Please Touch Museum

I've been a member since December 2009. Back then, the 4-person membership was $99, and now it's $150. They probably raised the price of that membership because of us! We've been there so many times, they're absolutely losing money on our membership! :)

If you have a 4 person membership, you can bring anyone as your 4th, and any guests (that are over 1 year old) over the 4th pay just $10 to get in. The six person membership is $30 more than the four person membership. The bigger membership is worthwhile if:

* You plan to have more than 3 guests over the course of the year
* Your guests come in packs of 2 or more
* You would have paid for your guests

To that second point, remember, you can get the fourth person in for free. So if your sibling visits three times over a year, it's not worth the extra membership. If you're going to bring in 3 friends at once, then it is.

Hope that helps! We love our membership and will definitely renew this upcoming December!

We LOVE our 4-person basic membership. We go all the time, especially in the winter and also now when it's just too @#$% hot to play outside. We just renewed for a second year, and our 3-year-old considers it to be one of her favorite places. A couple of the exhibits frequently change, plus there's the live theatre shows and guest musicians/performers who keep the place interesting visit after visit. So it's got the nice blend of predictability and excitement that little kids need. We have friends who have memberships too, and we often meet up there as a playgroup.

What's nice, too, is that it's close to the zoo as well as the Smith Playground (if you don't know Smith, google it -- free, amazing place for kids in Fairmount Park!). We have a zoo membership as well and on Sundays, since PTM doesn't open until 11, sometimes we drop by either Smith or the zoo for a quick visit, then go to the PTM.

As for who to specify on the membership, I'll just say that no one has ever checked my ID to verify that I was the one named on the membership (and same goes for my DH who often takes my daughter by himself), and the last time we visited I was able to get my friend and daughter in (who also have a membership, but forgot their card) without any extra verification whatsoever. Maybe one day they'll wise up, but as of now I think you could theoretically get away with nearly anything once you know the system of checking in.

We love the Please Touch Museum. We go at least once a month. With your membership, you only need to specify the grownups who will always go with the kids. They only check for that one name the other 3 don't matter. I have my husband's name, mine and my mothers since we are the people who will take my daughter. But I bring friends with me all of the time. They just need the person who is checking in to have a name on the membership.

Hi S.,
I did the Family and Friends membership. It was for my husband, me and 2 kids. We could bring up to 4 people with us. After 3 visits, it paid for itself. We did not use it much, but I would get it again. I think we went about 6 times. It is also good at several museums around the country. I recomend it.
L.