institutions.

34,700 SF BUILT CAMPUS PLUS APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES OF DISCOVERY TRAILS.

250,000--300,000 ANNUAL VISITORS.

MULTIPLE VISITOR MARKETS.

YEAR-ROUND DEMAND.

BUILT FOR HIGH UTILIZATION.

The benchmark does not suggest that I AM needs to become one of America's largest children's museums to succeed. It demonstrates that a thoughtfully programmed, highly utilized children's museum can generate substantial attendance within a significantly smaller footprint and Orange County provides an exceptional market in which to do it.