Phila. Franklin Institute visit and Star Trek Exhibit

mmadden28

WARNING this is a long post

Part 1

Anybody been to the Franklin Institute in Philly lately?
Anybody seen the Star Trek Exhibit? (It travels around)

Summary:
If you haven't seen the Star Trek Exhibit and your not a hardcore Trekkie--DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!

The rest is about my day-read on if your interested.

I took my boys there on Tuesday and personally I was overall disappointed.
Tuesday was the last day before they had to go back to school, and my vacation the week prior was runed with about 40-50 hours of work.
I did have a good time that day, but that was mostly because I was spending the day with my boys and not at work. We took the train for the fun of it and so I didn't have to drive and deal with parking and such. I'll tell you what-most of the train stations look UTTERLY HORRIBLE. What a disgrace!! :mad::mad: Even out in the more money laden areas of the Main Line--actually it seemed to get worse the farther from the city you got. At least the train itself was nice, clean and basically comfortable-Nice smooth ride. Definately not like the EL on the Market Frankford Line I'm used to.

I've been to the FI before several times, mostly as a kid, a couple times as a teen and young adult, and last time probably 2-3 years ago I took my older boy, then 3 or 4. We had a good time last time. This time? not as much. If we had more time I'm sure it would have been different.

In the morning I had to go to an Allergist to get tested - yeah I reacted to ALL of the tests they put on my arm-Nice itchy arm all day . Damn lady in front of us was just a yapping away at the sign in desk and the lady behind the desk was apparently new at that office so she was slower than normal. Took 15 minutes before she was done. She made me late for my appt. :mad:

Then we rushed to the train station. The boys were SOOOO SLLOOWW getting out of the car--and as we're walking up to the station, the train is pulling up. Ah crap! Found out we could buy tickets on the train so we stepped outside the station door to see the train starting to roll away. :eek: But the conductor stopped it and we were able to get on. :cool: Sweet!!
The round trip fare was $19-but since I was expecting to pay via CC at the station I didn't tap MAC first. Luckily (and I mean LUCKY) I had exactly $19 cash in my wallet--Phew! :cool:
Of course I was so rushed in getting on the train that I never paid my $1 fr the parking. Aw crap-I hope i don't get a fine or towed. That woudl just take the cake.
The boys absolutely loved the ride. And then we got to Suburban Station and came above ground again the boys were loving it. Looking at all the sky scrapers and cool churches--Of course my boy wanted to call it New York City instead of Philadelphia. I argued with him for a while about it. So I said will if he's going to call the City by the wrong name , then I am going to call him "Zeke". He wasn't too happy about that.

They were enjoying themselves so much I almost decided to just make a day of it doing just that-walking around. Save myself a few bucks and still have a good time. After walking a few blocks too far and getting complaints about how their legs were going to fall off, we finally arrived at the FI and took a BADLY needed rest on the steps leading up.
Part of the problem was that we didn't get there until after noon. And some of the short Movie or Planetarium attractions stop running after 3PM. But the FI is open until 5PM so What the heck??? At least it was an almost dead day-literally probably only a dozen or two other people there. So at least no lines and no major waiting but we still felt rushed.

.......

mmadden28

Part 2:

....
Base Franklin Institute admission is $14.75 adult & $12 child.
It is an extra $9 for Adults and an extra $3.50 for children for the Start Trek
So for my two boys and me it was about $58 (inc 7% tax).

First, I'm not a Trekkie (or how ever you spell it), but I do enjoy the series' and movies. I didn't go there for the exhibit, but my 6yo said 'ooh Star Trek' (not that he has ever even seen an episode-just the movie preview). So I figured why not-this day is for them-lets do something different, so I paid the extra $16+ bucks to add that to our already short day.

So the Start Trek exhibit was the first thing we did---WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. Maybe you have to be hardcore to enjoy it, but it was just lame. Just some cardboard prints of storyline facts, and articles that were worn on episodes and movies. The only interesting thing was the replica of the Enterprise Bridge--other than that-nothing-- They take your pictures and you can opt to buy them afterwards (for an extra $27!!!) One of the pictures would be yuo on a transporter, but the pic is taken in front of a Green screen--But Nothing interactive or engaging. If you wanted to ride in the Flight Simulator (which I not even sure was related to Star Trek) you had to pay another 5 bucks each. Somehow I got suckered by my kids into buying a $27 picture--Ah what the heck its a nice little memory of our day out.

So on to the rest of our visit.

After the spirit lifting Star Trek 'experience' and a quick snack, we checked out the Science show- I remember going to the science show as a child and have fond memories-so I wanted to ensure my boys got to experience it. The presenter was good with kids and was demonstrating Liquid Nitrogen and concepts of Solids, Liquids, Gas and temperature type physics. Both boys grasped the concept basics and enjoyed it as well. All through the show though, I was constantly checking the time and looking for an opportunity to sneak out so that we could check out one of the short movies or a Planetarium show. But the boys were having enough fun that I just left well enough alone. They left laughing and happy.

My youngest was all about the Trains (well they both are, but my 4 yo just wouldn't shut up until we got to see them. I think this was the only thing he wanted to see.)-so onward to check out the Train Factory--Last boarding was at 3:15 so we rushed over to check it out so that we wouldn't miss the Planetarium show at 3:30. Man that is one really really big steam engine--I always thought I only remembered it being that big when I was a child because I was small. Holy Mackerel :eek: What an engineering marvel--no doubt. Anyway the boys got to ride in the Engine. They got to 'simulate' actual operations with somebody (live) narrating how it all worked along to sound effects and prerecorded, but appropriately times instruction for the 'engineers' to follow. And the big beast actually moved forward and backward like 20 feet or so. That was pretty cool, I don't recall seeing that before. They enjoyed it immensely and loved playing with the science related setups like how steam works, and a manual way to spin the wheels on a train. It was hard to pull them away but we had to rush a bit if we were going to see much else.

So onward to the Planetarium show--Of course, even though I had asked several times earleir if anybody had to go potty, now was the time--just as the Planetarium Usher is closing the door but said we could still get in, My youngest says that he has to go potty real bad. Since the show was supposed to last about 35 mins, I took him to the potty. Well we missed the show. There would be one more show after that but it wasn't the one I wanted to see, but ther were no other scheduled shows in any of the other areas of FI.

So we rushed through the Space exhibit, Yet another LAME-O exhibit. Half the stuff was broken or Out of Service. Actually I had noticed quite a few areas at FI that were like that--neglected stuff. Sad. The best part was the Meteorite--Your allowed to touch it--As it stated on its description plaque-its the oldest thing 'you'll' ever set your hands on (or something like that). I think its estimated to be 5 Billion years -that's older than the Earth itself. :eek::eek::eek:- That's just an incomprehensible amount of time. It actually crashed into the Earth in Arizona about 50,000 years ago-still an unreal amount of time. Here's a link to an article about it.

So again, after checking the time often, we just got in line for the last Planetarium show. We still had 5 minutes and of course my 4 yo had to go potty again. Well we made it in time and watched the show.
It was not as comfortable as I recall. The seats have almost vertical backs so its hard to relax and look up. They are also very high backs so it was difficult for my boys to see over the back of the chair in front. After playing musical chairs for awhile, the show started. It was pretty cool, but the resolution of the image left a lot to be desired-maybe I'm spoiled, but...:rolleyes:. The boys wouldn't keep their mouths quiet so I spent most of the time trying to keep them quiet.
-Ahh finally the show is over-now what can we do with the last 20-30 minutes?

Couldn't do any telescope stuff--it was overcast all day. And they stopped that at 3 anyway. I didn't think the boys would be interested in Galileo or Airplane flight yet. Hmm. Oh I know they have to go through the Giant Heart--You haven't been to Franklin Institute until you've gone through the heart--Its a pilgrimage if you will. Even though its pretty lame-its been aroud for ever--I believe the Heart was upgraded and enlarged years ago. When I was a child I don't recall it being that big, I don't recall an adult being able to fit in. But I fit in with no problem and didn't have to scrunch at all. My biggest concern of course was when do they clean or disinfect the inside of this thing. I couldn't help but thing that this heart could very well be a major contributor to the spread of H1N1 amongst many other nasty infections. Anyway, my boys are pretty good about not touching things if I tell them not too. Since there was nobody else around, they went through the heart over and over and over--they even raced each other though.

Finally the Institute was closed and we had to leave.

OK overall I had a good day because I was out with my boys, but it was dampened by the fact that I had to pay so much extra for the lame Star Trek exhibit. Also that they don't give you a late arrival discount, esp since they don't even run all the attractions past 3. So it left a bad taste.
I think we would have had a better time had we gotten there earlier but that is how the day worked out.

On the way home, I didn't realize we got in the Quiet Car of the train, and my boys were yapping away excitedly the first leg until the Usher came in to punch tickets and remind everybody that it was a Quiet Car. Oh well that's life. They fell asleep the rest of the trip. We got lots and lots of looks from passers-by. You know the 'awww look how adorable' kind of looks--They were sprawled across me and hugging me and each other. :cool::D. I wish somebody could have taken our picture. the scene even brought tears to my eyes-It was really beautiful-If you have kids I think you know what I mean-they won't be this little forever--That train ride could have been to Alaska and I would have been fine the whole ride.

Finally back at Malvern Station--I was happy to see that my car had not been towed and I had no ticket. Yay!!

So overall-Minus all the life crap:
Round Trip Train to Philly?--$19
Franklin Institute--(with Star Trek)?--$58
Quality time with my boys all day long?--PRICELESS

Lord Vader

I do not mean to be insulting, but I fail to see how Star Wars is involved here. You site it in the header and again in the subject description, but after that it becomes drivel about Star TREK... I do however commend you on spending time with your children, but next time you may want to just have that dipsh!t Scotty use his transporter beam.

Jstas

lord vader wrote: »

i do not mean to be insulting, but i fail to see how star wars is involved here. You site it in the header and again in the subject description, but after that it becomes drivel about star trek... I do however commend you on spending time with your children, but next time you may want to just have that dipsh!t scotty use his transporter beam.

o...m...g.

snow

Star Wars is lame compared to Star Trek anyways



REGARDS SNOW

mmadden28

Doh--What the mind thinks and what one types--For some reason I am always typing the wrong thing out when its put down on paper or epaper when talking about Star Wars and Star Trek. But Thank You for so eloquently notifying me of the mistake in my delusional typing.

I'll request a mod fix that for me-but just in case anybody is still confused- It's all about Star Trek - Not Star Wars. I'll request a mod fix that for me.

mantis

I have been there and I agree it was lame. I am a Star Trek fan and it just wasn't enough there to get excited. The Bridge of the Enterprise D was there but I have been to Vegas and did the Star Trek Experience out there and it blew this one away.

But I can see some Star Trek fans liking this if they never been to Vegas. Just being on the Bridge should be enough for any Star Trek fan to make it worth it.

Conradicles

I love how Lord Vader comes out of the woodworks. Who are you really?

Lord Vader

Conradicles wrote: »

I love how Lord Vader comes out of the woodworks. Who are you really?

I was once Anakin Skywalker, but that name no longer holds any meaning for me...;)

mantis

Keiko wrote: »

The Star Trek Experience closed Sep, 2008 Dan. We did it 3 times and it was awesome. Even for a non-Trekkie it was a blast. I was bummed when I learned it was gone. I wanted to see it again back in April when we made our trip. I got a bottle of Romulan Ale that I bought from Quarks from our first visit there.

I KNOW AND IT SUCKS!!!!!! I wanted to get back and do it all over again. I did everything including eating in Quarks Bar. I had the Captains Cut steak and it was really good. I was topped with Butter which I like a lot. We also had a few drinks including the Warp Core Breach which was insanely strong.
I'm a pretty big Star Trek fan and I'm just glad I got out there before they closed it down. It's a shame as it was really good. I loved the 2 rides. The Klingon Experience was just fantastic.

snow

mantis wrote: »

I KNOW AND IT SUCKS!!!!!! The Klingon Experience was just fantastic.

Hey Dan I know a girl local here I could set you up with if your single that looks like a Klingon with a huge forehead and all and this way you could have a real Klingon experience




REGARDS SNOW

snow

Keiko wrote: »

:eek:

Does she have 3 b00bz?

No but she could by herself end world hunger with the two that she has if that counts



REGARDS SNOW

mmadden28

mantis wrote: »

.... Just being on the Bridge should be enough for any Star Trek fan to make it worth it.

lol--I was a bit afraid to sit in the chairs for fear of... well... nevermind.;)


The Bridge also had a screen to the front--I thought maybe we were going to get some kind of interactive show or something. Nope-instead it was just a low lumens, out of focus video loop projection of stars flying by. I think my Viewmaster projector from whe I was a kid had better resolution and brightness.

mmadden28

Lord Vader wrote: »

I do not mean to be insulting, but I fail to see how Star Wars is involved here. You site it in the header and again in the subject description, but after that it becomes drivel about Star TREK... I do however commend you on spending time with your children, but next time you may want to just have that dipsh!t Scotty use his transporter beam.

By the way, its fixed.

Thanks Mods!! :cool:

Osarion

Sounds like an overall great day. Can you post the pic you got at the Star Trek exhibit? I'd like to see how you all look getting ready to beam up!