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Discovery Times Square: Traveler Reviews

226 West 44th St, New York City, NY 10036
866-987-9692
Ranked #211 of 707 attractions in New York City
3.5 of 5 stars 87 Reviews
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Type: Museums
Owner description: Welcome to Discovery Times Square (Discovery TS) where extraordinary exhibits and unforgettable experiences come to life in our exciting, vibrant... more » Owner description: Welcome to Discovery Times Square (Discovery TS) where extraordinary exhibits and unforgettable experiences come to life in our exciting, vibrant space for entertainment, learning and adventure.New York has always been something of a stage - a showcase for debuts and second acts. And so it is fitting that in the vast space that once housed The New York Times printing presses, Discovery Times Square now offers headlines of a different, but equally compelling sort.From the icy waters of the Titanic's final resting place to genius mind of Da Vinci and the riches of King Tut, Discovery is proud to celebrate the world with the world class exhibits of the new Discovery Times Square.Discovery TS also features two exclusive retail experiences — The Discovery Store featuring the latest in games, dvds and other products from the #1 nonfiction company in the world, Discovery Channel, and The New York Times Store with a wide range of exclusive items perfect for the newspaper enthusiast or history buff. « less
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87 reviews from our community

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Date Rating
Long Island, NY
Senior Contributor
32 reviews 32 reviews
Reviews in 17 cities Reviews in 17 cities
29 helpful votes 29 helpful votes
“Google the Dead Sea Scrolls Instead”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed December 31, 2011
1
person found this review helpful

Just dreadful! Waited on line literally for hours just to get into the building, then when finally inside, we discovered that the exhibit is laid out in a circle. This means that you can move only as quickly as the slowest person ahead of you. Everybody is certainly entitled to take their time, but why wasn't the exhibit spread out so that you can move through at your own pace? I was in no mood to stand in another 3-hour line (this was the estimation of the staff inside the exhibit room) after already waiting 2 hours just to get into the building. By this time, I was thinking that I could be googling the Scrolls in the comfort of my own home -- with easy access to a bathroom, which is another problem with this exhibit. I saw the King Tut exhibit here and it was outstanding. They really blew it with the Dead Sea Scrolls, however. Oh, and to add insult to injury: they had some guy dressed like Jesus and posing for photos in the gift shop -- how tacky is that?!! DON'T GO!

Visited December 2011
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Yonkers, New York
Reviewer
4 reviews 4 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
7 helpful votes 7 helpful votes
“Dead sea scrolls, good exhibit, ridiculous lines and poor management”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed December 29, 2011

You reserve a time when you purchase a ticket but they clearly overbook! Worse than a line at Disney and Totally disorganized. Your best to not arrive early, they penalize you. In fact, get there late and you will get to cut the line in front of us doped that get there on time! And there are lines inside also. At peak times expect to wait for more than an hour

Visited December 2011
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Jersey City, New Jersey
1 review
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“We expected more scrolls on display - not much covered from Bible”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed December 29, 2011
2
people found this review helpful

We expected more scrolls on display - not much covered from Bible. There were very few scrolls displayed and it was a big queue to take a look at them. We stood in the line for more than 2 hours and went in circles atleast twice before entering the display area. And to our dismay not many scrolls were kept. Very few passages from the bible were covered. The display was poorly organized and even old people had to stand for more than 2 hours. It was more of a historic display rather then dead sea scroll display.
To top it all no camera's were allowed

Visited December 2011
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Little Falls, New Jersey
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Poor experience Did not get to see the dead sea scrolls due to crowds”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed December 29, 2011
1
person found this review helpful

Went on Thursday, Dec 29 to buy tickets and at 12:15 next schedule was 2:30PM. Bought tickets and ticket personnel and office gave no warning about further delays. We were delayed for one hour getting into the line to the show inside. Then after 30 minutes partial wait in lower level outside and then through the intro, was told at the actual location inside of the dead sea scrolls at 4PM there was another 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait to start to go through this line.

We viewed the 10 commandment scroll with only a 15 minute wait, but did not want to spend another several hours in a very crowded and long line inside the display area for the scrolls. We talked to managers who said they could not do anything due to the large crowds during the Holidays. We asked why no one controlled the volume admitted or told customers about the long lines and waits.

Also believe that safety and fire code rules were violated as the entire display area for the scrolls was posted at 650 maximum by NY Fire codes at anytime and they let 50 per group in and we believe with the lines at the initial site outside the inner entrance of over 150-200 plus all those inside the displays and especially in the inner scroll display of more than 400-500 people, the limits were exceeded, creating a potential for disaster.

Upon leaving, complained to the managers and told to go to the box office where they would only issue open tickets for another visit at another time. Complained that they should have limited the number of tickets sold and advised customers up front of such potential delays. For us, over an hour late and wait from the scheduled time sold to get in and then after another 45 minutes a further delay of 1-2 hours to get into the actual event and view the actual scrolls.

It seems they only want to see as many tickets as possible and let the customer beware. At 4:45 when at the box office to get some satisfaction (which was future free tickets), others complained that the 4:30 entrance time was now 6PM or later and they knew nothing about the internal delays to actually see the scrolls.

A bummer and a fraud!!!

Visited December 2011
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Annapolis, Maryland
Contributor
12 reviews 12 reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
“So disappointed - exhibit looked great but crowds were overwhelming!”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed December 29, 2011

We rushed through lunch to get to the place early since we had 1:30 tickets to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Waited on line to start the exhibit until 2:30! It was so crowded that we skipped the chronological exhibit to move ahead to view the scrolls themselves. I hope that others enjoyed since, by the time we reached the area with the scrolls, we were told there was an additional hour wait! This looked to be an optimistic assessment. We have an 8 year old and a 14 year old and it would have been very hard for them to wait so we left. It looked like it would have been fantastic and I wish that there was better management of the crowds. I know it is hard to turn away business but I would have preferred doing something more productive with family vacation time than waiting in lines.

Visited December 2011
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