Dialogue In the Dark

This was an interactive experience that showed you what it’s like to be blind. They constructed several large rooms and spaces you went through in a group … led by a blind person. The best one was the stimulation of the subway car. It was small but it made you think about how confusing it must be. It takes a lot of attention even when you can read the signs and see the stairs. Another room was the kitchen. I remember realizing that all bottles and boxes feel the same.
I wish I learned more, such as how a blind person actually deals with all these things. It was meant for the general public so it was pretty basic. But I think it would have been even better if you could walk around completely on your own. In the demo, you followed the guide’s voice throughout, so you always had a sense of direction. What would you do in real life if you were completely disoriented, or what do you do to maintain the sense of direction? You don’t have someone constantly talking to you.
For what it was, which is mainstream, it was pretty good. I liked that it was large (spacious, several rooms and transitions) and long enough time that you could immerse in the experience.

This place is an experience everyone should try. I went here like 2 years ago and I heard recently it has been closed. It is such a shame because I wanted to take my family here. It was such an amazing experience. After this experience I give so much respect to the people who arent unable to experience what we experience with our eyes. I hope this will reopen soon.

Visited last year and I was blown away. The experience has the potential to be life changing. It’s really a shame that it’s so expensive, but if you can swing it the experience is definitely worth every penny.

GREAT Exhibition! Great.
When I went, I was having a hard time getting information on exactly what this is… but it is an interactive exhibit that simulates you being blind and walking through New York City.
You get a walking stick… and have a blind guide. You enter a room and it goes pitch black… my advice is to close your eyes and just enjoy the experience. Your senses are heightened when you have your eyes closed and you are more likely to REALLY experience it. You follow your guide through the rooms, using his voice and your stick as a guide.
It’s all really interesting. The guides talk to you about their lives, being blind and how they live. It makes you grateful for everything that you have and get to exeprience everyday.
After, your senses are heightened for a while… I left and I could hear more than I normally would… very odd. When you’re reliant on one less sense you have to enhance the others as best as you can and it’s really interesting.
It’s eye opening to say the least. :)

Dialog in the Dark is such a refreshingly cool museum /​exhibition! You literally spend an hour living the life of a blind person, working your way through various landmarks in Manhattan (don’t want to spoil it – you are supposed to use your other senses to guess where). Within the first 2 minutes they hand you a walking stick and then the lights vanish.
You and the others are in complete darkness for all but the very beginning and end. A tour guide acts as a narrator and audio beacon as you navigate through their various recreations. There is even one scene where you ride a mock subway filled with seats, poles, and other handles, and all the other scenes are filled with an amazing range of props (fine one more spoiler, you can even smell a New York hot dog truck at one point).
At some point they reveal that all the tour guides are actually blind! Our guide learned our names early on and by the end could tell who was next to him just on our walking and breathing patterns! There is a very brief Q&A at the end so go ahead and think of any burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask a blind person!
Quick word of warning, the first 5 – 10 minutes is pretty scary adjusting to the blindness, but by the end it seemed everyone was having fun.

Super cool. I love museums, and I am always looking for a new exhibit or instillation to check out. I went to this totally on a whim after lunch and walking around on South Street.
I recommend it. It was a fun/​unique experience. Tours run all day, and I think we waited maybe 20 minutes for our turn.
Basically, you are taken into a room, you are handed a walking stick and given brief instruction on how to use it. We were lucky in that we had a small group of 4 people, and were the only ones on our tour. This was nice, because you will definitely bump into the people on your tour.
You are taken into another room and the lights go down. You can not see– at all. Honestly, for the first few minutes, I felt a little nervous/​claustrophobic — it is THAT dark. You can not see ANYTHING.
You are greeted by a voice and this is your guide. You find out that he/​she is blind and he is going to take you around this simulated NYC experience. You are led through different parts of NYC (grocery store, park, subway) and welcomed with smells, sounds and having to touch everything to get a feel for where you are.
During the tour, the guide is telling you about his experiences as a blind person living in NYC. You can ask questions that you have always wanted to know, but would not ask.
I enjoyed the tour, I left feeling like I really learned something. It was a fun afternoon activity for sure.

If you’re looking for an out of the box idea for an afternoon activity in NYC, I highly recommend Dialogue in the Dark!
Dialogue in the Dark is located in the same space as the Bodies exhibit near South Street Seaport and takes you through simulated NYC environments as if you were blind. They take you through in groups of 8 or so at a time on this one hour tour, give you a cane, and turn the lights completely off so you can’t see at all.
The guide with you is visually impaired but knows the exhibit like the back of his or her hand so they can take you through each area safely. With the guide’s help and through smell, sound and touch you experience NYC as if you were blind.
It was a truly eye opening experience and i’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something different to do! Pair it with a stroll and meal around South Street Seaport and you’ve got yourself a wonderful NYC afternoon!

I went into this exhibit not knowing what to expect — and, that feeling remained with me throughout the duration of the experience.
Fortunately, our guide Pedro was always on his game and kept us from falling, getting lost or hurting ourselves as we navigated the set of NYC provided by Dialogue in the Dark!
In the pitch black dark, where you can literally see nothing, our blind guide, Pedro, led us through an abbreviated day in the life of the visually impaired — parks, trains, grocery stores, busy streets…
Having lost his sight at the age of 13 due to the wrecklesness of a drunken driver, our guide has made an amazing life for himself, acting not only as a guide on this amazing tour, but also working as an instructor to teach other visually impaired folks to navigate electronics and use phone apps to help with day-​to-​day activities (like figuring out which of our American currency is what — did you ever think about that, btw? All our paper $ is the swame size, shape and texture…)
In any event, I digress. The long and the short — this «exhibit» was much more than than an «exhibit.» It was an amazing experience and a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the interesting challenges those who are visually impaired face.
Finally, just another shout-​out to Pedro. Dude, you’re awesome. Every time I thought I was going to fall, got turned around, or lost my way, you were right there with your reassuring hands and voice to put me at ease and get me back on the right track. Super cool, man. Just super, super cool. Thanks so much for an amazing tour and sharing your story!

So glad to have stumbled upon this 2 saturdays ago. Did the combo admission for bodies exhibit and Dialogue in the Dark, because it was a better value than just doing one or the other, we saved significantly. Dialogue on its own is pretty expensive, especially for something i have never heard of before and was not really well explained by the ticket booth. Initially we were going to pass on it since for 50 bux a person, it sounded like we were better off just closing our eyes in the streets of New York, lol, but im so glad we gave it a go. Dialogue in the dark is an experience of a day in the life of a blind person in New York. You go through a park, a grocery store, a train station, a street, and a café, navigating yourself in complete darkness, with a stick and a guide who is fully blind themselves. Our guide Pat, was super sweet and informative. I thought it would be a breeze but it proved to be slightly more challenging than I anticipated. I found myself much more hesitant than I thought I would be, when going up and down ramps and stairs. It is certainly a completely different world! It was so cool to try and identify items in the supermarket and envisioning all of the things we were feeling, hearing, and navigating. Pat was wonderful in providing stories of her own experiences and training us to use more of our senses. At the end I asked her many questions about shopping, outfits and colors, since I work in fashion so i was very interested in this. I got great insight into the technology that has helped advance the way they go through life. I left with a greater understanding of the world of the blind and a greater respect and admiration for how they manage to maximize the use of their senses to live life just like someone who is not impaired.
All in all I think Dialogue is a great and different experience for both tourists and New Yorkers to enjoy on a free day. Though I feel it would be more attractive at a better pricepoint, and definitely needs more advertising, and a better title. Maybe something more like «A Day in the Dark» would be much more comprehensive and intriguing to capture more participants. When we went there wasnt anyone else in our group besides me and my friend, which was just fine, as it created a more intimate and detailed experience, but that cant be good for business. They are not experiencing much traffic because people dont get it and the ticket price is a turn off. Definitely support it so these wonderful people dont lose their jobs.

As a long-​time New Yorker, i’d thought i’d pretty much seen and done all there is to see and do in this city, but nothing can prepare you for the incredible, multi-​layered experience that is Dialogue in the Dark (if you’re fully sighted, that is). Complete immersion into a pitch black simulation of various NYC locations, as described by other reviewers, was at once terrifying, exhilarating, and often kinda funny. Bumping into other people and their canes, groping for walls and rails, and trying to follow your guide’s voice make for a unique method of showing people how much the sighted rely on our eyes for navigating the world around us. But more enriching than even that amazing experience was our guide, Frank (a different Frank than the one pictured on the current website). HIs fantastic humor, grace, and openness about his visually impaired life was the real takeaway from this experience.
The whole approach of Dialogue is that of earnest education, but without ever feeling preachy or trying to elicit pity for the blind and visually impaired. You quickly learn that getting around this city without your eyesight is hard as shit, and that the people who do it every day are all-​around way more badass than the sighted. It’s an experience borne of compassion and a desire to educate, and it’s also super fun. Highly. Recommended.

This is a one of a kind museum experience that only the truly open minded will appreciate! If you’re too apprehensive it will not be as interesting.
During the tour you get a hands on experience and the guide will provide you with challenges at each site. At the end there is a wonderful share out with the guides and they are happy to answer any questions about how the blind and visually impaired community deals with every day challenges. I don’t want to reveal too much about what happens, but be prepared to understand a part of the New York population that you might not have given thought to before!

What a fantastic experience! Initially, I wasn’t so sure about this as the ticket was kinda expensive and I thought that they were just trying to get my money for the combined «Bodies» and «Dialogue» exhibits. But, to my surprise, it was absolutely amazing. It was quite different from any type of exhibit that I have explored in the past. As the lights went out I wasn’t exactly sure what was about to happen. Our tour guide was excellent! He led us through a variety of simulated NY landmarks. He could find us in the dark easily and he led us through the pitch black seemlessly. He was very personable and engaging. This was such a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of what it would be like to be visually impaired in NY. I highly recommend this despite the price!

My boyfriend and I were in NYC for another event and decided to make a day of it. He wanted to go to the South Street Seaport and asked me to look it up. I discovered that Dialog in the Dark was there and we both agreed it sounded interesting.
Dialog is basically immersion into the world of the blind. You check your bags and any loose clothing before giving your ticket to the sighted attendant. You have to turn your cell phones and iPods off (because they emit light) – the whole idea is to experience what it’s like to be blind!
The attendant gives you canes and leads you into a room that gradually darkens to full blackness. After that a guide, who himself (or herself) is blind or visually impaired comes out to guide you through the exhibition. This being New York, we experienced a simulacrum of the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, then sat on a park bench. I also felt what were supposed to be trees with my hands. After some simulated thunder, we went into a grocery store and tried to determine by feel what various bottles were. We took a simulated subway ride (going down the steps was the scariest part for me), crossed a busy street (ever hear those chirping walk signals? Those are for the visually impaired), and then went into a café where we talked with our guide, mostly about technologies to help the blind, before being led out into the light.
Our guide was quite friendly and said up-​front that he’d been blind for some 30 years and was very friendly as he led us through the experience. There was also a lot of bumping into people and objects. We used sound and touch to work our way through the exhibit.
It was an amazing experience, if a bit unsettling. One one hand, it’s scary to be suddenly without one sense on which you truly rely. I realize how much I depend on my sight and how amazing it is that people get by without theirs. However, I also realized that I rely on my other senses more than I really thought. I could tell there were cobblestones under my feet in the park scene. I could tell by feel what a lot of items probably were.
If you’re in NYC, it’s worth a trip to the Seaport to experience Dialog in the Dark. It’s about an hour long and a really incredible experience.

Yo, this was kinda wild.
My sidekick, «Ginger from Arizona», and I went through this exhibit yesterday, not really knowing what to expect.
Here’s what to expect:
1. not to see a frickin’ thing through the entire exhibit. You’re not blindfolded, everything is just pitch black, from the beginning to end. Pitch. Black.
2. continually bumping into people, hitting them with your blind-​cane, as you experience simulations of Central Park, a Safeway grocery, a street corner in Times Square, getting on the subway, and sitting in a restaurant.
3. women bumping into you giggling, or maybe a more aggressive one grabbing you by the waist and pulling you into the seat next to her (if you’re lucky.)
4. someone bumping into your crotch. (i advise not questioning it, just imagine it was the hottest person in your group.)
5. if you’re 6’3″ there are a couple places you may bump your head. it’s okay to let an obscenity or two fly at this point.
6. you will be stopped if you try to shoplift from the Safeway. I swear I didn’t really want the butter and yogurt, I just forgot to put it back. I don’t know how they know, but they’ll know.
There were points where it seemed everyone in the group got bunched together in a traffic jam, and at one point i was trapped in a corner and felt like i was being attacked by zombies, but all-​in-​all this was a cool experience. In some ways I was surprised at how well I handled it, and in others i realized being blind is just as debilitating as one would expect, even more so.
and our group leader, Derrick Suarez, was pretty great, especially at the end with his openness about his experience with being blind.

this should be an item on everyone’s bucket list. it’s such a different experience and really makes you question what you have taken for granted in your life. our tour guide angelo was great. i suspected he might be legally blind but didn’t get the confirmation til the end. we were led into various scenarios in complete darkness with a cane. it takes time to feel free to navigate but you should be adventurous and use the cane to the fullest. it’s really a different type of fun than you have ever experienced. highly recommend!!!

This was an amazing experience that I think everyone should try at least once in thier lives. It truly allowes you to be put in the shoes of someone that is blind/​legally blind that must live and walk the streets of NYC.
Staff were professional, and the guide I had was truly patient, open, and caring. All in the group who did the tour were nervous and anxious (you could feel the nervous energy in the room).
The tour left me feeling amazed with a new found respect for the visually impaired! The tour normally costs $ 25 per person, however there is a great deal on
for $ 10 per ticket. Make sure to print out your vouchers to present at the box office when you arrive! They will not accept you showing an electronic verson of your ticket and will turn you away.

A very illuminating experience. You go through an entire exhibit in the dark. Different rooms micmic different places in NYC and you figure out where you are through your sense of smell, touch, and hearing. The guides are all blind or visually-​impaired. Ours was very enthusiastic and very helpful. Highly recommend!

This «exhibit» is interesting. It is unique. But it has it’s flaws, and that is why I can only give 2 stars.
My first problem is with the guide we had. Apparently he was called in at the last minute. I only know this because he profusely apologized for «the mix up.» This was completely unneccessary (and awkward) because none of us in the group had any idea that he was called in last-​minute. Maybe replacing another guide? I didn’t know at the time, and I still don’t know why he kept apologizing. As the tour progressed, I thought that he was going to teach us more about HOW blind people live their lives. Instead, he really just led us through the rooms, saying how we were «a quiet group» and «ok, come this way» and that was about it. It was impersonal. Even at the end of the tour, our guide was still apologizing for «the mix-​up». This put a damper on the overall experience for me.
Another gripe I have is that there were at least 3 points in the tour where you could see light coming through. Either through an uncovered door frame or through the ceiling, my eyes would focus on the light and it made the exhibit less credible.
Had we had a different, more energetic tour guide, I bet I would feel differently about the exhibit. Unfortunately you can’t choose your guide, so I hope, if you go, you are luckier than our group was. I have read that some of the guides are really great and engaging.

Wow! This exhibit is definitely an eye opener! It is like nothing I have ever experienced before.
Get ready for your senses of hearing, touch and smell to be heightened to a level you’ve never imagined after you are plunged into pitch darkness. I haven’t experienced anything this dark since spelunking in the bowels of the Earth.
When first broached with the idea of going to this exhibit, I was totally game. When the lights dimmed and then turned completely off, it was an entirely different story. I started to internally freak out. It took me about half the tour to let loose and start exploring more (Keep in mind, I am a scardy cat! There were a few times I was tempted to bust out my iphone just so I could have some relief from the dark, but I knew my tour-​mates and tour guide would be pissed and kick me out of the exhibit!).
The tour takes you through a typical day and things one would encounter in NYC. All the guides are blind and each has a different personal story to tell. Our tour guide, Damon, was phenomenal.
I’m still tripped out by this exhibit. It was amazingly crazy. It made me think about all the simple things I take for granted every day. I have to give mad props to all the visually impaired… it takes a lot of courage to venture out, especially somewhere like NYC with all the hustle and bustle that is part of everyday life.
Are you up for experiencing something out of your element? Check out Dialogue in the dark! It will blow your mind!

This exhibit is next to the Bodies Exhibit in the South Street Seaport and it’s AMAZING!
There has not been too much advertising behind it, and the advertising that i have seen doesn’t do it justice.
My tips and advice:
–Don’t be scared! I had never really spoken to a blind person before and when i hear we would be guided by one, i was a bit nervous. but the employees are great and make you feel extremely comfortable.
–Go with a friend (or even on a date). It’s nice to know you know someone else that is there with you.
–Ask questions! This is your time to ask a blind person anything you’ve ever wanted to know about being blind. (how do you count money? how do you know what time it is? etc.)
I highly recommend this to tourists and locals because you will get to experience a bit of what it’s like to be blind and commuting in the city.