Adult Swim at The Children’s Museum

I went into this with crazy high hopes, because last year was so fun that this would be a slam dunk, right? Let me count the ways this pissed me off.
–higher prices than last year, boo! But you get a drink ticket, yay! Except the lines were so solid that I couldn’t redeem it.
–I understand that people acted a plum fool last year so some things had to change. Apparently, one of those changes was ‘lock down everything that can be touched or played with’ because despite the big notice on the website of“all exhibits open” there were most certainly ones closed, or places blocked off. (I’ll give partial credit for «Take Me There” — I know that couldn’t be helped.)
— Because there were less things to do, the events open were packed. I couldn’t even think about the planetarium or carousel.
–food/​drink stations that were closed by 10pm
Overall, based on tonight, I definitely would not do this again. Which is sad making because of how much fun I had last year.

Okay, so admittedly I may be a little bias about the awesome which is this event, having been involved with planning it with an awesome team. But, that doesn’t make my opinion and that of the 2,000+ that attended wrong!
The night is literally jam packed with excitement and fun by design leaving you wanting more. Adult play time never felt so good. Everyone had a blast, smiled, giggled and cut loose. A perfect night of entertainment and fun in my mind.
A Note to Unilocalers about lines, drinks, crowds and ideas: The great thing is that we heard you… and will be implementing as many of the noted changes as are feasible. We too agreed with your assessments in these areas and love the idea of an even more seamless event in 2014. Mark your calendar for Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 Unilocalers!

I regret that I’m JUST now writing this review! Ah, my apologies. Even though I wasn’t able to see all that Adult Swim had to offer — I still felt the wonderful energy. People were genuinely having a great time and that, my friends, is fantastic news. It can be tricky almost to find great events that are marketed just for adults. This was a chance for everyone to act like a kid — while still reaping the benefits of sipping on a beer during the process.
Can’t wait until next year’s event!

Fun night, but it was way too crowded – lots of overly long lines. But I loved that the whole museum was open and the carousel was free. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to hit the «nightclub» area. Glad we got early discount tix – thanks again Unilocal elite!

This was a cool event. A lot more laid back than what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more of a rave/​warehouse party. Wasn’t sure what to wear. I thought it going to be a little more upscale, so I wore black pants and a button-​up. But remembering that this is Indiana, I also figured I would see jeans and polo shirts as well. How right I was.
Glad I got there early to avoid the crazy line to pick up your tickets.
The food samples were terrific and the lines at the numerous bars weren’t too bad. Curious to see what improvements they make the 2^nd year (assuming they reprise it in 2014).

First of all, this was such an amazing and fun night! I was a little disappointed when I found out that there were no drink tickets available and we spent almost $ 60 dollars for the ticket. When we got to the Children’s Museum the front library was completely packed, we were unable to move hardly. I loved that they had free coat check and that the line moved quickly, but the line was still quite a mess. Once inside, everything else seemed great, there was little to no lines for things and the atmosphere was great. Myself and many others will be attending next year, I just hope that it is ran a little smoother next year.

This event was a ton of fun! Yes, there were big crowds… not quite «spring break crowds» but still lots of people. I think what made the event seem EXTRA crowded was that 1) lots of people were REALLY hammered and 2) there were tables serving food and round tables for people to eat at set up in the hallway areas. I know the event sold out, and I hope something good comes of the fundraising effort for the theater company.
While I was there I ate 2 kinds of «adult» rice krispy treats (with booze in them), steak skewers from Eddie Merlot’s, Flying Cupcakes, Endangered species dark chocolate (LOVE the blueberry flavor!), several flavors of Just Pop In popcorn, a Philly Steak Eggroll, a Super Pretzel, and got to taste 5 wines for free as well as sample different flavors of Sun King’s Wee Mac (vanilla, chocolate, coffee). We had fun making our custom Hot Wheels cars, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the stick-​on mustaches and light-​up Rolls Royce necklaces. We got to color on a giant mural (Oh hey, Cheetarah…) and ride the carousel for free.
I did NOT like having the weird Vogue dancers dressed as cavemen in Dinosphere. REALLY? Did Sarah Palin arrange that?
I was kind of shocked at how many people managed to get fall-​down-​drunk by 10pm. The $ 5 drinks were flavored vodka, Fuzzy golf-guy’s margaritas, Sun King cans, and wine. Soft drinks and bottled water were free… I do not know WHY I did not bring my flask, because I should have. Clearly, everyone else did.
My suggestion for making this better next time (I so hope there’s a next time!)? Have people arrive in waves. 7:30, 7:45, 8, 8:15. The Museum was SOLD OUT and everyone showed up at 8 or later. It was INSANE! The line did move pretty quickly though. I also think having more Museum staff in Museum uniforms (red, blue shirts) instead of plain clothes might help to discourage some of the more shameful behavior… like the pot and the sex.
Maybe the Museum will start doing scaled-​back Adult Swims a few times a year. Like Adults-​Only from 5:30 — 8:30pm on a Thursday kind of thing. Your $ 20 admission includes 2 drinks and you can buy dinner in the food court.

I have to agree with John Z. I showed up not really knowing what to expect. What I hoped I would experience was checking out all of the cool exhibits while sampling some local grub.
What actually ended happening was spending most of my time in some sort of line. The first line was the line to get our wristband. After that, it was the drink ticket line. Then I spent the majority of the next few hours waiting in line to get a drink or food. It didn’t lend a whole lot of time to check out all the different exhibits.
I will say that I am glad I won tickets to Adult Swim, because I certainly wouldn’t have paid $ 55 – 65 for this event. I liked not having kids running around, but all that extra expense PLUS paying for drinks on top? The price of the event didn’t match what the event provided.
My favorite vendors included the Flying Cupcake, Yats, Just Pop In and Sun King. Lots of vendors were happy to tell you about their products and what made them unique. I love seeing business owners out there promoting their goods and services, and this event had them in spades. My favorite vendor? Unilocal of course!
How this event could be improved? Well, maybe include a drink ticket or two and have more available for purchase. The event was too pricey to not come with a drink ticket. I also had a hard time finding a trash can when I needed one. I walked around with dirty napkins and empty beer cans for awhile. More trash cans would have been appreciated.

I have to say that I didn’t know what to expect from this event. Not for lack of trying to find out though. I mean, I read every article there was about this thing and still couldn’t figure it out. In one article, it said we should be prepared to roll up our sleeves and dive in, another said the dress code was casual chic, another said they were turning the museum into a swanky ultra-​lounge. So, at the eleventh hour, I was still debating between wearing jeans and a t-​shirt, a suit, or something in between. Upon arriving, apparently everyone else was in the same quandary because I saw everything from from jeans and t-​shirts to suits and ties, to 4 inch stilettos and mini-​skirts.
It also fair to say that the museum didn’t know what they were getting into either. We arrived 45 minutes after the start to find a long, but fast-​moving line. Apparently the line was three times as long before we arrived. The difference? The staff totally gave up on scanning everyone’s entry ticket and just started grabbing their paper copies and saying ‘Welp, good enough, get in there!’.
Once inside, I will admit, it was certainly nice being able to enjoy the museum without kids. However, I would have enjoyed it much more if my $ 55 entry fee had at least afforded me the opportunity to pay even more for a sip of bourbon. But no, all that was offered was a small selection of Sun King’s three ubiquitous unpalatable brews, some bargain basement wine, and two pre-​mixed vodka drinks. While this place is a science museum, they haven’t quite figured out that the formula for ‘swanky ultra-​lounge’ includes liquor.
Luckily, there were some other alcoholic sampling alternatives further in, with a wine wholesaler pouring free samples of five wines and Sun King sampling vanilla, chocolate, and coffee flavored varieties of their Wee Mac — much better than their standard trio. Too bad we didn’t find that booth until the end of the night — my liver was pissed.
Kudos go out to a few merchants that were friendly and dished out great grub. Top among them were Eddie Merlot’s which served up steak skewers (awesome, BTW) and Just Pop In that had 7 or 8 varieties of popcorn including beer cheese, buffalo wing and ranch, spicy cheddar, and three chocolate covered offerings. Rex coffee company also sampled five different coffees for free (the French roast was quite good). The Flying Cupcake also served up 8 different cupcakes and they were happy to serve you each of the 8… In fact, all of the merchants were happy to receive repeat visitors.
All in all, a good, but pricey event… at least there were no knee-​biters.