At Port Discovery, the well-being of our guests is always our first priority. We take great care to ensure the cleanliness of our space and train our staff on the practices and procedures that help keep Port Discovery a safe, clean, healthy, and fun space for all. Your safety is always our top priority, and our day-to-day cleaning procedures are extensive. Our staff engages in extensive, museum-wide safety and cleaning practices including washing, sanitizing, and disinfecting before we open, during the day, and after we close to the public. This is our practice every day at Port Discovery, not just during flu season or when illnesses affect our community.

In light of the Coronavirus, we have used CDC, State and Local Guidelines to implement a variety of new procedures to ensure a safe visit for your family. Those updates include leveled up cleaning and disinfecting practices, along with advanced ticketing, significantly limited capacity, mandatory face coverings for all staff and all visitors ages 2+, one-way directional experiences, and a variety of additional updates to the Museum experience to encourage physical distancing and reduce the spread of germs.

Although the following is not an exhaustive list of all of the cleaning, sanitization, and disinfecting that we conduct in the Museum, we are providing an overview of our cleaning procedures below for your information.

Things to Know:

Cleaning and disinfecting procedures start early in the day, before we open, and continue throughout the day and after the Museum closes.

Cleaning Prior to Reopening

During our temporary closure, Port Discovery Children’s  Museum underwent a deep clean with products that are both EPA recommended and certified disinfectants for use  COVID-19. All cleaning procedures closely follow CDC updates and recommendations that reduce the spread of germs. Port Discovery staff have been trained extensively on proper cleaning and disinfecting procedures following OSHA guidelines and safety precautions.  Daily Deep cleaning and sanitizing will take place with electrostatic spray disinfection which kills viruses, bacterial, and mold.   In addition, all plush and fabric toys have been removed from the floor as per the CDC’s recommended guidelines. The Museum continues to offer toys and manipulatives for use by guests. In order to minimize the spread of germs, Port Discovery has created multiple sets of all our toys and manipulatives for all of our exhibits. The Museum will regularly clean, remove, and replace manipulatives from the floor to help minimize the spread of germs.

Continuous Cleaning

Once open, continuous cleaning will take place throughout the Museum. Cleaning will happen before, during, and after play sessions. I

High Touch Areas: Throughout the day employees will disinfect, focusing on frequently touched surfaces, exhibit areas and toys/manipulatives.

  • Exhibits: A variety of modifications have been made to exhibits, including the removal of all plush and fabric toys, in order to help minimize the spread of germs. In addition, all manipulatives in each exhibit area will be removed and replaced with a fresh set on a rotation throughout the day.
  • Daily Cleaning: Daily cleaning will occur before, during and after hours with electrostatic spray disinfection

Cleaning Products

Port Discovery Children’s Museum will continue to source and use cleaning and disinfecting products that are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  • We use a safe, hospital-grade disinfectant cleaner that kills 99.9% of bacteria to clean and wipe down all areas and parts of the museum before we open, during operating hours, and after closure. These include:
    • Toys and loose parts such as blocks, games, play vehicles, etc.
    • All exhibit areas
    • Furniture (including tables, chairs, seating areas, lockers, vending machines, coat racks, ticket stations, etc.)
    • Restrooms, including sinks, toilets, changing tables, doors and latches, floors, trash cans, hand dryers, towel dispensers, etc.
    • Handrails, doors, door handles, and latches.

Other helpful information to be aware of:

  • Staff vacuum, sweep, and mop floors daily. They also vacuum and sweep floors as needed throughout the day. Carpets are professionally cleaned throughout the year.
  • Items like plush materials, costumes, and fabric exhibit pieces have been temporarily removed from Museum exhibits.
  • If an area or object needs attention, we always encourage our guests to notify our staff right away.
  • Trashcans can be found throughout the museum for convenient use. They are emptied and wiped down throughout the day.
  • We offer hand sanitizers throughout the building, including at entry/exit and at the entrance of each exhibit area. We ask staff and visitors to regularly wash their hands and use hand sanitizers throughout their visit.
  • We offer sanitizing wipes for use on tables and chairs in our eating area (The Pier).
  • We have added Dirty Toy Bins throughout the Museum for visitors to place items that have been dirtied and/or in someone’s mouth so that we can disinfect, clean and dry them before they are used again.