Historic Philadelphia, Inc

Nice hidden find! The staff is nice, but unorganized. Their souvenir store is large and full of options. The Liberty 360 show is cool, but the plot seems rushed.

Typical tourist-​oriented place right in the heart of the main historical/​tourist area of Philadelphia, just a block down from Independence Hall. The wife and I stopped in here to kill some time while waiting for our ticket time to enter Independence Hall. It’s basically a huge gift /​souvenir shop that also features a brief 3D show called «Liberty 360». I think it was like $ 8 each, so we figured «Why Not?»
The show is in their «360 3D» house theater in the middle of the store. The screen wraps around the room — it starts our first with one section, and then expands more and more around the room as the show progresses. The theater is mostly standing only, except for a bench in the front. The movie is a bit cheesy, and the 3D is average, but watch out for the surprise ending! Bottom line — kids will probably like it.
They do also rent Colonial-​style costumes if you are one of those types. And as the other reviewer mentioned, they offer a number of guided tours. We didn’t take one of those, so my review is solely for the store and the movie. If you have time to kill waiting to get into Independence Hall (and in all likelihood, you will) this is a decent place to get out of the heat (or cold, depending on the time of year), grab a drink and a seat, and keep the kids entertained.

This review is for the Independence After Hours tour that is available through Historic Philadelphia. It exceeded all of our expectations because it was AWESOME!
I booked this tour for me and my folks using a Funsaver discount and the whole process was really easy. It came to forty bucks a person. It’s a lot cheaper to order over the phone than using their website because of the additional fees. The tour starts out at 6^th and Chestnut, which is the Historic Philadelphia HQ, and then they walk you to the City Tavern. There you have dinner (don’t expect anything spectacular, you’re there for the 1700s experience not the food) and you get to interact with people from that period. This is also your chance to get an alcoholic drink in, but you have to pay for that on your own. Also if you have dietary needs make them known when you’re booking your tickets (ie no nuts, vegetarian etc).
They get everyone into it, and everyone pretends it’s 1776! I won’t spoil any surprises, but afterwards you get to visit Independence Hall!
What stood out to us was how hard the actors were working! You can tell they really love what they do and they know their characters inside and out. Another thing that I really appreciated was how accommodating the tour guides were! On our way over we got stuck in crazy traffic, and we were able to call the tour guide and coordinate where we would meet. We were able to catch up with the group when they were just getting to the restaurant, and thankfully we hadn’t missed much. It was nice knowing they didn’t just tell us to have planned better or whatever. Our tour guide, Michael I think, was also really knowledgeable and funny. I’d do this tour over and over again because it’s such a good time!