Why should kids have all the fun?
Night at the Museum sleepovers for kids at the American Museum of Natural History are so popular that there are also overnights for grown-ups only, with cocktails and live music, touring exhibits by flashlight after hours, and a special midnight show at the Hayden Planetarium.
AMNH has just announced its next two dates: Friday, Sept. 13, 2019 and Sat., Feb. 15, 2020.
The grownups-only overnight adventure begins in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, with a champagne reception and music by the 12th Night Jazz Trio.
Overnight explorers can roam through the nearly empty halls of the Museum, where you might run into a herd of elephants in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, or come face to face with looming dinosaur skeletons, including a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex.
You can also escape Earth at a midnight viewing of the Space Show Dark Universe, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, or enjoy a live-animal demonstration in the Kaufmann Theater.
As the evening winds down, unroll your sleeping bag and curl up under the beloved 94-foot-long blue whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
The program builds on the successful A Night at the Museum sleepover program for families that debuted in 2006, with an opportunity for adults ages 21 and up to explore the Museum once it shuts its doors to the public for the evening.
Guests will also have the opportunity to explore the special exhibition T. rex: The Ultimate Predator, which introduces visitors to the entire tyrannosaur family and reveals the amazing story of the most iconic dinosaur in the world through fossils and casts, life-sized models, engaging interactives, and a virtual reality experience.
Cost is a pricey $350 per person, but the memories – and the bragging rights – are priceless.
Grown-ups only Night at the Museum sleepover includes:
- Delicious buffet dinner with wine and beer, evening snack, and light breakfast snack
- Live Music
- Cots for all participants
- Special presentations
- Fossil fact-finding tour by flashlight
- Live-animal special exhibition
- Access to special exhibits
The AMNH sleepover is the real version of the movie series starring Ben Stiller, including the Night at the Museum: Secrets of the Tomb with the late, great Robin Williams in one of his final roles, as Teddy Roosevelt.
There also are remaining dates this year for the kids to sleep over. Kids get to climb into their sleeping bags beneath the 94-foot-long blue whale, next to the Alaskan brown bear, or at the base of a volcanic formation.
The overnight adventure for kids costs $145 per person and includes an IMAX film, evening snack and light breakfast, and guided tour of the museum with flashlights. Check in at 5:45 p.m on Saturday evening, and check out is at 9 a.m. next morning.
Register on the AMNH sleepover website, including for the list of what participants need to bring, such as a sleeping bag, pillow and flashlight.
Space is limited, so make your reservation ASAP. Email sleepovers@amnh.org with “Notification List” in the subject line.
There also are sleepovers for kids at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in NYC.
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