Salem, MA Anyone?

[mrsboz]

Tomorrow the kids have the day off from school and we are going to take them to Salem, MA. Does anyone have any good ideas on what to see and what to do and of course any discounts would be great. The kids are 12 year olds. Thank you.

 

[clori]

I took my dd12 to Salem, MA for a daytrip this summer. It is fairly local for us but we went on a day that I didn't have dd8 (who wasn't that interested yet). We stopped by the visitors center for a few minutes to see if they had any deals. We were going to get the trolley ticket but decided it was easier to just walk to everything.

We got a combo pass that included entry to 3 places - I think it was the New England Pirate Museum, Witch Dungeon, and Witch History Museum which gave me a $5 discount I think. We also went to the Salem Witch Museum which was dd's favorite attraction. The mall has a small movie theater where we watched The True 1692 which is a short 3D movie about the witch hysteria. We ended up deciding to save the Pirate Museum for another day so dd8 could go to that one. Salem Willows has some fast food and arcade places that we did with dd8.

I believe there may be some package deals that include haunted houses but my dd wasn't interested in that. There was a ghost walk that sounded interesting but the day we were there it started at 8pm so we decided to skip it.

 

[pooh17]

We were at Salem Willows yesterday and its closed for the season. The chinese take out stand (chop suey sandwiches!) is open and the popcorn bar place is open, but everything else is locked up. So, don't go out of your way to go here.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The Peabody Essex Museum is great. They have a special exhibit, the Yin Yu Tang house, which I think 12 year olds would enjoy:

http://pem.org/visit/yin_yu_tang

Many of the "witch" attractions are rip-offs.

It can be really crowded in Salem in October.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g60954-Activities-Salem_Massachusetts.html

 

[trinchick]

I'll second the Peabody Essex Museum. We even like just visiting their gift shop!

We also liked the House of the Seven Gables tour. Has a secret staircase that I think would appeal to a 12 year old. http://www.7gables.org/tour_gables.shtml

 

[shamrock30]

I will third the Peabody Essex Museum, and also agree that the House of Seven Gables would be a good choice. I'm not a fan of most of the witch attractions, and this is from someone who worked at the Witch Dungeon many moons ago, LOL. The Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers is more authentic.