Lewiston Mall, 20 East Ave Unit 14, Lewiston, ME 04240
Mr. Drew’s does not have signage for easy finding but the lewiston mall does so find that first. Mr. Drew is in between Splittimg Wood and Bullmoose. Once you find a parking spot in the big lot, make your way through the automatic doors of Splitting Wood and take a right, you shouldn’t miss it.
This place is awesome. I don’t know what their old location was like to compare it but I was impressed regardless. It’s $10 for 12m and up, including adults. I do wish they had some sort of family deal, where it’s little cheaper for adults to attend with children. The place is set up like a pet store type thing. Except here, the animals are exotic like the name implies. I can’t name all the creatures you’ll see because I don’t know the name or remember the names of all the different kinds. Right off the bat, we were greeted by the sweetest guard cat. In the first set of aquariums, there were turtles, big ones and small ones. As we were making our way around this, a giant lizard of some beautiful nature, was walking around…FREELY and happily. It was so cool my kids and other kids there were following it and patting it, gently I might add, and he wasn’t phased at all. Nor was the cat phased by him. Next up was lizards. Small ones, ones that looked like alligators, one that looked like those lizards from the movie Holes. In front of the aquariums is a low to the ground table divided into three sections. When we were there two of these were occupied by two lizards. Not small ones but still very sizable to a child. My kids loved petting and holding these guys. The next set of aquariums is snakes. Beautiful snakes. I might not like to hold them but viewing from a far was enough for me. You can hold some snakes though if you wish. My daughter held two different types of snakes. One was huge and the other was small. The woman in charge of the snakes was very friendly and will ask you to not touch the snakes head. She sits at a chalkboard table. Kids can grab some chalk and draw whatever they’d like, my daughter chose to draw the snakes she held. Across from the snakes is a wood fenced in area divided into two. On the right small and medium size tortoises, a giant lizards and cute white rabbit. You can feed them lettuce handed out to you by a staff member with a two per family limit. On the right side, are bigger tortoises who, told by staff, are food motivated so you’ll want to be holding your younger kids cause they can and will knock you over. Cross back over and there’s a table with some insects and amphibians. Of the the five different things, touched two. A very fast moving lizard and a hissing cockroach. Not during our visit but I’ve been told the tarantula comes out occasionally too. The area behind this little set up is the rest of the insects Mr. Drew has as well as mice and rats. There is a small bat cave with an actual bat in it, kids will have to approach this quietly. Inside another low to the ground cage in front of the bats is a hedgehog and next to that guinea pigs. In the corner is a kids library area. The books are amazing. I’ve never seen books like the ones Mr. Drew has and I’ve seen and read a lot children’s books. There was books on anything and everything having to do with life. Animals and human life. I was very very impressed and really want to find and buy all the books we did read while we sat and took a break from animal viewing for a moment. Along the back wall is a collection of sea life, shells, starfish, corals and some other neat shit. In some big tanks opposite the sea wall are giant turtles, of exactly what kind I do not know but I know there’s at least one giant snapping turtle. There’s also some fish tanks here too. Some birds are across this area, also next to the tortoises box. There is a parrot and like a few animals here, there is a sign asking you don’t point or make gestures at this particular animal. There is a big long coloring table next to the parrot. Plenty of coloring pages, crayons and colored pencils are scattered along. Across from this is the mining area. Kids can go in to this little room, where previously mentioned house cat is prohibited, use a sifter shovel to dig for gems, rocks, shark teeth and other things. Fill a small red cup with your treasures and when you’ve filled up as much as you want follow the next door out. You’ll see a table with paper plates, baggies and a giant magnifying glass. Kids dump their cup onto the plate, use the magnifying glass if they wish, and keep any three of the treasures they want. The staff attending this station will place them into a mesh bag for you. You also get to pick one big shell to take home with you. This little station is in the middle of Mr. Drew’s found and displayed Gems, rocks and crystals. There was a lot here to look at, specimens in a jar, fossils, bones and a ton of other cool stuff. This is the end of the animals and the viewing area. You can stay as long as you like, so we went back around a second time for one last look at each of our kids favorite things. When you do leave kids can grab a free small bag of popcorn.
I’m so glad we came here! I was so proud of both my kids but especially of my daughter as she really as of late hasn’t been as daring as she used to be. She was very proud and happy to be holding that giant snakes. I wanna say it was python or boa but I’m not entirely 100%. I’ll post pictures of course but this thing was big. I thought the hands-on part of it was really neat and the staff all seemed very knowledgeable about the animals they were handling and why each one had come to find home with Mr. Drew. There are a few refreshments for purchase but to be expected not a lot of options. There are bathrooms in the back. Mr. Drew also does parties and has one party room. I don’t know the details on it but that seems like a really cool birthday idea for a kid who loves animals. Anyway, I recommend this play without a shadow of a doubt. Their website says it takes about 1-2 hours for the whole thing. I think one is pretty accurate for preschool age, like my 4y. I don’t know if anyone else’s kid is like this but she moves on so quickly from one thing to the next at places like this and then when she’s seen everything likes to go back and take her time. My toddler, 18m, stays in one area until you physically have to move him so it sounds ridiculous but I think you could push a toddler into being here for an hour and a half. If you’re in the area, if you’re not in the area, come check it out because it’s really neat for parents and kids.
As a added bonus, Mr. Drew’s is right near or in the same plaza as Fun-z so you could make a day around these two things.
little Movers Maine 