ruadisneyfan2
DIS Legend
- Joined
- May 20, 2006
- Messages
- 17,164
We just moved from Philly a couple of weeks ago. DH and I both worked at Independence NHP. If you are going to the mint, then I would stay in that area. Parking can sometimes be an issue, there is a parking garage under the Independence Visitor Center. Not sure how much it cost becuse it is not owned by the park service. As people have said, the mint is across from Independence. It is easy walking around that part of the city.
To clarify prices in the area:
All of the Park Service(NPS) areas are free. This includes Independence Hall (tours are done by rangers at scheduled times throughout the entire day, but at this time of year they are rarelly full), The Liberty Bell Center, The Independence Visitor Center, Franklin Court (site of Franklin's house and the 1st post office), the Free Quaker Meeting house and the Second Bank of the US. There are also some houses they give tours at between 3rd and 4th on Walnut st.
Christ Church Cemetery is across from the Free Quaker Meeting House. It is run by the church and by tour only and cost,I believe, $2. Tours seem to be sporatic. This is where Franklin and his wife are buried. If you do not want to see or can not schedule a tour, you can see the graves very clearly through the cast iron fence.
The National Constitution Center is on NPS property, but is not ran by the NPS. It is a pretty neat center, but when we lived there I did not take my 3 and 5 yr old, I thought it was a little above their level and they would not be interested.
The Please Touch and Franklin Institute always get rave reviews, particulary for younger kids, but a little expensive. When I go to Disney, I try to stop at places that do not cost too much on the way there and back. (I want to save my spending money).
There is also the Philadelphia Zoo, America's first zoo. We are members there and loved it. They accept memberships for several zoos and aquariums, so if you belong to one you might aee if they participate in the reciprocal benefits program. This is not in Center City and is about a 10-15 min drive if traffic is good.
You can spend a day in Center City and see many things and not spend a lot of money. The city blocks are not to big (they were designed in the 1700's) so walking is pretty easy.
It would also be cool to get a family picture in front of the real Liberty Bell and then get one with the replica one in Liberty Square. We went to DW right before my DH started working there. He is law enforcement and I made him practice protecting the Liberty Bell while we were on vacation.
Sorry this is long, if you have any questions on the park feel free to pm me. Have fun!
This is also true if you belong to your local museum. Some have reciprocal admission to Franklin Institute and Academy of Natural Science. I discovered this by accident reading a website of a science museum in Ft. Lauderdale. We considered buying a membership to FI and would get in free in FLL.
http://www2.fi.edu/join/membership/membership_guide.php#q
Be sure to try a real cheese steak too! mmmmm....
This is good but allow lots of time for any of Philly's public trans esp if weather is bad.
