Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh

[Don B.]

I am flying out to Virginia in July and will be taking my 4 year old grandson to a Dinosaur Museum. Since the Smithsonian is mostly closed, if you had to choose between Philadelphia and the Carnegie in Pittsburgh which would you choose and why. His comprehension on dinosaurs is surprisingly advanced for his age and when it comes to dinosaurs he has a great attention span! The only one he has been to so far was at Thanksgiving Point in Utah where a number of the Jim Jensen dinosaurs are displayed.

[DinoLord]

Though I haven't been to either in a few years, both the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Carnegie museum are stellar institutions with great exhibits; you can't go wrong with either one. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but I remember the Academy's gift shop being much more well-stocked than Carnegies'. If you can make it out a bit further, the American Museum of Natural History in NYC is another great museum with an astounding amount of diverse specimens on display (and the gift shop isn't too shabby either!).

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I haven't been to the Academy of Natural Sciences (though I live close enough that I should have), however the Carnegie is a very nice museum. It's my favorite out of any dinosaur exhibit I have visited. From the pictures, the Academy of Natural Sciences doesn't look that bad, but there are more large dinosaurs at the Carnegie, and many of them are historically important, like Dippy or 9380. I know the ANSP has some as well, including the hadrosaurus holotype, but if I haven't been to either yet I would choose the Carnegie.

[Halichoeres]

They're both incredible places in great towns. If your grandson is mainly interested in the dinosaurs, Carnegie does have a lot more, although I think that the Academy is better for prehistoric fishes, for example. But I'd echo DinoLord's sentiment, that you can't really make a bad decision here.