If this blog is about anything, it is about fun trips, tasty eats and good movies. My husband Bobby and I have started to look for ways we can visit movie locations, and the latest one is “Night of the Museum.” The movie, starring Ben Stiller and some museum exhibits, was filmed, in part, in the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, across the street from Central Park and down the street from the building featured in “Ghostbusters.”
What I really liked about this movie is that it made some history come to life — literally and figuratively. Larry, Ben Stiller’s character, was just looking for a job. What he got was an adventure of a lifetime. As the exhibits come to life he tries to figure out how to best do his job and keep things under control. In the process he learns to appreciate history and historical significance. I think it did it for me, too.
Bobby and I arrived at the museum around 3 p.m. on a Tuesday. It was open until 5:45. That gave us a little over 2 hours to find all the “stars” of the movie after standing line for tickets. Bobby had done a search on Google and found an article that listed the different exhibits that were in the film. So, at least we weren’t going on memory. The hunt, however, was not as easy as you’d think. This was especially true because we were on a very tight schedule. Plus, the museum is huge! It consists of five floors — if you count the “lower level,” and I don’t know how many different wings. We had to double back a couple times to find the exhibit with the capuchin monkey.
While things weren’t nearly as exciting as in the Night at the Museum movies, it was still pretty cool seeing the different exhibits. The Hall of African Mammals was very realistic. Many of the exhibits were behind glass, but the pictures Bobby took came out very nicely.
My favorite thing to see was Rapa Nui (Eastern Island) Moia Cast. Which is the large carved stone head featured in the movie. We had to wait a good bit of time in order to get a picture, but it was worth it.
One thing you should be aware of if you travel to New York City. Many of the museums in town will let you name your price for entrance. They have a suggested price. For the Natural History Museum, they recommend $22 for adults, $12.50 for children 2-12 years old, $17 for seniors and students. However, you can go to the cashier and tell them how much you want to pay and they’ll accept it. Since Bobby and I were only going to be there a couple of hours, we offered $10 per person, so we got in for less than 1 adult ticket. I think if we had gone for the whole day, we would have paid the full price. Honestly, I don’t know how you can really do the museum justice in even if you had a whole day to spend there. There are so many exhibits, and they are all done so well.
When I reflect on our recent trip to New York City, I am blown away by how much we did. What is more surprising is how much of it was decided because of movies we had seen. (I mean we went on a tour of movie locations done by Midtown Manhattan Movie Tours, for goodness sake!) So going to the American Museum of Natural History, seemed to lend itself to a “tour” of the exhibits that were part of the Night at the Museum movies.
