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The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh reopened Saturday after a massive expansion, and some of its toughest critics gave it two thumbs up.

"I like it here," said Caroline Sieber, 8, of Ross. "I like how they have all this water stuff. It's fun to play in this, but it depends if you want to get wet. It's hard not to, but I don't care."

Waterplay, a new exhibit on the third floor, offers children a variety of water activities. Children can construct a boat, sail it down a 50-foot river and then sink it in a whirlpool -- but that's only if they want to stay dry. Water spouts from the floor in another end of the room, allowing children to connect plastic pipes and spray water in the air.

The new 80,000-square-foot, $28 million facility connects the Old Post Office Building to the old Buhl Planetarium with a new three-story structure that functions as the new entrance and exhibit area for the North Side museum.

"We wanted to make this place unique, so we had a real commitment to design," said Jane Werner, executive director of the Children's Museum. "I'm very excited about this. It's been about five years in the making."

Hundreds of kids and parents were excited to see the new rooms and exhibits.

Billy Dusch, 6, of the South Side, could barely wait to see all of the rooms. He was out of breath from running around. His dad, Chuck, had to keep up with him.

"He loves coming here. This place is great for kids," Dusch, 36, said.

In the Garage/Workshop, kids can see how the parts of a real Mini-Cooper work, and can work with real tools to make things from wood. Kids can also climb various platforms and nets to get a better view of an interactive "Ball Track" which suspends rubber balls in the air as the balls snake around the ceiling of the old planetarium.

"That thing with the balls, that was great," Billy said. "I like everything here."

Children's celebrities including Elmo, clowns and Mr. McFeely signed autographs at yesterday's grand opening.

Gus Hamberg, 3, was too busy playing with puppets in Mister Roger's Neighborhood to worry about Elmo. His dad couldn't get him out of the Neighborhood.

"I've been to several children's museums, and you can tell that this is a phenomenal place," said Steven Hamberg, 37, of Falls Church, Va. "It's a great place for kids to explore."

The Mister Rogers' Neighborhood exhibit, a carry-over from the old museum, will be permanent.

"Fred (Rogers) became a friend of mine when we worked on the exhibit here in the old museum," Werner said. "I keep wondering what he would think of it now."

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