Neurodiverse-friendly review of the Balloon Museum in Brussels

• Location: Brussels

• Closest parking: Brussels expo parking B (12€)

• Date of Visit: 30/11, in the morning

• Duration: 1.5 - 2 hours

• Open until: 26/01/2025

• General Impressions: Very fun. Overstimulating and at times loud. Would do again.

Balloon museum website

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Ticketing and Prep

• Purchase: Tickets can be prebooked or bought on site. You show your ticket QR code to appease the ticket controlers.

• Timing: We went on a saturday morning (11:00). It clearly got busier throughout the day.

Route and Predictability

• Entry/Exit: Easy to use google maps or waze to find the parking. The parking is expensive (12 euros for any amount of time within the same day)- this also means it's calm and easily accessible. Cross the strees and you're at the museum entrance

• Cloakroom: You pay 3 euros for the cloakroom, items are held behind a barrier with staff present

• Layout: The path throughout the museum is winding, but linear. It's hard to get lost. You have to go through nearly every room but you can choose to go through it quickly

• Bathrooms: At the beginning and end of the museum

• Rest Areas: There aren't many sitting spots or auditively calm areas throughout the museum

Sensory Experiences

• Lighting: There are many colours present in the rooms, often flashing fast and changing in colour or in brightness. The museum is not advised for people that are very sensitive to flashy visual stimuli

• Sound: It's loud and unpredictable, with some rooms more pleasant music and others just loud noises. Aside from this, the museum attracts a lot of kids, they also shout and scream loudly at times. I strongly advise either earplugs or noise cancelling headphones. One room has foam, smoke and bubbles in it, if you bring headphones you'd best protect them from the soapy water in this room. One room, more in the beginning, has unpredicable loud uncomfortable noises. This room has you walking between large, lit up balloonheads. This is the only room that I skipped as quickly as possible.

• Touch: Most but not all exhibits have interactive stuff, most of it balloon like. It invites people to push it and create chaos, making it extra unpredictable. I got hit by inflatables multiple times throughout - it did not hurt but it was unexpected. Kids will also run around the exhibits sometimes. Personally I enjoyed many tactile experiences in the museum, especcially the ball pit.

• Smells: The museum is mostly odor free. Some things, like the smoke (from a smoke machine) or the soap bubbles have an unpleasant smell.

• Wetness: at a certain point you get discardable shoe protection, this is to go through the ball pit and afterwards through the bubble room. The ball pit will not make you wet, but the bubble room will have bubbles, smoke and water softly coming down on you - bring a poncho if you hate this sensation.

• Crowding: Most of the rooms are pretty big. If it's busy and the room gets crowded, that can be a bit much.

• Hygiene: Aside from the shoe protectors mentioned above, you can optionally enjoy a short VR show about a show in the circus. Hygienic face protection is offered and advised.

• Sensory Overload: Most people, even those without ADHD or autism, will be overstimulated after a visit to this museum. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot so it was worth it. Planning in some down-time afterwards for decompression is highly recommended.

Distractability

• Secure loose items: Bring a bag or pockets that you can close, it's easy to loose something in the museum because of high distractability and low brightness of rooms. One specific room, a space with a massive ball pool, actively warns you about holding on to loose items before entering and enjoying the room

• Phone: You'll be holding your phone a lot when making pictures, be careful not to leave it behind or misplace it.

• Info boards: Every new room is intoduced by a big info board on what the (often interactive) artpiece is about, another sign lets you know how you may/may not interact with the room. The layout makes the museum easy to follow, it's really difficult to get lost or miss parts of the museum

Emotional impact

• All the emotions: The art is specifically made to make you feel sensations and emotions. Those that are easily excitable should maybe bring some fidget or stimming toys, or buffers/protection for their senses

Social Interaction

• Staff: There are many staff, not always clearly visible but you can see them wearing jackets from the museum. They are friendly and approachable.

• Socialising: Aside from entry, and optionally when using the cloakroom or buying food, there are no necessary social interactions

• Photography: is allowed and encouraged, many people are taking pictures in every room

Eating

• Seating: You enter the shop/restaurant area after walking through the museum. There are small tables with 2-3 chairs around it placed in front of a couple of counters where you can order food

• Selection: you can eat simple sandwiches and heated paninis (eg. mozarella and tomato, cheese and parmezan, chicken+cheese+pesto). These are premade, I'm unsure whether you can request the removal of ingredients. A small selection of drinks are available, cold and warm. There are also sweets and a selection of deserts and pastries.