Philly trip tips please!

[elephantmeg]

We're finally going to visit my parents in Philly in a week or so for 4ish days (they've lived there for 4 years and I've never been-and it's only about 5.5 hours away!). Any must-do things? DS is 3 almost 3.5 and DD is almost 16 months.

Mom suggested:

Please touch museum
Zoo
and I think an aquarium somewhere?

There's a playground near their townhouse as well. They live in Philly (not in suburburbs).

We talked about sesame place but I really can't swallow the price tag!

TIA!

[schums]

We just got back from Philly last week. My DC are older, so we did some of the history stuff this time. But the aquarium (http://www.adventureaquarium.com/) is really cool. It's actually in NJ. We've been there several times over the years, including this last trip. There are little sharks and sting rays that the kids can touch (in the water --wear short sleeves).

The price for Sesame Place was WAY to high for us, so we skipped it, but I've heard really good things about Dutch Wonderland.

[Jen841]

My kids love the Franklin Institute.

Please Touch and Zoo are huge hits, we have done memberships at both. If you are a member of your local children's museum or zoo you may be able to do the reciprocal program. They each are about $15 a head.

If you want to do a drive day... Lancaster is great. Hands on House there is GREAT for your ages. The kids love seeing Amish Country. Strasburg Railroad is out there too, and the Toy Train Museum.

In Chester County there is the Helicopter Museum which again the kids love. A bit closer.

[Jacksmommy2b]

The Franklin Institue is better for bigger kids. Toddlers and preschoolers can get bored by the lack of hands on stuff to play with.

The Please Touch Museum is AMAZING! It was moved and completely redone less than a year ago. I have a friend with a season pass and we go together at least once a month and have not yet been able to cover the entire place in one visit. It is $15 per ticket, over the age of one - but this place is worth every penny. Jack could spend days in the water room. And on that note, pack a spare shirt for that, smock or not, J needs one every time. Oh and I love the cafe there, really reasonable prices ($4.99 for a build your own pasta dish) and many healthy options in addition to the usual hot dogs and pizza. Parking for non members is $5.

http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/#map

We're huge fans of the Philly Zoo also. The big cat pavillion is pretty recent and very well done. The primate house is fairly new as well, and like the big cats many portions are air conditioned. The aviary has opened after major renivations. They have a theater I haven't been in yet, but the rest of the aviary is nice. There is an open exhibit you have to walk through to get out, and it failed to occur to me until after that bird poop is almost guaranteed. The zoo is huge, so even on busy days it doesn't seem that crowded. There are several food options, but IMO, most are pricey and sub par. My top pick is the Eagle Nest pizza by the petting zoo for the pizza. The petting zoo is usually pretty crowded, but worth it when you can get in. They have an open goat pen and bug brushes so kids can brush the goats. Parking is really pricey at a whopping $12 per car - so carpool. Adults are $18, kids over 2 are $15, but you should be able to find coupon codes online to lower the price a little. Also - make sure you print your tickets at home so you can skip the ticketing line and go right to the enterance. And, just an observation, the Zoo always seems extra busy on Mondays. Not sure exactly why, but my friend and I go to the zoo often (another season pass) and we avoid Mondays completely after having to park in the far lot at 9:45am one too many times.

http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/zoo/Visit-The-Zoo/Hours---Ticketing.htm

I'm really not that impressed with the Adventure Aquarium. The shark petting tank is really neat, but it is rather small and always very crowded. It is pricey to enter and park and just doesn't have the ability to keep J amused as long as the Zoo or PTM. JMO, but then again, a lot of people rave over it.

Sesame Place is usually very, very expensive. It is always super crowded and the one time I was there (during the week) there were a ton of camp groups that were poorly supervised. It is great - in theory - but again - totally not worth the money to me. If you are looking for theme park try these insted:

Dutch Wonderland, a huge winner for little kids since I was one :). The entire park is designed around the interests and abilities of smaller kids. It isn't cheap at $30 for 3 and up, but a heck of a lot cheaper than SP, and cleaner. Little kids love this place and being in Lancaster - almost directly across from some fantastic outlets, makes the location great for other things as well.

http://www.dutchwonderland.com/tickets/index.php

Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom, traditional theme park - but best pick for water rides. (for bigger kids and adults)

Hershey Park, the perk of Hershey is that it is individual to PA, has a theme park, a Zoo and a 'factory' tour of the chocolate factory. Hershey is always fantastically clean, well staffed and set up in a way to accomodate all ages and abilities. Oh and I swear, the whole darn town smells like chocolate. :)


I recently had some out of town friends come to visit, and on the days we did the downtown stuff we bought bus passes from the Philly Trolley Works:

http://www.phillytour.com/

The trolley (or double decker bus) goes around all the Philly sites and you can jump on and off at will. It was totally worth it for our group, but then again - they were here in April and the Phlash wasn't running yet - so that may be a better choice!

http://www.gophila.com/c/things_to_do/211/itineraries_and_tours/428/tours/204/u/phlash/1303.html

[egoldber]

I agree that Please Touch is a must do.

I was also going to suggets Dutch Wonderland vs Sesame Place. Cheaper and just a nicer place IMO. It's older, shady, not as commercial and just a pleasant way to spend a day. I was highly unimpressed with Sesame Place when I was there last year.

[elephantmeg]

we did lancaster/strausburg/hershey chocolate a couple years ago (DS was 18ish months) and will prob do it again next year-DS and DH are huge train nuts so we did a huge train thing which was a big hit. We'll def have to do Dutch Wonderland next year with that! Thanks for the detailed advice everyone!