The first thing one notices when you walk into the American Museum of Natural History isn’t the huge statue of President Theodore Roosevelt right in front of the building that takes up four blocks or so on Central Park West .
It’s the two giant prehistoric animals getting ready to do battle right in the middle of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall .
This museum , which is one of the largest Natural History museums in the country , is also the home of the world famous Hayden Planetarium .
If you happen to be visiting New York City not only for your own 30 Plus Teams Tour , but just because this is New York City after all , this is one of the museums that you should visit , especially if you have children .
The museum is easy to get to by public transportation and two New York City subway trains , the B and C trains , stop right at the museum .
There’s even an entrance when you get off the subway at the Lower Level .
The museum is open daily from 10am until 5:45 pm .
The suggested admission price for adults $19 and for children ages 2-12, $10.
Before you pay, though , you’ll be asked if you wish to visit just the museum or do you wish to see the Imax Movie , special exhibits , plus any shows at the Hayden Planetarium .
If you want to do all of this , more money is added to your admission price .
$14 more for the adults , $10 more for the children .
If this sounds like a steep price to you , keep in mind that in effect , you’re visiting two museums .
The Hayden Planetarium tells you everything you wanted to know about the planets and solar systems .
Given the fact that we recently had a solar eclipse , the Hayden Planetarium was one of the busiest places in the museum .
The museum itself has four floors and is quite spread out , so please be sure to pick up a floor plan before you go into any of the exhibits .
Otherwise , you will be hopelessly lost like I was , and I did have a floor plan .
The planetarium isn’t the only exhibit on the first floor , but the child in you will love the Hall of North American Mammals .
On the day that I visited the museum , besides reading the quotes from President Roosevelt that were on the wall as you walk in and being mesmerized by the two prehistoric animals battling it out, I really enjoyed the exhibits on in the second floor , which just didn’t have the Hall of African Mammals , but also the Hall of Peoples .
There were exhibits on peoples from Mexico , South and Central America , Asia and Africa .
I was really fascinated by the customs and traditions , and I would say that this was my favorite section of the museum .
I didn’t think that I would enjoy my visit to a museum about dinosaurs , rocks, and the planets , but I was wrong .
This museum is so much more than that .
The inner child in me really liked looking at all the prehistoric animals , and trying to pronounce their names .
There was even a section on the birds of New York State and for some reason the exhibit that seemed to have the most children , and their parents oohing and just seemingly enjoying for some strange reason , was the one called , ” Rodents of New York . ”
Don’t ask, I couldn’t look at it without getting sick.
You might think an hour visiting this museum would be fine .
Wrong , try three hours at the most .
There’s a lot to see, but leave the selfie sticks at home or back at the hotel or hostel .
Security will tell you when you first arrive , that selfie sticks aren’t allowed anywhere in the museum .
There are so many museums in the city to visit .
Make the American Museum of Natural History a must see on your next trip to New York City . 
