The countdown is on to the opening of the Polk Penguin Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo! Here is some information you might find useful in planning your first visit:
- The PPCC opens to the public on Monday, April 18, but it opens exclusively to Zoo members during the evenings of April 18-21, April 25-28, and May 2-5. You can reserve times or become a member here! (Note that, unlike summer MemberFest, only limited other attractions will be open). In fact, April 25 is World Penguin Day … how appropriate!
- In order to stagger the expected crowds, entry into the Center is FREE but timed — not just for MemberFest. During regular hours, you will be asked at the gate if you plan to visit the Center and given a ticket for an assigned time. If you’re meeting others there, it would be a good idea to go through the gates and get your tickets together (except for MemberFest, you cannot get them online; they are, however, available at the Members’ Rackham Fountain Entrance as well as the main gates).
- The exhibit is inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton’s voyage through the Drake Passage. Play up the adventure for your kids! You will go on a 4-D “boat ride” through the Antarctic waters — complete with ice, wind, and water– and then travel below deck to watch the penguins dive!
- Depending on the age of your children, you can preview (or follow up) the story with the Shackleton exhibit inside the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery (across from Science on a Sphere inside the Butterfly/Aviary House. This will also be open during MemberFest).
- Unlike the 4-D experiences inside the Ford Education Center, there is no height or age requirement for the experience. You will feel as though you are aboard a ship through the videos of the Arctic waters projected on the walls, but if the effects are too strong you can simply close your eyes for a moment — there is no actual movement. (My one-year-old definitely needed to cling tighter to me while the four-year-old
was begging to be “thrown overboard”!) - You can, however, expect a good chance of getting wet! Mists will spray and if a wave crashes against the ship, well, you can probably guess! There is also a Splash Pad outside. It might not be a bad idea to bring a towel or change of clothes — even if just to leave in your car! If you forget, swim diapers and towels will be available for purchase in the gift shop inside the Center.
- Your tour of the PPCC is a self-directed, linear path. You can plan on about 20 – 30 minutes on average to go through (some families will take longer, of course, and some shorter).
- The Center is an integrated part of the zoo’s campus. The dirt that was excavated was used for the Cotton Family Wolf Wilderness and the former Penguinarium will become a bat conservatory.
- The fun won’t end with the warm weather! There’s a lot of excitement right now, but that won’t fade away with the summer. In fact, that splash pad out front will become a small recreational ice rink for skating in the winter, and the Center is intentionally placed at the front of the zoo to be part of a Conservation Campus (along with exhibits such as the Butterfly house, The National Amphibian Conservation Center, The Holden Reptile Conservation Center, The Otter Habitat, and eventually the Bat Conservatory).
If you’d like to read more, click here to find out about the story behind the Center’s conception and its web-footed inhabitants!
