King Tut Exhibition
 

Has anyone been to the King Tut exhibition in LA, Ft Lauderdale or Chicago? I found one post from someone who saw it in LA. I am wondering what your general impressions are of the exhibition.

I am thinking of seeing it in Philadelphia next year.

I saw it on Friday, it's good but not great.

My mom and brother saw it in Chicago. They had a terrific time.

It was here in LA, within walking distance of our apartment, but DH and I missed it because of $$$. $30/ticket. Ouch!

I saw it in Chicago and was underwhelmed. Fortunately, I had a free ticket. I don't think it was worth the $25 (I think) admission price.

We saw it in Ft Lauderdale. It was good but not like the exhibition from years ago. This one had some Tut stuff but much of it was just from that era.

and pay the extra to get the headphones. That was worth it.

I saw the Tut exhibit in LA.

I have also seen the treasures from the Tut Tomb at the museum in Cairo, and I can tell you that very few of them were in the LA exhibit and certainly none of the outstanding ones.

The items from the tomb on display in Cairo are splendid beyond belief.

If you don't know what was actually found in Tut's tomb, you may enjoy the traveling exhibit.

If you go to New York City, you can see the famous exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at the Brooklyn Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York also has an excellent collection of antiquities from Egypt.

PS: I was equally underwhelmed by the audio for the exhibit.

I enjoyed it when I saw it but I had a $5 discount ticket and saw it after hours when it wasn't congested. But I remember thinking at the time that it wouldn't have been worth $25 to me.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I think I'll skip Tut this time. It doesn't sound like something to travel 6 hours to see. Maybe someday I'll make it to Egypt instead!

If you have never seen one, I do think it may be worth it. You won't be jaded.

I agreed with HowardR re this latest, since I've seen both tours (first one was many years ago and included the large gold sarcophagus)- that this one will underwhelm, IMHO, if you saw the first one.

I was thinking about taking my family to Philly for this and I just got an email saying I can use my "reservation number" to get tickets online now, but after reading the comments I think we will pass.

It's interesting to read your views on this exhibition as it's coming to London next year. Apparently it will be showing at the 02 Centre (formerly the Millennium Dome) in North Greenwich.

It will be interesting to see what price they charge us !

I agree with JJ5, if you have never seen something like this, it might be worth it. I am not sure I would drive 6 hours just to see it but maybe you could make a trip of it and see other sites in Philadelphia.

I too could have bought my tickets early with my reserved number, but when everything was said it done, for 2 adults the price was $78.50 through Ticketmaster. My brother saw the exhibit in Ft. Lauderdale and was very disappointed with the exhibit. He drove 8 hours round trip to see it and some of the objects that were shown in the preview for the exhibit were not even in the exhibit. If you get a chance, check out the Egyptian rooms at the British Museum in London, I loved them.

I saw it FLL and I would give it a pass. The Museum did a fine job, but did not have "wow" items from the previous exhibit. The Britsh museum has better Eygptian artifacts IMO.

Scullysioux:

I saw the exhibit at the Field in Chicago a few months ago with a friend who was visiting from out of town. It was a rainy weekend and the place was packed. After buying tickets, we were stuck standing in line for at least half an hour, proceeding through roped off areas. We weren't allowed to wander the Field while waiting for our entrance time. This is supposedly to control the crowd, but when we got in to the actual exhibit, we were literally tripping over people. People were packed four deep in front of the cases listening to their audio tapes, so seeing anything was virtually impossible. (The cases are quite small and generally set at waist height.)

The pieces in the exhibit were underwhelming also. Not many "oh, wow" moments this time, especially for me as I recall the earlier show at the Art Institute in the 70s, I think. The signage was not great: hard to see, not very detailed, and with some spelling errors. The lighting was way too dim; we both had headaches after the show from peering at dimly lit signage and cases. I know we're in our 40s, but I sound like I'm 80 here. LOL

I've never seen such bad crowd control, but I'm more likely to buy tickets to the Art Institute shows, which are always very well organized so that you can actually see the work, no matter how popular the show is. My friend said that she heard the museums that book the show have to guarantee a certain number of tickets sold. That may or may not be a problem in Philly as well.

Hope this helps.

tripMe

I saw a fantastic Egyption traveling exhibition in Memphis TN in mid 80's which had the huge gold statue. Probably midsouth was the last stop of the famed 70's tour?

Anyway, my teen wants to see this new King Tut exhibition. She has already been to the Louvre and seen their Egyption area. She has also been to the Field and seen their permanent Egyption area.

What, if any, newness will this exhibit offer in Philly when we plan to go this summer?

The first Tut WAS also at the Field, but done in an entirely different manner. It wasn't at the Art Inst.

But that's exactly why I think this one is not a fraction of the previous- because of the size of the artifacts. As posted, they are smaller and in cases. It doesn't make them "bad" but not of the significance, IMHO, of the very large sarcophagus etc. of the former traveling exhibit.

The exhibit was excellent but the crowding was horrible in LA. I would love to see it again. Do buy tickets for early in the morning to hopefully get better viewing. I love all things Egypt we had a good time in spite of the hundreds of people crowding the displays.

There was an interesting article in the Tribune a couple of days ago contrasting the original show with this one

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...,2736305.story

I happen to be in Philadelphia and was thinking about seeing the King Tut exhibit. However, after reading all the previous comments, I'm now not sure if it's worth $30+ in admissions. Afterall, many cities, including where I'm from (Boston), has good Egyptican collections.

But does anyone know if there are discounts for the Philly exhibits at Franklin Institute of Art? I may go see if if I get a good deal.

We saw it at Philly, but we made a "Philly day" out of it.

It was nice, something I always wanted to see since I was a kid.
Not overwhelming, not worth the $35 plus extortion Ticketmaster fee.

Pictures at:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...9460/tpod.html

mmyk72-

Did you mean to say the Franklin Institute or the Philadelphia Museum of Art? They are 2 separate entities. Franklin Institute is more of a Science Museum, and the PMA is as its name states.

The PMA is pay-as-you-wish on Sundays. There aren't any other discount I know of.

I recently read a scathing review of the current KT exhibit in Philly. The reviewer had been to previous exhibits and also to Cairo, and boy did he hate the current exhibit, not only for the quality of the exhibit itself but also for the obvious money grabbing...high ticket prices and people packed in like sardines.

Just my opinion, but I think you'd have more fun in Phily going to Penn's museum of archaeology. And no crowds!

http://www.museum.upenn.edu/

yk- you're right, it's Franklins Institute. Thanks for the heads up on the pay as you wish on Sunday at the Museum. I'm definitely doing that.

BTilke- thanks for you thoughts. I'm now less and less inclined to see KT.

zlaor - thanks for the link to your trip report. That's exactly the kind of day I'm planning for Saturday. Kinda wish I'd read the reviews before, but hopefully we'll enjoy the experience.

I have been to the Egyptian rooms at the British Museum and they are spectacular. Hopefully I'm not disappointed.

For those coming for Tut, do check out the U of Pa museum as well:
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/

It's a lovely place, one of my favorites in the city. There are special Egypt exhibits along with their regular galleries.

Sadly I agree with most of you. I too saw the exhibit in Philly with the audio, nope, I do not reccomend it !! Go to Met in NY for the day !!

oohhh... how disappointing the comments!

I have the 'opportunity' to have a long layover in Philly and was considering going to see Tut. I would arrive in PHI at 9:00 AM and leave at 5:30 PM.

It seems doable but now I'm wondering if it is worthwhile... Any thougths?

What day of the week is the lay over? The Philadelphia Art Museum usually has an interesting exhibit, not a bad way to kill a few hours ! You can hop on the train...there and back...done

We went this Saturday and enjoyed it but it was way too crowded. I don't really remember what the '76 exhibit had but this had some cool artifacts. But the only way I'd recommend it would be to get the VIP tickets. We got them with the hotel room and had a special entrance. The line to get in using the regular tickets looked like at least a 30 minute wait to get to the exhibit.

The layover is now on Saturday. It begins to look like a bad idea!