I have memberships to both the local zoo and the science museum. They're next door to each other, and probably have a lot of visitor crossover, but have no other interaction (would it be so hard to offer a dual membership, guys, seriously?) so the comparisons are inevitable. Both recently re-opened with timed entry, advance admission purchases only and special pre-re-opening days for members.
The zoo's re-opening day was about a week and a half ago. I was skeptical about them because at one point they were going to require temperature checks for entry (which they dropped), and one way traffic through the zoo. They're also not issuing member cards anymore, and when you reserve your time slot on their website it says, "Hey, download our app or print this ticket out, we aren't issuing member cards anymore." From an accessibility perspective, this isn't great (and the fact that it currently *requires* the Internet to get tickets when all the libraries are still closed is probably a barrier to a certain percentage of people), and me pulling a membership card out of my wallet to hold and scan doesn't strike me as less "clean" than me holding up my grimy phone to be scanned, but I suppose it's a cost cutting measure.
The one way traffic isn't all that necessary, considering their visitor numbers, and it's a little bit annoying, but they did one thing very, very right- every single confusing location on the one-way has a staff member posted to help you out. The other thing is, I don't know what they're paying their staff, and maybe it was just because a fair amount of the zoo staff have been working anyway without visitors, but they were all so, so happy to see us. I showed up after noon and the people at the ticket desk, the people posted through the zoo, the people working with animals, the staff doing food service- they were happy to talk and help and seemed knowledgeable. You heard people actively giving the exact same answers across the zoo. I assumed maybe they knew we were all members and were told to be on their best behaviour, but I don't know how you also inject that kind of enthusiasm.
The other thing they did really well, they have all kinds of stuff you can touch, and it's all available for you to touch, but they've got signs posted that remind you to THINK about whether you want to touch something: friendly looking "high touch zone," stickers right next to things like the molds of horns and the piece of the hippo's ball. And then you can see the hand sanitizer from where you're standing.
The only thing they weren't clear about was that they have a 15 minute window *before* your entry time when you can enter. I assumed it was 15 minutes after and so got there slightly after time, but they let me in anyway and didn't say a word. I didn't notice until I looked after that it showed a second ticket purchase made that day. Which was the right way to do it, apart from maybe they should've said, but, eh, 4 minutes, they probably didn't realise I knew I was after time. There's also a few things that look uncertain because attendance is low enough you can't watch other people do it first, but the availability of the staff makes up for it. If they can keep that up through the summer, especially as they have to be dealing with assholes, that'll be pretty remarkable.
The science museum also isn't issuing cards to members, which I took note of because of the zoo. Their member day was today. They also have timed entry, and talk about wiping things down on their website. Beyond that, they mention that there's a 20 minute entry window. Having learned my lesson from the zoo, I showed up ten minutes early. Nope. Their entry time begins at listed time. They have a lot of staff and volunteers standing around outside and inside, but it's difficult to tell who is in charge and what their role is. I hadn't noticed this before, and I normally really, really dislike the expectation that staff be uniformed, but I think the zoo staff sort of prepared me for, I dunno, validation? I was looking for confirmation that I was behaving correctly, and I wasn't getting that feedback here.
Got in just fine, and decided to eat there. They've got a reduced menu and shuttle you all the way to the back restaurant to get it. I discovered after I was in line that the wall does have QR codes to scan for the menu, and since the line wasn't long, I could have probably tapped out if I'd needed to, but I wish I'd been able to see what was available *before* I was in line. If that's the typical capacity under the new attendance guidelines, though, that's still not bad, because I heard they'd sold out for the day. BUT, the guy running the cafe cash register asks me for my member card. Now, I am contrasting directly with the zoo, where I asked if they needed to see something and the girl told me, "No, everybody was a member today." To this guy, I said, "Oh, I thought you didn't have member cards any more?" "No, I need the card." So I'm flipping through my phone going, "Somewhere I have proof of membership," and he finally just swiped me through. That should have been his move immediately after I said I didn't have a card, but, OK. Whatever. Mental note to stop and pick up my card before I go.
I'd wondered how they were going to handle one way traffic, because the museum is a series of galleries that more or less dead end. They don't, simply. The dead-ending exhibits have staff outside counting capacity. They don't have distancing lines here marked, so when there's a wait to enter there are a lot of children standing way too close together, whining, and adults doing fuck-all. It's a science museum, but hey, spread the rona. They have signs standing in front of nearly every doorway reminding you to distance and think about what you touch, but they're all the same and not posted near things to touch, so you don't really register as a thing to read or keep in mind in the same way.
This was probably the least attended the museum has ever been when I was there, and it was immediately apparent that I prefer going on impulse, because it's such a dead museum. The old-fashioned halls of stuffed animals are actually really cool, but even when there aren't way too many children smushed against the glass, I don't want to do that much *reading.* The Egyptian exhibit is a very small room and it's usually packed full of kids, so I finally had the time to do a little bit of reading. I probably only read half of the stuff in that room, and what I read gave me more questions unanswered. Denver apparently has one of the largest amateur Egyptology clubs in the world, and this exhibit is more or less their work at creating or obtaining restorations. With two exceptions. They've got two mummies on loan from a museum in Pueblo. Those are one of the handful of genuine artifacts in the room, and while I've wondered before where they came from, now I know. Some dude in Pueblo about 120 years ago bought them on a trip to Egypt. Both the mummies are in sarcophagi that aren't theirs, which suggests to me super strongly that the dude bought them from some guys who just went around looting tombs. Is it worthwhile to ask Egypt if Egypt wants them back? Did they already do this and Egypt said, "Listen, keep them and do research," and that's how they went on loan to Denver? I don't know, and they don't address the subject.
But, yeah, room after room of stuff I've seen before, mostly in static displays with a lot of words to read. How do we fix this?
The museum has a special exhibit opening with a special member event on Friday. I reserved tickets, but nowhere did the website prompt me to also reserve general museum entry. Usually, as a member, this isn't required because you just show up and they let you in and then you worry about the special exhibit once you're on the third floor. Nothing. And I thought, "Well, when I pick up my membership card, I'll ask about that." The volunteers at the welcome desk had no idea, and sent me over to the visitor services staff whooooooo also didn't know. They collectively asked a manager who did know. So then I asked about member cards, and was told, nope, it's all the app now. I said that the guy at the cafe hadn't been told, and I hadn't been advised about the app anywhere in their ticketing process. I know how ticketing systems work; when you work for a place as big as that museum, you have a robust ticketing system that can absolutely prompt for bundles and send emails with reminders like this. They just didn't do it. BUT, they did the right thing and over-admitted me into the day without giving me crap about it, which was probably right, but I feel a little stupid for not assuming that this was going to be the case. However, I am also bemused that their entire staff felt a little unprepared to re-open. Guys, it's just members, you should have been reminded on all the major member stuff that morning and in emails going back at least a week.
The price for both memberships is the same, and once I go five times, they've paid for themselves. I hope the zoo decides to keep their extended evening hours through fall, anyway, and the museum has late night Fridays, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can actually get tickets often enough to make it worth it. I'm one person, so I'm not who they want showing up and taking all the slots, because I will not buy nearly enough food and souvenirs to be worth the investment, but I will go absolutely fucking crazy if I don't do this occasionally.
And, ultimately, this entire experience has proven that social distancing really is theatre. Categorically, if I'm in a public space, there's really nothing actively keeping me from catching the virus if it's present and I come into contact with it. Sure, they're cleaning surfaces, they're attempting to create systems to maintain distance, but in the end, the work being done is no different than a grocery store because human beings have to do most of the work, and the theatre isn't really setting that home. I shouldn't have little kids running in to me without parents noticing, caring, or saying something to their kid. But in both environments, I could be standing 12 feet away from anyone and suddenly there's a kid running in to me. There's more than enough room for all of us, but somehow you didn't think you needed to cover all the bases with your 8 year old. (If it was kids who can barely walk who are trying out running, I'd think of that differently, but that age group seems to be universally contained in strollers, probably because they can't wear masks.)
It's a reminder that, really, if I didn't actually get the rona back in February (the lingering cough until May and how genuinely awful I felt for nearly a month make me wonder), it's really only a matter of time before I get it unless I'm OK with going batshiat crazy or if I can somehow generate friends that exist beyond a screen and I don't even know what that would look like.
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