Family destinations take safety precautions
Mask rules, reservations some of the efforts made
First, the Milwaukee County Zoo reopened as an outdoor-only experience, with online reservations and face-mask requirements.
Discovery World was next, opening just for kids attending summer camps. The smaller number of people is allowing a trial run of the museum’s safety and social distancing precautions, as the science museum anticipates reopening for members July 18 and 19 and to the public on July 22.
The Milwaukee Art Museum will open its first floor to members July 9-12 and to the public on July 16, with a socially distant path marked on the floor for people to follow, a new online reservation system and outdoor socially distant seating.
The Milwaukee Public Museum hasn’t made a reopening announcement yet, and Betty Brinn Children’s Museum — where the exhibits are all hands-on and the young audience is averse to social distancing — will remain closed for the summer.
The leadership at some of Milwaukee’s main family-friendly attractions has been meeting (virtually) since COVID-19 closed their institutions in March, discussing how reopening works during a pandemic.
It’s still a work in progress.
“I’m plugged in with a number of groups, with the local arts groups, with the CEOs of Discovery World, the zoo and the public museum,” said Brian King, executive director of Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. “We’re on the phone twice a week, and when the crisis first started, we were on the phone every morning. One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it’s brought all these nonprofits together as we learn from each other and navigate this mess together.”
In many ways, the changes the institutions are making are similar — things like signage and floor markers to keep people six feet from each other, online reservations to maintain lower capacity and face mask requirements.
But the venues also have different considerations that either help or hinder reopening plans — things like the availability of wide-open or outdoor spaces to ease social distancing, the viability of limiting hands-on activities and the financial feasibility of opening with capacity limits in place.
And, because of that, they’ve reached different conclusions.
The zoo: Room for social distancing in an outdoor-only experience
On June 13, the Milwaukee County Zoo entered Phase 1 of its reopening plans, which include a greatly reduced capacity, a face-mask requirement and the closings of all the animal buildings.
“We have 680,000 square feet of outdoor space, so social distancing is a heck of a lot easier than indoor places,” said Jenny Diliberti, the zoo’s public relations coordinator. “We’re really happy we could open safely as soon as we could because being able to walk around, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, it’s such a great way to lift your mental spirits.”
Diliberti said a key way the zoo keeps control of its capacity is with its online reservation system. People can reserve two-hour windows online for their group, and it’s a system the zoo plans to use throughout the phases of its reopening as long as capacity caps are required for proper social distancing.
The zoo staff has also learned that it’s important for people’s comfort level when they can see safety precautions that are being taken.
“We’ve made thousands of signs. You can see people masking and social distancing and cleaning,” said Diliberti. “It’s a visual reminder that by doing all these precautions, we’re keeping people safe so the zoo can be open for everyone.”
Diliberti says the zoo has been following recommendations by the city, county and CDC, and when in doubt of what should open, has erred on the side of caution.
During Phase 1, only three attractions are open — the train, the carousel and the sky glider — with socially distant queues, every other train coach closed and middle rows on the carousel roped off The rides are cleaned after every use.
Specific precautions during Phase 1
Outdoor-only experience (animal buildings are closed, indoor gift shops are closed, limited number of restrooms are open with the doors propped open)
Limited concession stands are open and drinking fountains are closed.
High-touch areas are closed, such as the goat yard, zipline and ropes courses, pony rides, playgrounds, animal feedings and animal in action talks.
Enhanced cleaning protocols and hand sanitizer stations are throughout the zoo
Timed, electronic tickets need to be reserved online with a single point of entry into the zoo.
Masks are required for everyone 3 and older.
Betty Brinn: Young guests, interactive play make it too difficult to open now
Brian King and his staff made the difficult decision to keep Betty Brinn Children’s Museum closed this summer after surveying regular visitors and doing feasibility studies.
They found that parents of preschoolers and toddlers don’t feel comfortable returning to the museum yet, and that too many of the museum’s hands-on exhibits would have to be closed or adjusted to make an opening worthwhile.
And discussions with children’s museum directors throughout the country who have opened their doors have shown that it’s difficult to convince such young children to socially distance to the extent they need to, especially in an indoor space.
“If we had a facility with three acres of outdoor space, I can guarantee you we would have some sort of outdoor social distance experience open right now,” said King. “There’s a difference between indoor and outdoor experiences right now. I applaud the zoo for finding a way to open that’s safe. But our experience is entirely indoors, and it’s interactive and high-touch.”
Art museum: ‘Touchless since 1888’
As staff at the Milwaukee Art Museum get ready to open their doors July 16, they’re emphasizing their lack of hands-on exhibits.
“We’re actually advertising how we’ve been touchless since 1888, meaning that people haven’t ever been able to touch the artwork in the history of the museum,” said Josh Depenbrok, the art museum’s public relations manager. “That’s working to our advantage now.”
Depenbrok added that the things guests used to be able to touch have been changed. That includes instituting a similar system to the zoo’s online reservation system so tickets are now touchless, and keeping the hands-on children’s art studio and drawing kits off-limits for now.
After months of planning, art museum staff invited guests and brought their families through the museum for a week to test out the new safety protocols, and starting July 16, they will open as a first-floor-only experience, as staff decided the limited space would make it easier to limit capacity and monitor that everybody follows the new procedures.
The art museum will also be taking advantage of outdoor spaces to open up more space and ease social distancing.
“The art museum has really not emphasized its outdoor space that much, and we really do have fantastic space,” said Depenbrok. “We’re setting up socially distanced furniture on the Baumgartner Terrace so people can buy sandwiches and coffee from the cafe and eat out on the terrace with their family.”
Specific precautions as the art museum reopens
Masks are required at all times for staff and visitors.
Areas will be cleaned more often, with additional hand sanitizing stations available.
There’s a dedicated path through the first floor that encourages social distancing, with specific galleries blocked off.
Windhover Coffee is open to sell coffee to go and prepackaged meals, but the dining area is closed.
Visitors must buy tickets online to reserve two-hour time periods. There is also a designated time for high-risk visitors only at the beginning of each day.
Plexiglass partitions have been installed at point-of-sale spaces, and there’s signage throughout the museum to encourage social distancing.
Discovery World: Following the science
Discovery World caters to an older audience than Betty Brinn does, but several of the exhibits at the science museum incorporate hands-on elements, elements that will remain closed when Discovery World opens to the public July 22.
“The first things we will offer to the public when we reopen are things we have the ability to manage closely,” said Bryan Wunar, president and CEO of Discovery World. “For example, the virtualreality experience is likely to be closed, but one big draw is our aquarium, which we think we can pulse people through safely.”
Survey results have shown that people don’t feel comfortable waiting in lines, so, like the zoo and art museum, there will be timed arrivals and tickets purchased in advance.
And, with all precautions, the staff will be constantly monitoring so they can make changes if they discover things aren’t working. The ability to change based on evidence is a responsibility Wunar takes seriously.
“After all, we’re a science museum!” he said. “We want to make sure we’re learning from the scientific data that’s out there. There’s never been a more important time for science literacy in our lifetime. We have a role to play. We’re all learning new behaviors, and we can reinforce that and help people figure out how to interpret what’s happening around them.”
Specific precautions as Discovery World reopens
There’s a dedicated path through the parts of Discovery World that are open (some will remain closed for the time being) marked by arrows and signs.
There’s a reservation system for people to buy tickets, with a recommendation that they’re bought online.
The museum will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as from 12 to 1 p.m. on all weekdays so it can be sanitized.
Staff will clean and sanitize exhibits and other high-touch surfaces hourly.
There are hand sanitizer stations throughout the museum.
People ages 3 and up are required to wear face coverings.
Social distancing of 6 feet between visitor groups will be enforced.