"You want to create this feeling of belonging so that they say, 'I want to go back,' " Ford added. "A sleepover offers a chance for very personal exposure and a chance for a personal connection."
Most museum overnights are for kids over the age of 4, and while some are pricey (the American Museum of Natural History sleepover is $129 per person), others cost about as much as a day at an amusement park (Port Discovery's sleepover is $40 for children, $35 for adults). Most provide food, but they request that patrons bring sleeping bags.
Some overnight patrons choose the event as a twist to an ordinary sleepover. Others, after hearing about the sleepovers, decide to return to venues they had visited in daylight.
"We were looking around for a local but memorable experience, and we'd gone to Hershey Park," said Kristine Westphal, one of the chaperones for a Brownie troop from Manassas, Va., that slept over at the National Aquarium. She said that the troop of third-graders visited the National Aquarium's Breakfast With the Dolphins event two years ago and added, "The Night at the Museum movies made us want to do this all the more."
Since the National Aquarium's program was launched eight years ago, most sleepovers at the attraction have sold out.
Sleepover guests arrived at the aquarium about 6 p.m. on a recent Friday, and were treated to a dolphin show, dinner and an interactive 4-D film.
They took a guided tour through places normally off-limits to visitors, including the food-preparation area, where they learned how sharks and rays are fed and cared for. They moved along a catwalk above the shark tank, the creatures swimming just inches below their feet.
"That was scary; I'm not used to being that close to a shark," said Kristy Albright, 13, of Spring Grove, Pa., who spent a night at the aquarium with her Girl Scout troop.
After visits with underwater divers, the overnighters turned in just after 12:30 a.m., sleeping on floors throughout the facility - including the underwater viewing area where sharks and rays swim close by. The event ended at 9 a.m. Saturday, just as the aquarium opened for day guests.
"It's a great experience, and I recommend it to anyone who can afford it," said John Haneklau of Manassas, Va., chaperone to the Girl Scout troop that used its cookie sales to pay for the trip. He said he preferred the overnight stay to a morning outing, adding, "It's more of a personal experience."
