Progress is being made on the updated, high-tech CineDome at Orlando Science Center. Out are the old chairs and old-school film projector; incoming are new lights, speakers, 8K digital projectors and top-notch screen to line the eight-story sphere.
For now, the space is filled with scaffolding to be used to install panels of NanoSeam into their very specific spots.
“We worked it from the top down, where we’ll peel this screen off and then put the brand-new screen over the top of it,” Stephen Holt, vice president for facilities and exhibits, said during a tour of the theater. This is the future home for the museum’s very-big-screen movies, revived laser shows and traditional – but modern – planetarium presentations.
“We’re returning to our roots as a planetarium, and it isn’t just the same old planetarium show,” said JoAnn Newman, president and CEO of Orlando Science Center.
“It’s amazing what can be done,” she said. “We’re going to fly you through the universe. We can go to planets. We could do black holes, whatever kind of astronomical events you can imagine.”
o Science Center President & CEO JoAnn Newman and Stephen Holt, vice president of facilities and exhibits Stephen Holt walk through the museum’s under-renovation domed theater Monday. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
The curved steel structure of the dome was inspected and certified as sturdy. Before the new screen is attached – a process that will take about 28 days, Holt said – a set of eight 7-foot-tall speakers will be mounted to the frame.
The overhaul is expected to be completed in the spring of 2026. Dr. Phillips Charities made a $1 million dollar donation to the museum’s Unlock Science campaign for the renovation, and the theater will be known as the Dome by Dr. Phillips Charities.
The theater had mostly remained the same since it opened with the science center’s Loch Haven Park facility in 1997.
“It’s going to become this magical place for storytelling,” Newman said.
“Then we have to decide what content we want to lean into. We’ll start with astronomy and planetarium, because it’s so cool, but there’s just so much happening.” she said. Among the options are patching into other museums’ presentations and showing planetarium shows designed locally. The theater could play host to scientific demonstrations and musical acts backed by the new screen.
The theater’s digital update “allows us to bring laser-light shows back, which is also kind of part of our history,” said Jeff Stanford, vice president for marketing. “There’s a whole generation that grew up going to Pink Floyd [laser shows] at the John Young Museum and Planetarium, so we’re going to satisfy that crowd, too.”
The changes will present fresh offerings in unique ways.
“This is definitely an experience you cannot get at home,” Stanford said.
Right now, there’s a hole in the middle of the seating area where the digital projector used to merge from the lower level. New seats are going throughout the theater, including over that newly available gap, but they will be a little larger, so the dome’s capacity will be similar, Newman said.
The guest queue area of the domed theater is being repurposed as part of the renovation. The outdated film projector, which popped through the seating area above, has been removed. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
In the past, lower-level visitors could see in the projector room and the giant reels of film spooling their way up 18 feet into the theater. That space will be converted into a classroom and meeting area. Nearby will be a robotic vending area for snacks. The theater will be fronted by a large LED screen promoting upcoming dome events and showings.
“If it’s space-related content, it may be from the James Webb [Space] Telescope. If it’s oceans, we may have humpback whales – just really beautiful still shots,” Holt said.
The final feet of film ran through the science center’s projector in August. That equipment was picked up by a company set to refurbish it for parts for the few film projectors still in use.
“There are a couple of different institutions that are looking at housing it to become a museum piece,” Holt said.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/08/science-theater-1011/
