Fact File
by Candyce Stapen

Since family sleep-overs at museums and zoos are popular, it’s best to book these in advance. Many take place on Friday or Saturday nights May through October, but some facilities schedule events year-round.

Many programs include a pizza dinner, but some suggest you eat before arrival, or pack sandwiches to munch. Be prepared to bring your own sleeping bags and bed-down on the floor (you can tote air mattresses). Breakfasts are simple meals, typically consisting of juice and cereal.

** Boston Children’s Museum, Boston, MA

Program: Family overnights, which operate three times a year, are slated for March 18-19, 05, June 10-11, 05 and for Halloween. The October date isn’t confirmed yet. The event features a performance, storytelling and a workshop. Families can bring dinner or go out to eat at a nearby restaurant.

Snacks are served.

Cost: $28 for non-members, and $26 for members.

Contact: Boston Children’s Museum, 617-426-6500.
www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org

** Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, FL
Program: The three-day, two-night Family Fun Adventure camp runs from Friday mid-day to Sunday afternoon. Recommended for families with children age eight and older. You lodge at nearby hotels but enjoy special activities at the park, including behind-the-scenes tours and special animal encounters, Meals are included. 2005 schedule: April 8-10; May 6-8; June 17-19; July 1-3; Oct. 7-9.

Cost: $600 per camper pair of one adult and one child. Additional family members sharing the same room cost $275 each.

Contact: 888-800-5447. www.swbg-adventurecamps.com

**Conner Prairie, Fishers, IN
Program: Weekend on the Farm, a two-day, one-night program, is offered April through October. (Originally, when the Prakels signed-on, the experience was available in winter.) Since the Victorian farmhouse has six-bedrooms, the program can handle up to 12-people, plus the interpreters. Suggested minimum age is six-years-old. Participants are not limited to families. 2005 dates: April 30-May 1; May 14-15; June 18-19; July 23-24; Aug. 27-28 and Oct. 1-2.

Cost: Adults $195; children age 6 through 11, $90; ages 12 through 17, $120. Family of four: $500.

Contact: Conner Prairie, 800-966-1836. www.connerprairie.org

** Field Museum, Chicago, IL

Program: Family Overnights are geared to kids ages 6 to 12. “Dozing with the Dinos” is scheduled for Nov. 27 and another family program will run in spring. More may be scheduled but most programs are geared for groups

Cost: $40 per person.

Contact: The Field Museum 312-922-9410. www.fieldmuseum.org

**Miami Metrozoo, Miami, FL

Program: You can schedule your own Zoo-in as long as you have a minimum of 15-people and a maximum of 30. Think “unusual family reunion” or birthday bash. At Zoo-ins, available year-round, you sleep in the education center classroom. At the Camp-out, open to individual families and slated for March 18-19, 05, you sleep in tents in a field.

For those who like the activities but not the basic sleeping arrangements, consider a Wild Night, an after-hours evening, behind-the-scenes tour.

Cost: Zoo-ins and Camp-outs costs $40 for members and $45 for non-members. Wild Nights cost $20 for members and $25 for non-members.

Contact: Miami Metrozoo, 305-255-5551. www.miamimetrozoo.com

** Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, FL

Program: Camp-ins for families with kids ages 8 and older are offered four times a year. Some take place in the museum’s Verizon Challenger Learning Center, a mock spacecraft and Mission Control center. March 11-12, 05: The “Ooey Gooey Chemistry Camp-in” begins with an “explosive” chemistry show and ends with participants making liquid nitrogen ice cream.

Cost: $29 per student $19 for adults.

Contact: Museum of Science and Industry 800-995-MOSI (6674). www.mosi.org

**Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA

Program: While scout and school group Night Flight programs take place most every Friday and Saturday night from October through June, except for December, family overnights operate only a few times a year.Contact for dates. You sleep in the Treehouse, a building with a treehouse for kids to climb.

Cost: $40 per person.

Contact: The Philadelphia Zoo, 215-243-1100. www.phhiladelphiazoo.org

** St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis, MO

Program: Family Camp-ins take place year-round and target kids ages five to thirteen. Participants, which number from 150-500 people, divide into smaller groups. Each program focuses on a theme. During “Forces of Nature,” the next family affair slated for January 21, 2005, parents and kids will likely touch a dust tornado, build a volcano, learn to read seismographs, and see an OMNIMAX film before falling asleep. A favorite spot: at the foot of the robotic and roaring T-rex. Contact for additional dates.

Cost: $30-$40 per person.

Contact: St. Louis Science Center, 800-456-7572. www.slsc.org

** San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego , CA
Program: At the Roar & Snore overnights, tucked in your tents overlooking the East African habitat, you can fall asleep to the sounds of hooting owls or maybe roaring lions. Most Roar & Snore programs target families with kids ages 8 and older, but in 2004 the park reserved three dates for families with siblings as young as four. Beastly Bedtime, a similar experience, aims at families with kids ages 4 to 7 years-old. Programs operate May through October and sell-out quickly.

Cost: Roar & Snore: $110 for adults, $90 for children, plus the cost of park admission. Beastly Bedtime: $85 per person plus the cost of park admission.

Contact: 619-718-3050. www.wildanimalpark.org

**San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA.

Program: The zoo offers a variety of Safari Sleepovers for families, including ones for Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. Programs are available May through October.

Cost: Around $90-$100 per person.

Contact: Education Departments, 619-557-3969. www.sandiegozoo.org

**SeaWorld Adventure Parks: SeaWorld Orlando, FL, SeaWorld San Diego, CA and Discovery Cove, Orlando, FL

Program: The themed family sleepovers are designed for parents with kids in grades one through five and differ depending on the park.

SeaWorld Orlando 2005 schedule: Mar 18: “Egg-cellent Adventure” for Easter. June 17, July 1, July 22, July 29: “Hot Summer Nights” with sleepovers in Wild Arctic. Oct. 21, Oct. 22, Oct. 28, and Oct. 29: “Spooktacular” where you meet polar bears, stingrays and sharks, then sleep in the Shark Encounter. Nov. 18: “Follow the Harvest Moon” focuses on secrets of survival, including adaptation and migration and beds down at Manatees: The Last Generation. Dec. 9: “Frosty Friends” focuses on penguins and features an overnight at the Penguin Encounter.

Cost: $75 per person.

Contact: SeaWorld Orlando 800-406-2244. www.swbg-adventurecamps.com

**SeaWorld San Diego 2005 schedule: March 18. Meet animal expert
Jack Hanna and overnight at Adventure Camp dorm. April 6:Mother’s Day Sleepover at Manatee Rescue. June 17: Father’s Day Sleepover at Wild Arctic. Sept. 30: Just for Seniors sleepover at the Adventure Camp dorms, and Dec. 9: Grandparents and Grandkids Sleepover at the Adventure Camp dorm.

Cost: $120-$160 per person.

Contact: SeaWorld San Diego 800-380-3203. www.swbg-adventurecamps.com

**Discovery Cove, Orlando, FL

Programs: The Dolphin Lover’s Family Sleepover at Discovery Cove , Orlando , FL , features a dolphin swim session, admission to Discovery Cove, camping on the Discovery Cove beach, dinner, breakfast and lunch, plus snorkeling with stingrays and feeding exotic birds. 2005 schedule: March 5, 19; April 2, 16, 23, 30; May 7, 21; June 4, 11, 18, 25; July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; August 6, 13, 27; Sept. 10; Oct. 1; Nov 5; and Dec. 17.

Cost: $389 per person and includes a seven day admission to your choice of either SeaWorld Orlando or Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

Contact: 877-434-7268. www.swbg-adventurecamps.com