American Museum of Natural History Sleepover
I’ve been looking forward to writing this post ever since I began it back in May 2019. I figured it was time to just sit down and complete it before it celebrated its first birthday in my drafts folder. We’ve had a membership at AMNH ever since we moved to NY in 2016. AMNH is a stop on the C line and was always really easy to get to so it’s become a place that Ava and I have visited countless times. I’ve heard about AMNH’s museum sleepovers and chalked it up to something we could do when Mitchell’s an attending.
Fast forward to a few years.. I was quite surprised to see an invitation from Ava’s kindergarten classmate for a sleepover at our beloved AMNH! The Chen family generously invited Ava’s whole kindergarten class. Without hesitation, I RSVP’d yes for myself and Ava. You can read more about the sleepovers on AMNH’s website here. I scoured the internet for any information and reviews on sleeping overs. What to pack? What to expect? I couldn’t find a huge amount of posts to read so I figured I’d write up my own in case anyone ever found themselves in a similar position. For anyone who would like to throw a similar fete, the Chen family invited Ava’s kindergarten teachers to join us in the sleepover as well. I think the presence of their awesome teachers really helped keep everything running smoothly as they were well versed in knowing how to keep a big group of six year olds in line.
The sleepover we attended was on May 10, 2019.
Ava and I took the LIRR from Long Island into the city because a.) I’m cheap and b.) I still can’t drive in the city without white knuckling it the entire time. I already knew the route from Penn to 81st so I was comfortable navigating it with our sleepover gear. Ava was a trooper and wore her backpack and carried her sleeping bag for trek. One thing to note, there isn’t an elevator at the 81st station. Our rolling luggage was light though and I easily carried it up the stairs.
AMNH is huge with tons of wings and corridors. I’d suggest downloading the AMNH explorer app. It’ll locate your position and direct you to wherever you want to go like any GPS. I’ll insert information we were provided about our stay in quotations throughout this post.
Just to reiterate, our sleepover was on May 10, 2019.
CHECK-IN Check-in begins at 6:00 p.m. and ends promptly at 8:00 p.m. Please enter through the Rose Center for Earth and Space at 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Our staff members will direct you to the check-in desk and guide you to your sleeping location, where you will store your belongings for the night.
PARKING Parking is available at our facility conveniently located within the Museum. The garage is located on 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue and will open to sleepover participants at 4:00 p.m. for a discounted parking fee of $28.00 for the duration of the sleepover. Please request your parking passes at check-in on the day of your event. Visitors taking advantage of this discount must leave by 1:00 p.m. For travel alternatives as well as directions to the Museum, please call 212-769-5100.
After checking in and rendezvousing with our group, we first settled in. We slept in Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, much to Ava’s delight. The 94 foot long blue whale model is her absolute favorite thing to visit.
Neither Ava nor I had any issues sleeping on the cots provided by the museum. Thanks to the boy scouts in my family, I knew I wanted to bring sleeping pads to make the cots more comfortable. We brought these sleeping pads from KAMUI. They fit the cot well and worked perfectly. I’m very picky about what Ava uses for sleep because of her eczema. She doesn’t do well with materials that can’t breathe and make her skin hot and itchy. We have several of the cotton-blend-lined sleeping bags from L.L. Bean and that’s what we used during the sleepover.
Other things I packed:
Ava’s medicine
toiletries
small washcloth
ear plugs
eye covers
small washcloth
melatonin (in case we found it difficult to sleep.. but we were actually exhausted by the time 12 am rolled around)
Another benefit of downloading the AMNH explorer app is locating bathrooms quickly. The bathrooms located within the Ocean Life hall are on the smaller side with only three or four stalls. So you can imagine the lengthy lines as everyone got ready for bed. Since we’ve gone so much, I knew there were other restrooms relatively nearby. Only complaint was the water coming out of the bathroom faucets was freezing so washing all the makeup off my face was miserable. In hindsight, makeup remover wipes would’ve been more ideal than my usual two step oil and face wash cleansing routine.
One thing I particularly enjoyed experiencing was how different the museum felt when it was practically empty. The halls seem to grow in grandeur with the absence of thick swaths of visitors milling around. The stillness beckons you to satisfy your curiosity and explore. It was wonderful.
You are basically given complete freedom to roam around the museum during the duration of your stay. After settling in and unpacking a little bit, our group checked out a few small exhibits before catching one of two showings of live animals. Some of the animals we saw were a crocodile, possum, snakes, and a red tailed lizard. The show was roughly 45 minutes long.
After the live animal show, we headed down to the school cafeteria lunchroom dedicated for school trips. The evening snack included coffee, water, hot water, juice, chocolate milk, cookies, and fruit. Breakfast was akin to a light continental breakfast spread.
FOOD
An evening snack and a light breakfast will be provided. Please note that the Museum does not provide dinner during the sleepover program, so we suggest that you eat before you arrive. The Museum’s Food Court Café will also be open from 6:00-7:30 p.m., and vending machines in the Lower Level will be available. Please remember to bring change for the vending machines. There will be no food or drinks permitted in the exhibition halls and sleeping locations.
I did duck out for a few minutes while everyone was in the lunchroom to see if I could snag some t-shirts and patches for me and Ava. There was a very limited amount of items left to purchase by the time I reached the table and staff selling the memorabilia. I’d suggest going early if you really have your heart set on getting some gear to commemorate your sleepover. I believe I had to pay cash.
MEMORABILIAA Night at the Museum T-shirts ($15.00) and patches ($5.00) will be on sale for souvenirs exclusively through the sleepover program from 7:30-9:30 p.m. only. These items are not available in the main Museum Shop.
The Museum Shop will be open the following morning starting at 7:00 a.m.
After we ate, the kids enjoyed a scavenger hunt in the dark.
After the scavenger hunt, we watched a film on ocean life in 3D at the beautiful beaux-arts LeFrak Theater. By the end of the film, a good majority of the little ones in our group were asleep. Lucky for me, Ava was still wide awake. If memory serves me correct, the film ended around 11 pm. We all trudged back to the Ocean Hall to get ready for bed after the film.
The main lights were turned off promptly at 12 a.m. This is how the Ocean Hall was left illuminated for the duration of the night. Lights were turned back on at 7 a.m. and we had to leave the museum by 9 a.m. The morning was marked with a big flurry of activity with everyone packing up and leaving rather quickly.
I had to grab a few photos of a very empty 81st station on an early Saturday morning.
Thanks to Steve, Emily, and Ethan Chen for hosting an unforgettable sleepover!
This post has been edited so that it doesn’t include clear shots of the children in our group, out of respect for every family’s different level of comfort in regards to privacy. If you are one of the fellow families that attended the sleepover with us, please refer to the e-mail I sent May 14, 2019 captioned AMNH Sleepover Photos. It has a direct link to a password protected page where you can view all the photos I took.
