Griffith Park Observatory

After reading about the Griffith Park Observatory reopening after $93 million in renovations, I really wanted to get up there and take a peak. Especially after reading about the sneak peak the press got and bloggers like this. (yah call me very jealous)

I got tickets about a month ago for last Saturday afternoon at 4:10. I thought it would be a perfect time because right as we would get up there, the sun would be setting and we could have a light dinner at the cafe before perhaps seeing the inside.

On Saturday afternoon, I grabbed a friend and got my timed tickets ($8, 4:10PM), … parked my car at Hollywood and Highland and rode the bus up to the park. We got up there just in time for sunset. It’s an amazing view. Everything I expected. wow. But then we went inside.

There were so many people there you could hardly move. There were lines of 300 plus people for the planetarium show ($7) that had been waiting for hours. The crowds kept on booing every time a staff member would come out just to say it would be a few more minutes. After finally who knows how long, the crowd erupted into a loud cheer. It was kind of like the broken ride at disney world was just reopened.

There was even a line of at least 100 people to get into see the telescope, that wasn’t moving. Then the telescope broke and all those people were turned away.

Downstairs was so crowded you could hardly see any of the exhibits. And don’t get me started with the cafe. There was a line up the stairs and around the corner for that… at least 150 people in line to get something to eat at any given time during the three hours we were there.

And then when we had finally had enough, we got in yet another line to get back on the bus to get back to Hollywood and Highland. We waited in a line of 200 people for 30 minutes just to get on a bus to get back.

Bottom line, don’t go unless it’s in the dead middle of the week. Or if you can’t make it up there then, wait six months or so until the hype dies down. The views were great but it’s not worth fighting these crowds. It just ruins it.

I thought the whole point of buying timed tickets was to make sure the observatory wasn’t overrun with more people than it could handle. They really need to cut the amount of tickets to half.

But if you do go, check out their website below. There you can buy timed tickets for two lots: Hollywood and Highland and the LA Zoo. At Hollywood and Highland, you park in the big underground parking structure there and do have to pay for parking even after validation by the information desk. The Griffith Park people can’t validate it, you have to walk to the front of the Kodak Theater to the information booth and have them do it.

There is one more solution… you can get a free timed reservation if you get it 48 hours in advance and hike or cycle to the Greek Theater where they have a shuttle. I would probably do that. Park somewhere on the street below Griffith Park, hike to the Greek Theater, and then take their shuttle up the hill to the park. You have to take the shuttle. They aren’t allowing you to walk up to the observatory.

It’s all on their website…

If you want to see the renovations, check out this photo page from the LAVoice.

And another nice blog about the new planetarium projector.

http://www.griffithobs.org/