Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette To see Dale Chihuly's glass in Phipps Conservatory's Tropical Fruit & Spice Room, visitors must buy tickets for timed admission, unusual for a Pittsburgh show. Click photo for larger image. If you go Tickets to "Chihuly at Phipps: Gardens & Glass" are free to members; $12.50 for adults; $11.50 for seniors and students; and $7.50 to children aged 2 to 18. Evening admission Wednesday through Friday nights is $7.50 for members and $15 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased at www.phipps.conservatory.org or by calling 1-888-336-4060.

Don't expect to drop into the Dale Chihuly glass exhibition on a whim -- joining the crowds at Phipps will take some planning.

Because of the huge attendance expected during the six-month run of the glass show, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is using timed ticketing for one of the first times in the Pittsburgh market. It means tickets need to be bought in advance and are affixed with a specific time for entering the exhibition.

While some tickets will be available at the door during slow days, it is basically the same idea as trying to get into a hot restaurant -- you cannot count on getting a table unless you have made reservations.

Ticket reservations will be in half-hour increments, allowing about 200 visitors in each half-hour. Once inside, visitors can stay all day if they wish -- there are no time limits on viewing the art once they are through the doors.

Phipps members still have to reserve tickets even though membership gets them in for free. Phipps has step-by-step instructions on its Web site on the new ticketing guidelines and has issued e-mails and letters to members.

"We're trying to regulate people going through door initially, so their visit doesn't become unpleasant," Phipps marketing director Michael Sexauer said. "We want them to enjoy the exhibition and not feel rushed or overcrowded. We felt it was a good solution."

Phipps estimates that 300,000 patrons will come to the exhibition, 30 percent from outside the Pittsburgh region, and is building a new, environmentally-friendly parking lot on its front lawn to accommodate extra visitors. A similar Chihuly show last year at the Missouri Botanical Garden drew 350,000 and sparked a 25 percent increase in memberships.

Pittsburgh cultural observers will have to get used to timed ticketing -- Carnegie Science Center plans to use it for its "Bodies" exhibition beginning in October, and Carnegie Natural History Museum also does for the reopening of "Dinosaurs In Their World" the following month.