PLANNING YOUR TRIP: 1. Schedule early - call the Visitor Center (Raleigh, NC) at 919-733-3456, by mid-August to schedule your trip for the school year. Calling early gives you a better chance to get your requested date(s). 2. Have a choice of at least three prioritized dates for your trip. 3. Check with your principal and clear the trip on the school calendar to be sure there are no conflicts with your date(s). 4. Confirm that transportation (buses, vans, cars) will be available on the dates you selected. 5. Know the places you want to tour before calling. Here are the primary sites: State Capitol - open 7 days a week. Legislative Building - open 7 days a week. NC Museum of Natural Sciences - open 7 days a week. NC Museum of History - closed Mondays. NC Museum of Art - closed Mondays. Governor's Executive Mansion - open at the pleasure of the First Family and by appointment only. Other sites are available. 6. Additional information to have available when placing your call: Teacher(s) name(s) (It is best for the teacher requesting the trip to call.) School phone number School mailing address to include zip code County Age and/or grade level of the students (indicate if any are handicapped). The number of: 1.) students 2.) adults (include all teachers, principal, parents, bus driver, any other adults) Lunch plans; e.g., fast foods, cafeteria, bag lunches, restaurant (lunch plans can impact your schedule) 7. When correspondence from the Visitor Center arrives, open it immediately to check the information confirmed about your trip.
1. Have the itinerary and all other correspondence from the Visitor Center. 2. Check the weather conditions in the Raleigh area and encourage your group to dress appropriately. 3. Comfortable walking shoes are a must. 4. Please leave chewing gum behind. It is not permitted at most sites. 5. You may take your camera.
1. Go to the Visitor Center first at 301 North Blount Street. (If your first site is not near the Visitor Center, it is not necessary to go there first. Just have someone notify the Visitor Center that you have begun your tour.) Unload at the Visitor Center in "Safe Loading and Unloading Zone" on Blount Street. (Restrooms are available at the Visitor Center and at all sites except the State Capitol and the Executive Mansion.) 2. Parking buses, vans, and cars: Buses park in LOT #39 at the corner of Blount and Polk Streets. There is no charge for bus parking. Cars and vans park in the visitor lot at the corner of Wilmington and Polk Streets. Cars may also park in the lot beneath the History Museum accessible from either Wilmington or Jones Streets. The car/van lots will charge $.50 an hour or $4.00 all day. 4. Follow the itinerary - do not alter. 5. Cross streets only at stop lights.
The itinerary provided by the Visitor Center is a walking, self-guided tour - no one will take your group from location to location. When entering a facility, give the name of your group to the receptionist. There may or may not be a tour guide inside. In the event of inclement weather, unload at the first site on the schedule, next to the curb. You do not need to go to the Visitor Center first but you do need to notify them that you have arrived. If you are running behind schedule, go to the site scheduled nearest your actual time of arrival. You do not need to go to the Visitor Center first but again, notify them that you have arrived.