Wichita-area attractions make plans to reopen with limited visitors, other restrictions

After being shut down since the middle of March because of COVID-19 restrictions, many Wichita-area attractions are making plans to reopen to the public based on Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s phased plan over the next few weeks — and at least one already has reopened.

Reopening plans for area attractions include changing to advance ticketing systems, limiting admissions, more frequent cleaning of common areas and increased hand-sanitizing stations, restricting or not offering hands-on activities and encouraging social distancing.

Most are encouraging visitors to wear face masks. A least one attraction, the Wichita Art Museum, is requiring them.

Tanganyika Wildlife Park near Goddard opened its gates to the public on May 9, with fewer animal feeding and encounter stations, shorter operating hours than normal and an online advance ticketing and reservation system to help spread out visitors to the family-owned zoo.

The park, which bills itself as having the most animal encounters in the Midwest, currently has only four encounter stations open: the giraffe deck station, its lorikeet landing, the kangaroo walkabout and tortoise feeding, said Matt Fouts, the park’s assistant director. While plans call for a return to having all encounter stations open and normal operating hours, no definite return dates have been set, Fouts said.

The park, which normally shuts down for the winter season, had planned to reopen for the 2020 season on March 14 and bring back elements of its original Lemur Island attraction, including “lemurs in a lap” that had garnered huge fans before it was toned down because of concerns by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors.

Tanganyika admission is currently being limited to 200 visitors each hour to keep the maximum number of daily admissions to 1,200 during its current limited operating hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, Fouts said. To purchase the required advance tickets, visitors need to go online to twpark.com. Season pass holders are required to make online reservations.

The Sedgwick County Zoo, which has plans to reopen for members only starting Monday, May 18, and for the general public starting Thursday, May 24, is implementing a similar online advance ticketing and scheduled admissions system for all visitors.

“The reason is we are limiting our daily capacity and spreading out visitors throughout the day,” said Jennica King, the zoo’s marketing and public relations manager.

Tickets went on sale earlier this week at scz.org and are valid for 30 minutes after the scheduled admission time.

In the first phase of its reopening, the zoo will cap its daily admissions at 1,000 people, with about 100 visitors being allowed in every half-hour between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Visitors won’t be limited in how long they can spend at the zoo, which closes at 5 p.m. The zoo is allowing early-bird ticketed admission at 8 and 8:30 a.m. for members and seniors ages 62 and older.

The zoo expects to increase its daily limit to 2,000 people on June 1, with the rest of the phased plan depending on local, county and state restrictions, King said.

Some zoo areas will remain off-limits or have restrictions during the reopening phases, King said. For example, the yards where kids and adults could interact with animals in the zoo’s farm area are closed. Other closed areas are playgrounds, indoor seating of the zoo’s dining facility, trams, boat rides and giraffe feedings. While the zoo’s current reopening plan has the Koch Orangutan and Chimpanzee Habitat and the Downing Gorilla Plan being closed — because great apes can be at risk of getting COVID-19 from humans — King said staff are trying to find a way to offer limited but safe viewing.

“It’s our hope that there won’t be any animals that are completely off-limits,” she said. Visitors will have more areas to spread out, King noted, since a new giraffe pavilion will be open.

Here are the anticipated reopening dates that were made available by officials at other area attractions. The dates could change as the governor adjusts her phased-in plan to reopen the state.

May 18: Mark Arts (markartsks.com) plans to reopen with initial visitor limits of 30 in its galleries and classes will resume with 6-foot social distancing spaces, said Laura Roddy, the arts center’s development and marketing director. Visitor limits in the galleries will increase according to Kansas’ phased reopening plan.

The Museum of World Treasures (worldtreasures.org) is considering reopening on May 18, as well, according to Danielle Ricklefs, marketing director. MOWT staff had just returned to their museum offices this week and were working on reopening plans, she said.

May 22: The Cosmosphere, a Smithsonian-affiliated science center and space center in Hutchinson, is planning to reopen with limited seating in its planetarium, dome theater and Dr. Goddard’s Lab. The center’s new interactive CosmoKids area, its simulator and other children’s activities will not be available. Officials are encouraging contactless pay by purchasing tickets online at cosmo.org/visit/tickets or calling 620-665-9312 during the operating hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

May 26: The Great Plains Nature Center (gpnc.org) is expected to reopen its building to walk-in visitors Tuesday, May 26, with in-person activities and programming restarting in June, said Marc Murrell, center director. The center has canceled its annual OK Kids event held in June and its Walk with Wildlife, however. Part of its reopening plan includes having designated entry and exit doors and directing visitors to move counterclockwise in certain display areas. Murrell said during the shutdown, the nearby Chisholm Creek Park, where the center’s naturalists have done frequent livestreams and virtual activities, has been “teeming with people.”

June 1: The reopening date of Field Station: Dinosaurs (kansasdinos.com) in Derby coincides with Dinosaur Day. Some of the park’s areas, such as the Kansas Climb that has too many touchpoints to safely keep clean, will remain closed, said Garion Masterson, the park’s director of production and marketing. Park officials also are limiting seating in the amphitheater and moving the family tent shows outdoors. For an early, free event, visitors can stop by the park’s Base Camp entry 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 30 and noon to 6 p.m. May 31 and watch two artists paint a mural of a tylosaurus, a prehistoric sea creature that once lived in Kansas.

The Kansas African American Museum (tkaamuseum.org) has plans to reopen June 1, allowing visitors to see the “Shades of Strength and Beauty” exhibition that was scheduled to open in mid-March.

June 2: When the Wichita Art Museum reopens, visitors will be required to wear face masks and can expect some limits on the numbers allowed into certain galleries. Public programs will also restart, with some limits on attendance based on staging for social distancing.

Officials at other Wichita attractions either were awaiting approval of plans or would not release them. Old Cowtown Museum and CityArts officials said they could not release reopening plans until the Wichita City Council approved them at the council’s May 26 meeting; the plans will likely call for required face masks because of the current requirement at city facilities. Exploration Place was awaiting approval on its plan from its board, which was scheduled to meet Thursday, May 14.

Officials at the Kansas Aviation Museum and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum said they have not yet made plans to reopen.

This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 2:00 PM.