School bells will soon be ringing for winter break, but it’s not just the stir-crazy kids and parents who’ll be flocking to Dallas’ newest destination. With the popular Perot Museum of Nature and Science quickly becoming the hot spot for all ages and interests, extended hours will be offered on select dates (holiday hours below). Visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at perotmuseum.org to avoid sell-outs and waiting in lines.
See below for the news release, along with info on the Perot Museum’s exhibit halls and other background details in case you’re interested. Thanks!
HOLIDAY HOURS
Dec. 21 - 23 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Dec. 24 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Dec. 25 CLOSED
Dec. 26 – 30 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Dec. 31 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Jan. 1 - 3 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Jan. 4 - 6 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Taylor Mayad McDonnell
214-435-7756 cell
taylor@mayadpr.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE ANNOUNCES HOLIDAY HOURS GIVING VISITORS MORE TIME TO EXPLORE DALLAS’ NEWEST DESTINATION
With school bells about to ring for winter break, the Perot Museum will offer extended hours on select dates to accommodate holiday traffic; visitors encouraged to buy tickets in advance at perotmuseum.org
DALLAS (December 21, 2012) – School bells will soon be ringing for winter break, but it’s not just the stir-crazy kids and parents who’ll be flocking to Dallas’ newest destination. With the popular Perot Museum of Nature and Science quickly becoming the hot spot for all ages and interests, extended hours will be offered on select dates giving museum goers more time to explore the stunning 180,000-square-foot museum. (See below for holiday hours.) Visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at perotmuseum.org to avoid sell-outs and waiting in lines.
HOLIDAY HOURS
Dec. 21 - 23 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Dec. 24 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Dec. 25 CLOSED
Dec. 26 – 30 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Dec. 31 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Jan. 1 - 3 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Jan. 4 - 6 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
On Sundays through January 6, the Perot Museum will open two hours early at 10 a.m. (Early Sunday openings include admission to exhibit halls only.)
Small adds that memberships are available and selling very fast.
“Charter Memberships make for great last-minute holiday gifts. Membership lasts an entire year, and it’s an easy one-size-fits-all gift!” said Small.
The 180,000-square-foot museum features five floors of public space with 11 permanent exhibit halls ranging in topics from dinosaurs to sports, to robotics and a children’s museum complete with outdoor play space. The state-of-the-art traveling exhibition hall currently features Building the Building, a temporary exhibit that tells the story of the Perot Museum – from its history, conception and construction and the more than 2,500 people that helped create and bring the Perot Museum to life. Other highlights include a Science Park; a glass-encased escalator with a breathtaking view of downtown Dallas; a Café; a Museum Shop; a multi-media, 3D digital cinema; and more.
TICKET PRICES. General admission to the exhibit halls is $15 for adults (18-64), $12 for students (12-17) and seniors (65+), and $10 for children (2-11). Admission to the theater is $5 (30-minute shows) and $8 (60-minute shows) for adults, students, seniors and children. Combo admission to the exhibit halls and theater is $20 for adults (18-64), $17 for students (12-17) and seniors (65+), and $15 for children (2-11).
For members, general exhibit hall admission is always free, and admission to the theater is $5 (30-minute shows) and $6 (60-minute shows).
PAID PARKING. Parking is available in Lot B, a pay-to-exit lot located under Woodall Rodgers Freeway across from the Museum. Overflow parking is available in Lot C, which will be open based on museum attendance, and is a pay-to-enter lot located west of the Museum. Handicapped parking is available in Lot A, the Museum’s onsite lot, and Lot B. Lot A also has limited spaces for hybrid and electric vehicles. Pricing is $6 per car when paid on-site (at box office, lobby kiosk or with attendant for Lot C), $4 if pre-paid online, and $3 for museum members (online or on-site at box office or lobby kiosk).
MEMBERSHIP. Free general admission, member-only events, discounts to the theater, Café and Museum Shop are just a few of the many money-saving perks that Perot Museum members enjoy. And with a variety of packages that offer something for everyone, Perot Museum memberships make for a unique and memorable gift that’s great for all ages and interests – from individuals and couples to families big and small.
Members perk! From 8:30 - 10 a.m. every Saturday morning, members can enjoy exclusive pre-general public access to the Perot Museum.
Charter Memberships are $45 for students, $65 for individuals, $80 for dual memberships, $100 for Family, $160 for Family Plus, and $200 for Family Plus Platinum. Patron level memberships are available for $250 and up. For details, call 214-756-5751 or go to perotmuseum.org.
The Perot Museum is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas, Texas. For more information and to purchase tickets and memberships, visit perotmuseum.org or call 214-428-5555.
For background on the exhibit halls, theater and more, see below.
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About the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Accredited by the American Museum Association, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a nonprofit educational organization located in Dallas, Texas, with campuses in Victory Park and Fair Park. In support of its mission to inspire minds through nature and science, the Perot Museum delivers exciting, engaging and innovative visitor and outreach experiences through its education, exhibition, and research and collections programming for children, students, teachers, families and life-long learners. The $185 million Victory Park museum, designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, opened to the public December 1, 2012. The Perot Museum is named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot, the result of a $50 million gift made by their five adult children. To learn more about the Perot Museum, please visit perotmuseum.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Becky Mayad
214-697-7756 cell
becky@mayadpr.com
Taylor Mayad McDonnell
214-435-7756 cell
taylor@mayadpr.com
EXHIBIT HALLS. The Lower Level houses the Moody Family Children’s Museum, Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall, Sports Hall and six Learning Labs. Created especially for ages 5 and younger, the Moody Family Children’s Museum gives babies, toddlers and preschoolers a space of their own to explore alongside a parent or caregiver. Highlights include an environment mimicking the Great Trinity Forest, child’s-size replicas of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Reunion Tower and the Dallas Farmers Market. Other attractions include waterplay tables, a baby and toddler park, an art lab and an outdoor dino dig. The Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Traveling Exhibition Hall provides an accommodating, flexible space to house world-class traveling and temporary exhibitions designed to excite, educate and inspire a passion for science among all ages for decades to come. The 7,500-square-foot space has been specially designed to meet the strict environmental controls – related to humidity and temperature – to properly present and preserve artifact displays. In the fun-filled Sports Hall, every field, court, track and gym is a hands-on science lab where visitors can explore the body in motion and get into action by throwing a fastball, kicking a soccer ball, turning cartwheels – even trying to outrun a Tyrannosaurus rex – while a high-speed camera captures it all.
Level 2 contains the Discovering Life Hall, Being Human Hall and Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall. The Discovering Life Hall encourages visitors to uncover the fascinating stories of the biosphere with interactive games and dioramas, naturalist activities, displays and taxidermy that reveal unique stories associated with biodiversity, evolution and Texas ecology. Inside the Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall, visitors will experience what it’s like to build a better building, program movements in a 3D animation lab, create music in a sound studio – and even design and build a robot to race through a maze, pick up objects or compete with other robots. In the Being Human Hall, visitors will be able to scrutinize slices of a human specimen, record the electrical activity of their heart and even use their brain waves to launch a Ping-Pong ball.
On Level 3, visitors will find The Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth Hall, Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall, and Tom Hunt Energy Hall. Visitors can experience an earthquake, touch a tornado, broadcast a weather forecast and explore extreme Earth events within the controlled safety of The Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth Hall. By passing beneath a floor-to-ceiling arch of gleaming golden cubes representing crystals of the mineral pyrite, visitors enter the Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall to find sparkling cases of mineral masterpieces – many rarely seen by the public – on loan from the collections of top Texas mineral connoisseurs. Other highlights include a 6-foot-high, 1.5-ton amethyst “grape jelly” geode that can be opened and closed by visitors with a large hand-wheel, a "cave" in the wall filled with a dazzling array of minerals found in the Pederneira Mine, and Mexico’s “Cave of Giants,” home of the largest natural mineral crystals ever found, some up to 40 feet in length. In the Tom Hunt Energy Hall, visitors will get to turn the valves of a full-size wellhead; use 3D technologies to map likely underground energy deposits; take a virtual trip deep underground to explore a drilling rig from the inside out, and discover how fossil fuels and alternative energy sources are playing a powerful role as global demand for energy is on the rise.
Level 4 features the Expanding Universe Hall, T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall, and Rose Hall of Birds. In the Expanding Universe Hall, visitors will experience what it’s like to be a space explorer with a journey through the solar system, an interactive stargazing adventure, an unusual obstacle course that moves at the speed of light, stunning images of space as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, and more, that bring the awe-inspiring beauty of stars, planets and distant galaxies perfectly into focus. Towering dinosaurs, rare fossils, virtual paleo-habitats and much more make the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall a must-see destination for dinosaur lovers, fossil collectors or anyone who ever wondered what life was like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Visitors also will see the world’s first-ever full-body installation of the Alamosaurus and the new species Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, which was discovered in Alaska by the Perot Museum’s own Anthony Fiorillo, Ph.D. and named in honor of the Perot family. Upstairs on the Level Four mezzanine, the Rose Hall of Birds beckons visitors to discover the astonishing links between dinosaurs and modern-day birds, take to the air as a bird avatar via a full-body flight simulator, flip through digital highlights of rare works from the renowned Edmund W. Mudge, Jr., Library of Ornithology, and build a virtual bird via digital kiosks located within the hall.
BUILDING AS AN EXHIBIT. The Perot Museum building and outdoor areas are considered the “13th exhibit hall” that provides “living” examples of engineering, physics, technology and sustainability.
There are certain areas that are encased in glass rather than solid walls to purposely expose and display wiring for the Museum’s extensive technology needs. The elevators are encased in glass, giving visitors a chance to view the inner workings of the mechanism.
Many environmental features of the Perot Museum’s outdoor landscaping are visible, from the hearty, native Texas landscaping to the rainwater collection system. Visitors will be able to see the water-capture system during a rainfall, and the solar hot-water heaters that supply the needs for the Café are visible from the escalator and atrium.
Fun facts, such as “each precast panel weighs about as much as a full-grown elephant,” will provide additional information about the building.
3D THEATER. Equipped with the most sophisticated digital projection and sound systems available today, The Hoglund Foundation Theater is a 3D 298-seat cinema that boasts bright, crystal-clear images and striking colors through state-of-the-art 4K digital projection. The theater will feature a variety of 2D and 3D films, from educational features and cutting-edge documentaries, to experimental independent films, animation, and even Hollywood blockbusters (that are appropriate to the Museum’s mission). In addition, the Perot Museum has a three-year multi-film deal with National Geographic to show and debut all NatGeo film products.
SUSTAINABLE STAND-OUT. The Perot Museum expects to attain three environmental designations – LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; Green Globes Certification from the Green Building Initiative, (separate from the Green Building Council), which focuses on a wide range of sustainable issues including operations; and the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which emphasizes landscape and site design.