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Philly Magical Mystery Tour 2017
punzie
Cookie PimpRegistered User regular
Cookie PimpRegistered User regular
The first Magical Mystery Tour of Philadelphia!
Twitter: @PAX_MMT
Who: You! And me. And other PAX peeps. AKA your future friends. (and our questionable guide, Gmaps)
What: Visit interesting places in and around Philly.
Where: Schedule posted below.
When: The day before PAX: and Thurs 11/16. Traditionally runs from 9am to 5pm but you don't have to do the whole thing. (Follow the twitter feed for live updates of where we are.)
Why: See something of the city other than the convention center and your hotel. And do it with cool people!
How: Philly's public transit.
Schedule
Thursday:
10am Eastern State Penitentiary ($14, buy tickets ahead)
12pm food?
1pm Franklin Institute ($20)
3:30p Intergalactic Escape Room at the Franklin Institute ($28, buy tickets ahead)
Potential stops:
I haven't done this before so I need your help to find places to go!
Academy of Natural Sciences
African American Museum
Barnes Museum
Battleship NJ
Camden Aquarium
Constitution Museum
Eastern State Penitentiary
What: a famous prison, now uninhabited and falling apart
Price: $14 online, $16 at the door
Hours: 10a-5p
Franklin Institute
What: a science museum
Price: $20
Hours: 9:30-5
Horticultural Center
Independence Hall
Institute of Contemporary Art
Japanese Garden
Jewish History Museum
Liberty Bell
Magic Gardens
Museum of the American Revolution
Mutter Museum
What: museum of medical history
Price: $18
Hours: 10a-5p
National Constitution Center
Penn Museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
What: an art museum...
Price: $20
Hours: 10a-5p
Philadelphia Zoo
Please Touch Museum
Reading Terminal Market
What: a public market with produce, seafood, flowers, restaurants, etc.
Price: free to walk
Hours: 8a-6p
Additional Notes: tours are available, but only on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Rodin Museum
What: a branch of the art museum, focusing on the sculptures of Rodin
Price: pay what you want (suggested $10 for adults)
Hours: 10a-5p
Twitter: @PAX_MMT
Who: You! And me. And other PAX peeps. AKA your future friends. (and our questionable guide, Gmaps)
What: Visit interesting places in and around Philly.
Where: Schedule posted below.
When: The day before PAX: and Thurs 11/16. Traditionally runs from 9am to 5pm but you don't have to do the whole thing. (Follow the twitter feed for live updates of where we are.)
Why: See something of the city other than the convention center and your hotel. And do it with cool people!
How: Philly's public transit.
Schedule
Thursday:
10am Eastern State Penitentiary ($14, buy tickets ahead)
12pm food?
1pm Franklin Institute ($20)
3:30p Intergalactic Escape Room at the Franklin Institute ($28, buy tickets ahead)
Potential stops:
I haven't done this before so I need your help to find places to go!
Academy of Natural Sciences
African American Museum
Barnes Museum
Battleship NJ
Camden Aquarium
Constitution Museum
Eastern State Penitentiary
What: a famous prison, now uninhabited and falling apart
Price: $14 online, $16 at the door
Hours: 10a-5p
Franklin Institute
What: a science museum
Price: $20
Hours: 9:30-5
Horticultural Center
Independence Hall
Institute of Contemporary Art
Japanese Garden
Jewish History Museum
Liberty Bell
Magic Gardens
Museum of the American Revolution
Mutter Museum
What: museum of medical history
Price: $18
Hours: 10a-5p
National Constitution Center
Penn Museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
What: an art museum...
Price: $20
Hours: 10a-5p
Philadelphia Zoo
Please Touch Museum
Reading Terminal Market
What: a public market with produce, seafood, flowers, restaurants, etc.
Price: free to walk
Hours: 8a-6p
Additional Notes: tours are available, but only on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Rodin Museum
What: a branch of the art museum, focusing on the sculptures of Rodin
Price: pay what you want (suggested $10 for adults)
Hours: 10a-5p
punzie on
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Posts
Also, there's a good chance I won't do Wednesday this time. So we gotta cram all our touring into 1 action-packed day.
Mütter Museum
Reading Terminal Market
Eastern State Penitentiary
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Museum at the Rocky Statue)
Franklin Institute
Independence Hall
Fairmount Park has around it a Japanese garden, please touch museum, Philly zoo, Mann center (not sure what would be playing if anything), and horticultural center.
First, Reading Terminal Market is highly recommended, and it's right next to the convention center, so it's very easy to visit on convention days. It's got great food options (if maybe a little overwhelming at first), including many regional favorites. And some good souvenir shopping as well.
And more generally, downtown (known as 'Center City' to the locals) is very walkable, public transit options are good, tons of restaurants, etc, as well as many historic sites, museums and so on.
Finally, speaking of museums, our new Museum of the American Revolution just opened back in the spring, and I've heard great things about it.
It's great to see people exited about visiting, and I hope you all have a great time!
Reading terminal market is a food mecca, but is normally packed with tourists, when big conventions are in town it can be a nightmare, but philly is full of food so fear not.
The parkway which is a long walk, short uber, has the rocky steps, art museum, franklin institute (another museum with a big imax and traveling exhibits (right now it's terracotta warriors)
there's a big mural project in philly so there's lots of those to check out. They range from historical figures to the obey guy did one and the newest one is a raccoon eating a soft pretzel.
The zoo and aquarium are fun, but it's out of the the way. You can uber there.
It's hard to go anywhere in center city that doesn't have historical significance.
http://www.franklinfountain.com/
and right next door, and old-timey candy shop, Shane's:
http://shanecandies.com/confections/
The Franklin Fountain has an espresso Sundae that's amazing and Shane's has chocolate covered bacon and excellent hot chocolate.
Also there is some spectacular sites at the University of Pennsylvania, just west of Center City. In particular, you can see ENIAC at the school of engineering, and the larges Sphinx in North America at the Penn Museum, and archeology museum built at the turn of the century that looks like it could be a set for an Arkham Horror film.
I will be busy before the convention but I would be remiss if I didn't let folks know about two things: The Magic Garden (or the PMA if you're into more traditional art - it is really stellar) and the AMAZING local theatre Philly has to offer (think more Chicago than New York - it's intimate and timely, wonderfully acted and creatively staged). A quick glance around the web shows a bunch of good things slated by some really great companies and smaller, riskier companies will announce soon. Check out links below:
https://www.phillymagicgardens.org
https://www.philamuseum.org
http://www.theatrephiladelphia.org/whats-on-stage/the-gap
http://www.theatrephiladelphia.org/whats-on-stage/blood-wedding
http://www.theatrephiladelphia.org/whats-on-stage/by-the-bog-of-cats
http://www.theatrephiladelphia.org/whats-on-stage/broken-stones
https://www.fi.edu/escaperooms
For last-minute plans, Uwishunu and Geekadelphia are great resources for special events in the city.
The first thing to note is that I have officially ditched Wednesday. For the foreseeable future, all MMT's for all PAXen will be just 1 day.
Next, arrrghgghhh so many things I want to check out! I really want to visit the prison. And we have to see the Liberty Bell, right? I think that's REQUIRED. And oh an escape room! And we have to eat many delicious things. And we didn't even stop by to see Rocky yet or look at Einstein's brain in the Mutter Museum? And I've only looked at a fraction of the things you've all suggested. This is gonna be tough...
If I were you, I'd try to stick to areas within Center City, as they'll be easier to walk to/catch a SEPTA bus to. Magic Gardens is within walking distance (probably 20 minutes), Independence Hall is even closer (and a pretty area in general...) and Reading Terminal Market is RIGHT next to the convention center. You HAVE to go there, if only to pick up lunch during that weekend. Do yourself a favor and wait in the long line for Beiler's Donuts. I'm a big fan of Beck's Cajun Cafe, particularly the train wreck (a sort of cajun take on a cheesteak). Chinatown is also nearby if you somehow tire of RTM for food.
Franklin Insitute is a bit further (30 minute walk?) but is pretty cool. The area near there is pretty in general, and worth walking by.
I'm going to say that if you go to the Philly Museum of Art, you can also check out the Perelman Building, and I BELIEVE the Rodin Museum as well. I love the outside of the Rodin Museum, but I do think PMA is the place to be (and the place to see the steps). It's a fantastic museum, and they're open until 8:45 on Fridays (but I don't think Rodin is) and they typically some music performances between 5 and 8:45.
The Philly orchestra does $10 rush tickets (but I'm not sure how consistently available they are) if you wanted to see their gorgeous performance hall (Verizon Hall) and a great concert in the evening. Probably about a 20 minute walk from the convention center. Not a must-see, but worth it if you need something to do when the museums are closed.
Edit: I'd probably skip the Japanese Gardens, as they're a bit awkward to get to. And if you go to Penn's Landing (which you can loop to if you go to Independence Hall first and Magic Gardens second), you can see the Camden waterfront, where the battleship is. I would probably do that instead of going across on PATCO to see it.
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Franklin Institute - Super cool, recommend.
Magic Gardens - Pretty and artsy
Mutter Museum - If you're into medical things go here, otherwise it's kind of gross
Eastern State Penitentiary - Very cool for Halloween, pretty cool otherwise.
Philadelphia Zoo - Yay animals!
Penn's Landing - Waterfront area there's usually stuff happening here but maybe not on a Thurs in Nov.
Reading Terminal Market - This is totally worth visiting but also super close to PAX, so it would be easy to check out basically anytime. Think Fanueil Hall in Boston.
Camden Aquarium - It's not super easy to get there via public transport but aquariums are neat.
Liberty Bell - Skip, it's boring and there's usually a long line.
Bonus:
Please Touch Museum - I wanted to go here but it's more for children and none of my friends visited with children who were old enough.
While I'd skip the liberty bell itself, the area around Independence Hall is pretty, and it's on the way to Magic Gardens from the convention center, so I'd say it's worth walking around the area. Plus you get to see some of Old City, and it's a nice area to walk by, especially if you're not from the northeast (and not used to colonial stuff).
https://pinnypals.com/pals/flashe
10am Eastern State Penitentiary ($14)
12pm food?
1pm Franklin Institute ($20)
3:30pm Intergalactic Escape Room at the Franklin Institute ($28)
The escape room is totally separate from the museum admittance and you have to buy the tickets in advance. The link is in the first post. The Penitentiary is also $2 cheaper if you buy in advance so that link is also in the first post.
I'm not sold on the Franklin Museum in general though. I want to do it, but it looks like an expensive day. Maybe we'll stop by the Rodin Museum and check out some sculptures instead?
And I don't know what we're doing for lunch. Hopefully there will be something close to one of those places. I'll figure that out later.
I believe that if you get admission to the Philly Art Museum or the Rodin, you can use the little clip they give you after paying admission to get into both. So I'd say the PMA gives you the most bang for your buck.
If I'm reading what you're saying correctly, then you're better off paying the suggested $10 at the Rodin and using the chip to get into the pma...
Let's meet in front of the convention center entrance in arch and 12th at 9:30 and find out way to jail together. I'm reading about the public transit now.