Image via FHE Fox YouTube.
Open the doors after hours and label the event an adults-only soiree and people will pay a handsome sum-at least that's what the American Museum of Natural History in New York City found out recently.
Today.com's Jane L. Levere reports the museum decided to open its doors and bring out the kid in roughly 150 adults who wanted to get the after-hours treatment. Taking a page from the movie series Night at the Museum, organizers decided to offer one special evening at the location for those patrons over 21 who were also willing to part with some serious cash.
According to the report, the museum is used to having enthusiasts amid its relics well past closing time, offering a children's sleepover six times a year. The museum's senior director of visitor services, Brad Harris, explains the wheels to offer an adult version were spinning for some time: "We've wanted to do it for adults for a while. We were waiting for the right time and moment. After doing 64,000 people through here, we wanted to change it up a bit."
The first ever adult iteration kicked off this past Friday, Aug. 1, to the lucky 150 people who paid in upwards of $375 to sleep below the museum's gigantic blue whale.
As the New York Times'Matt Flegenheimer tweets, there was plenty to keep the adults happy and satisfied throughout the night:
Sadly, there is no mention of presentations highlighting advanced tablet negotiations:
Now if you are hoping to get completely wasted while you take in some historic exhibits, you are out of luck…sort of.
In his report, Flegenheimer writes that by 10:30 the museum had stopped the flow of alcohol, failing to hinder some more resourceful patrons:
"The museum has a powerful force in its favor: With dinner done, it seems that the attendees will receive no more alcohol. Some have come prepared. Inside the museum's Power of Poison section, two revelers hint at their hidden spirits.
'If you need some Listerine, let us know,' a woman says. I pretend to understand what this means. She elaborates. It's whiskey. She will be downstairs later if I get thirsty, she says."
According to the report, the evening eventually ended close to two in the morning (though there was tea served in the Gottesman Happ of Planet Earth for those unable to sleep) with revelers slowly hitting some less-than-comfy cots, commencing the next morning with a reminder that the gift shop had opened-because life isn't complete without a dinosaur shot glass.
While most of us missed this first foray into after-hours history, the museum promises there will be more of the closed-door variety. Levere writes, "The museum plans to put the adult program into its 'fiscal calendar' going forward, he (Harris) said, though it hasn't chosen any dates yet. He said it was likely future adult sleepovers also will be offered on Friday nights."
Although, we imagine the living Egyptian pharaohs, sidekick monkeys and tiny cowboys who look like Owen Wilson are kept to an absolute minimum.
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