The Children's Museum (live, prices, rich)

[Sonrise]

Originally Posted by g-man430

I don't understand why people are complaining about the price. If you don't like the price, don't go. It's that simple. Nobody is forcing you to visit the museum.

You're a 20 year old college kid that lives with his parents; wait until you get married, have a mortgage and become a parent, then you'll understand.

[Greenville]

Originally Posted by Sonrise

You're a 20 year old college kid that lives with his parents; wait until you get married, have a mortgage and become a parent, then you'll understand.

Zing!

Kidding aside, g-man does have a point. Some parents view $12 to be too much for a ticket, but given the steady flow of people through The Children's Museum plenty of parents obviously don't mind paying that.

[g-man430]

Ummm...i'm 21 years old and don't live with my parents. Still don't know why you think I do Sonrise. Thanks for playing though. Oh and nobody is forcing you to take your kids to this museum. Don't want to pay for your kids? Don't have any then.

[Greenville]

Originally Posted by g-man430

Ummm...i'm 21 years old and don't live with my parents. Still don't know why you think I do Sonrise. Thanks for playing though. Oh and nobody is forcing you to take your kids to this museum. Don't want to pay for your kids? Don't have any then.

If you want to get back at Sonrise, shop at Sam's or Costco.

[g-man430]

I do have a Costco card in my wallet. Hmmm....

[Sonrise]

You guys are funny.

[FlopShotter]

Our family considers itself somewhat well-versed on children's museums, having visited them in San Antonio, Mobile, Montgomery, Rutherfordton, Charlotte, Asheville, Columbia, Dayton, Cincinnati, Charleston (WV), Columbus (OH) and a few others, and not counting zoos, either. We have two kids, 5 and 2, and they love these museums as much as we love to take them to experience new things. We also use them as a good break from road trips so they can burn some energy.

Since we live in S'burg, we have been looking forward to the opening in Greenville. Due to travel and other things, we finally made it a couple of weekends ago.

When the website became live, the cost of $12 per person from age 1 up was a red flag to us. However, we wanted to give it a fair shake. The quick review: it's a wonderful museum for ages 3 and up. Charging $12 for kids under that age is a travesty. That's right, a travesty. If you look up the websites of almost any other children's museum I listed above, kids under three are either free or enter at a significantly reduced admission fee. In addition, the $12 is by far the most expensive of the bunch I've visited. Is this a great kid's museum? Absolutely. One of the best, if not the best I've visited. It certainly seems to have one of most every display I've ever seen in most children's museums. I seem to recall part of the planning for this museum was done in visiting museums around the country to cull the best ideas and incorporate them into TCMU. But, it seems they didn't pay as much attention to admissions policies as they did exhibits...

Defend it however you must, but the $12 is too much per ticket, even if it is "the largest of it's kind in the southeast." Also, there are no good membership options - those offered barely offer a discount to the average family. Also, there are no reciprocals offered to other museums around the country - something sorely lacking and a big benefit to being a member, IMO. Heck, we visited the Dayton children's museum (one that is quite good - the Boonshoft) for free as part of the reciprocal agreement through our G'ville Zoo membership. Even a AAA discount at 10% would at least be throwing a bone to the masses.

The turnstiles may be clicking now, but as the novelty wears off, the reality of high ticket prices will have an effect. I hope the board is actively courting deep pockets for large sum donations that may enable them to lower ticket prices. I know we'll only visit for special occasions.

[jac]

FlopShotter - I totally agree with you. I am especially disappointed about the lack of reciprocal membership. We have even visited children's museums in other locations using our Roper Mountain Science Center membership (I believe that is $45/family/year). I'll have to check into what we can visit with our zoo membership.

[Sonrise]

Originally Posted by FlopShotter

Our family considers itself somewhat well-versed on children's museums, having visited them in San Antonio, Mobile, Montgomery, Rutherfordton, Charlotte, Asheville, Columbia, Dayton, Cincinnati, Charleston (WV), Columbus (OH) and a few others, and not counting zoos, either. We have two kids, 5 and 2, and they love these museums as much as we love to take them to experience new things. We also use them as a good break from road trips so they can burn some energy.

Since we live in S'burg, we have been looking forward to the opening in Greenville. Due to travel and other things, we finally made it a couple of weekends ago.

When the website became live, the cost of $12 per person from age 1 up was a red flag to us. However, we wanted to give it a fair shake. The quick review: it's a wonderful museum for ages 3 and up. Charging $12 for kids under that age is a travesty. That's right, a travesty. If you look up the websites of almost any other children's museum I listed above, kids under three are either free or enter at a significantly reduced admission fee. In addition, the $12 is by far the most expensive of the bunch I've visited. Is this a great kid's museum? Absolutely. One of the best, if not the best I've visited. It certainly seems to have one of most every display I've ever seen in most children's museums. I seem to recall part of the planning for this museum was done in visiting museums around the country to cull the best ideas and incorporate them into TCMU. But, it seems they didn't pay as much attention to admissions policies as they did exhibits...

Defend it however you must, but the $12 is too much per ticket, even if it is "the largest of it's kind in the southeast." Also, there are no good membership options - those offered barely offer a discount to the average family. Also, there are no reciprocals offered to other museums around the country - something sorely lacking and a big benefit to being a member, IMO. Heck, we visited the Dayton children's museum (one that is quite good - the Boonshoft) for free as part of the reciprocal agreement through our G'ville Zoo membership. Even a AAA discount at 10% would at least be throwing a bone to the masses.

The turnstiles may be clicking now, but as the novelty wears off, the reality of high ticket prices will have an effect. I hope the board is actively courting deep pockets for large sum donations that may enable them to lower ticket prices. I know we'll only visit for special occasions.

You have done the best job, by far, at trying to say what a lot of us have been saying; yes, it's a great museum, and yes, it's extremely expensive, especially for infants that can't participate. We'll visit, but baby Sonrise will only be 2 in Nov; so we'll probably wait until she's close to 3, to get our money's worth.

[FlopShotter]

Originally Posted by jac

FlopShotter - I totally agree with you. I am especially disappointed about the lack of reciprocal membership. We have even visited children's museums in other locations using our Roper Mountain Science Center membership (I believe that is $45/family/year). I'll have to check into what we can visit with our zoo membership.

The Greenville Zoo membership mainly offers discounts to other zoos, but for some reason the Dayton, OH children's museum is part of the zoo associations as well as the children's museum associations (I guess because they have a small, native animal, zoo area).