A few weeks ago we packed up the car with our super excited kids and suitcase and headed to Pittsburgh for a two day adventure. We chose Pittsburgh thanks to our friend, Kris, who gave us the great suggestion due to the fabulous museums with reciprocal benefits to our COSI membership. Did you know that you could get into museums throughout the country for free or reduced admission with reciprocal benefits?! I also emailed the Macaroni Kid publisher mom in Pittsburgh (Debby) to see if she had recommendations on hotels or any tips about the museums or city to offer us – and she did!
Our plans included The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Science Center - both were free through our COSI membership’s reciprocal benefits. We also found that the National Aviary was free through reciprocal benefits with our Franklin Park Conservatory membership (it’s a 50% discount with a Columbus Zoo membership). All three were fabulous! The Mac Kid PM in Pittsburgh also suggested the inclines at Station Square and possibly a boat tour of downtown. We did the Incline, but it was too cold for the boat tours – though they looked cool! She also suggested we stay away from downtown, and even gave us a hotel suggestion based on experience, which worked out perfectly because we were around the corner from IKEA (my other {albeit secret} motive for wanting to go to Pittsburgh!). The hotels away from downtown are cheaper and it’s really a quick trip to downtown.
Here’s the skinny on each place we visited:
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh was LOADED with hands-on fun. I would say it’s great kids who are toddlers through nine or ten yeas old. It has a water fun floor on the top, which is much bigger (wider, taller and deeper) than COSI’s. It doesn’t have as many toys, but there’s lots of fun to be had, including pipes you can connect. Go there first as the floor gets slick as the day goes on (tip from Mac Kid PM in Pittsburgh – and was so true!). They do supply rain coats and Crocs like shoes. Bring a change of clothes, it will be hard for them to leave remotely dry (there is a bathroom on that floor). On the bottom floor there is a huge art studio where kids can paint, play with clay, creates screen art and make paper – so dress them appropriately for this as well. The other rooms include building, creating, big slides, different vehicles to ride, a cool maze wall (that kids can crawl through) and many more fun hands-on activities. There is also a floor specifically for infants and toddlers which has some fun hand-on activities. The parking lot is tiny, but they have several other lots for you to park in and walk over. Parking was free.
The Carnegie Science Center had many (okay, it was loaded too!) cool learning, hands-on exhibits/activities. From a learning perspective, it would be better for older kids, however younger kids (like mine) had a blast just playing and interacting with everything. The top floor has a fun kids space for kids five and under with lots of fun activities. On that same floor are some other fun activities for older kids, including video type games. There is a floor with robotics where you could play against robots or use remote controls to operate them (my seven year old is still telling everyone how he played air hockey with a robot… and lost!). On that floor is a big model train display (they ask for a $1 donation to see this) that is really neat. Another floor had a lot of simulated games - we didn’t go here since it was more for older kids. The floor had a big section of pneumatic activities that honestly we had to drag our kids away from after 45 minutes so we could see the rest of the center (that was where we started). In addition, there are a lot of free shows, as well as extreme screen movies (which had additional costs). Outside was a retired military submarine which you could tour. My kids loved it. Then, outside of the center and down to the side is the Sports Complex (this was another great tip from the Pittsburgh Mac Kid PM) which is included in the admission (so … FREE) and tons of fun. This had a simulated roller coaster (you had to be a certain height), a trampoline (you get attached with a bungee cord so you can flip and jump really high), basket ball hoops, baseball pitchers game, and just tons of fun stuff. There is a fee for parking, but if you show them your COSI membership, you get the member discounted parking rate.
The National Aviary is what the Pittsburgh Mac Kid PM called a “hidden treasure” and I would have to agree. It’s very small, but very worth the trip (if your kids like birds). She told us to plan our trip around as many feeding times as possible (check their website for the daily events to see what is happening that day and how to maximize the time you have. Feeding time was really fun, a keeper came out and spoke a lot about the birds and then let different kids come up individually to feed the birds. The different rooms were small enough that you felt really close to the birds and were able to see them well. In fact the grass lands room was very small so you were right next to the birds, some the birds there had amazing colors! During our visit they had a meet the baby penguin, where the keeper brought the penguin out to the hallway in front of the exhibit and spoke all about her and let the kids gently pet her. They loved that. We did purchase tickets (not included in reciprocal benefits) for the bird show which we enjoyed. It was short, but worth it.
Station Square, restaurants and some shopping on the river downtown, had the Incline, as well as a couple boat tours. One was an amphibian boat, called Just Ducky, and the other was the Gateway Clipper, which during open season also has a kid’s tour called Good Ship Lollipop. We did the Incline up and down the hill, which was super cheap (but it does require exact change). If you do this, you will want to get in the front area for the best view of the city.
Overall the trip was fun and didn’t break the bank since so much of it was free with our reciprocal benefits. Had we had more time, we also could have seen the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium for 50% off with our Columbus Zoo membership.
So, keep two things in mind if you want an inexpensive weekend away, or even if you are traveling on vacation. Look at the reciprocal benefit listings for all your memberships to see what places you can visit for free or reduced pricing. And second, look up the Macaroni Kid site in that area for fun events (especially during the summer when there might be festivals and fun outdoor events), and/or email that publisher mom for tips – they are likely to have a few helpful ones. (Their email addresses are listed in the “Contact Us” area which is a link at the bottom of the website.)
Reciprocal benefit listings (as it says in many of these, make sure you call to verify):
COSI - click here. It says on the site that starting April 2013 it will go from free to 50% off for reciprocal - so take advantage of it now! (This list is dated through April 2012, but I assume the list will be the same once they update it.)
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - click here.
Franklin Park Conservatory - click here.
