Advancements are unfolding at Orlando Science Center’s updated high-tech CINEDOME. There are old chairs and an old-fashioned film projector. Incoming features new lights, speakers, an 8K digital projector, and an eight-story globe lining the largest screen.
For now, the space is filled with scaffolding and used to attach Nanosum panels to very specific spots.
“We’re going to strip this screen down, and then we’re going to put a brand new screen on top, and we’re going to put a new screen on top of that,” Stephen Holt, vice president of facilities and exhibits, said during a tour of the theater. This is the future home of the museum’s very big screen movies, revived laser show, and traditional, but contemporary planetarium presentations.
“Orlando Science Center is proud to be a part of the Orlando Science Center,” said Joanne Newman, President and CEO of Orlando Science Center.
“It’s amazing what it can do,” she said. “We’re going to fly you through space. You can go to planets. Any astronomical event you can imagine, you can do black holes.”
The dome’s curved steel structure has been certified and certified to be sturdy. A set of eight-high speakers will be attached to the frame before the new screen is attached, a process that will take about 28 days, Holt said.
The overhaul is scheduled to be completed in spring 2026. Dr. Phillips’ Charities made a $1 million donation to the Museum’s Unlock Science Campaign for renovations, and the theater is now known as the Dome by Dr. Phillips’ Charities.
The theater has remained much the same since it opened in 1997 at the Science Center’s Lock Haven Park facility.
“It’s going to be this magical place for storytelling,” Newman said.
Scaffolding fills the interior of the Orlando Science Center domed theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, for a renovation project that will upgrade the eight-story-tall theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
The guest queue area of the Orlando Science Center domed theater is pictured on Monday, October 6, 2025. The eight-story theater is currently undergoing renovations that will upgrade it to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
The guest queue area of the Orlando Science Center domed theater is pictured on Monday, October 6, 2025. The eight-story theater is currently undergoing renovations that will upgrade it to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Orlando Science Center President and CEO Joan Newman walks through the guest queue area of the Orlando Science Center Domed Theater pictured Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. The eight-story high theater has now been upgraded to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Looking behind the screen at the Orlando Science Center’s Dome Theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, scaffolding fills the inside of the eight-story theater and upgrades it to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Looking behind the screen at the Orlando Science Center’s Dome Theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, scaffolding fills the inside of the eight-story theater and upgrades it to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
The Orlando Science Center’s domed theater’s new speaker system is encased in a wrapped pallet and will lie there until needed for renovations that will upgrade the theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Scaffolding fills the interior of the Orlando Science Center Domed Theater, which will upgrade the eight-story tall theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium on Monday, October 6, 2025. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Scaffolding fills the interior of the Orlando Science Center domed theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, for a renovation project that will upgrade the eight-story-tall theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Scaffolding fills the interior of the Orlando Science Center domed theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, for a renovation project that will upgrade the eight-story-tall theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
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Scaffolding fills the interior of the Orlando Science Center domed theater on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, for a renovation project that will upgrade the eight-story-tall theater to an all-digital venue with 8K laser projection and a planetarium. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
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“Then we have to decide what content we want to lean into. We’ll start with astronomy and planetariums, because they’re so cool,” she said.Options include patching in other museum presentations and showing locally designed planetarium shows.The theater could play host to scientific demonstrations and musical acts backed by new screens.
said Jeff Stanford, vice president of marketing. “A generation grew up going to Pink Floyd (laser shows) at the John Young Museum and Planetarium, so we cater to that crowd as well.”
This modification presents fresh products in a unique way.
“This is definitely an experience you can’t get at home,” Stanford said.
There is currently a hole in the middle of the seating area that is used for digital projectors to be fused from low level. New seats are progressing throughout the theater, including newly available gaps, but they will be a little larger, so the dome’s capacity will be similar, Newman said.
In the past, low-level visitors could watch in the projector room, where a giant reel of the movie rose 18 feet into the theater. That space will be converted into classrooms and meeting areas. Nearby there is a robotic vending area for snacks. The theater is fronted by a large LED screen that promotes upcoming dome events and shows.
“If it’s space-related content, it might be from the James Webb (Space) Telescope. If it’s the ocean, we might have humpback whales.
The final feet of the film rolled through the Science Center’s projectors in August. That equipment was taken up by a company that set up to refurbish it for some film projector parts that are still in use.
“There are several different institutions looking to house it to become a museum piece,” Holt said.
dbevil@orlandosentinel.com
Originally published: October 8, 2025 6:06am EDT
