Carnegie Museum of Natural History is poised for its busiest weekend ever, as members who pre-registered for an early look are scheduled to pack the new dinosaur hall Saturday through Monday.

The biggest attendance day in the museum's history likely will be Saturday, when tours are booked from 6 a.m. through 11:15 p.m. Visitors have been asked to arrive early to keep things on schedule, with the museum anticipating 500 visitors entering the 18,600-square-foot hall per hour.

Visiting times for the members' preview of the $36 million "Dinosaurs in Their Time" exhibit were issued by last week. Museum staff assigned times by a lottery system, said marketing director Kitty Julian.

The natural history museum will be closed to the public next Tuesday in advance of the public opening of the hall on Nov. 21. (Carnegie Museum of Art will be open Tuesday.)

-- Tim McNulty, Post-Gazette cultural arts reporter