My family and I plan to visit the American Museum of Natural History. I noticed on their website, you can use a wheelchair on a first come first serve basis. My friend has difficulty walking. Would it be best to take the subway, as I see the entrance is close and involves no stairs? Does anyone know if its hard to get a wheelchair? Also, any suggestions would be appreciated.

With all its attributes, the NYC subway system is not kind to the disabled. There are very few stations that actually elevators or escalators connecting every level.

A cab or a bus would be a much better alternative.

How far of a walk would it be if she was dropped off by taxi? I understand about the subway, but thought if we got on at a subway with an elevator and stopped there it might be okay.

The subway by the museum has no elevator. The MTA shortened the M10 route so it doesn't start in midtown. YOu'd have to take the M104 to 79th Street and switch to the 79th St cross town which would let you off on 81st (don't ask) near the accessible entrance.

OOPs - I think you mean the underground entrance to the museum. It would work there but there would still be stairs when you return downtown.

Teec

I am not sure what you mean by where you can be dropped off by taxi and how the long the walk would be. Unless someone knows where the disabled entrance may be, call and ask, so you can be dropped off there at that spot.

SueNYC, I am not sure what you mean by "here would still be stairs when you return downtown". We were hoping she could take the subway back to the closest stop near our hotel that has an elevator and then take a taxi the rest of the way.

Aduchamp1, I tried calling and was unable to get a "live" person on the phone to ask, that is why I posted here, hoping someone might know

teec

Try calling during the week, the Museum is a zoo on Sunday, especially during the summer and I doubt they have a full administrative staff.

Your friend will probably need to be dropped off on CPW and 81st Street. This is the entrance to the planetarium, which is the entrance I use with my stroller. There is a gentle sloping U-shaped driveway down to the doors. She would probably need to walk about half a block to a block based on getting dropped off at CPW and 81st street.

My husband thinks the entrance from the subway direct to the museum MAY be closed now. I can't remember since we usually walk.

To be honest, to minimize walking, take a cab the entire distance. You are not likely to be saving much money or time if your friend takes a cab to a subway, subway to AMNH, and reverses the trip. Plus you will be maximizing what I think you don't want--standing around time and walking.

That subway station does not have an elevator so yu will need to use iether a cab or a bus. And the main (front) entrance is up a very large set of stairs. I would call the museums and ask the easiest place to be dropped off by a cab to pick up a wheelchair without using any stairs.

Also, you need to know that while the museum has elevators it is huge, they are often along distance from exhibits and they are usually mobbed - often with moms/nannie with kids in strollers.

And even if a subway station has an elevator you can;t count on it working at all - or even going to all levels. Some reach the highest of several levels but not all of them (trains on differnet lines often run under each other on different levels)

The subway station at the museum is on two levels, with uptown trains on one level and downtown trains on the level below. (It may be that downtown is on the upper level—in any case, there are two levels and no elevator.) Even if the direct entrance from the subway into the museum was open (on the upper level), to return to your hotel, your friend would have to climb or descend stairs to reach the level that serves the opposite direction.

Forget it - although the uptown platform is level with the entrance in the museum there are still stairs that you can't avoid when you go through the doors of the museum and to return downtown you would have to go down another flight of stairs.

There is a museum station where you just walk down, but no escalator nor elevator. At the front entrance none as well.

So I recently went to The Museum of Natural History in NYC, and to the Planetarium.
I've been to both a few times, and each time it gets less interesting.
A) You could skip the butterfly exhibit. It's just plain stupid. Just for kids.
B) something about a caravan and sand dunes. skip it.
C) Stuffed animals. how nice. I could see live ones at The Bronx Zoo.
D) Gems & jewels. ok. not bad. pretty much the same as in D.C.
E) Dinosaurs. gets an A. always fun.
F) Human evolution. If you are a non-believer you wont change your mind.
G) UFO exhibit. None existent. Too bad the space craft and the alien corpse from Roswell were not shown as it would've made this waste of space more interesting.

Now for the planetarium. Big place, but mostly empty and plain boring.
This was the most uninteresting show I've seen yet, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. No new info. Yes, some nice effects that make your head spin. I say skip this one.
Skip that silly 2 minute show in the rotunda as well. Didnt we just get that same info in the space show?