page_title: White House Visitors Office
section_title: Tickets and methods
hierarchical_section_title: White House Visitors Office / Tickets and methods
caption_attribution_description: English: Early morning lineup to get tickets for that day's White House Tour.
context_page_description: The White House Visitors Office is responsible for public tours of the White House, for maintaining a facility where the public can obtain information about the White House, and for other White House events such as the White House Easter Egg Roll, Holiday Open Houses, Spring and Fall Garden tours, State Arrival Ceremonies and other special events.
  The White House Visitor Center, which is managed and operated by the National Park Service, is located within President's Park at the north end of the Herbert C. Hoover Building between 14th Street and 15th Street on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in the Federal Triangle. Since September 11, 2001, it no longer serves as a starting point for those going on a reserved tour of the White House; however, it does provide a unique visitor experience for those who did not schedule a tour. The themes of the six permanent exhibits are "First Families", "Symbols and Images", "White House Architecture", "White House Interiors", "Working White House", and "Ceremonies and Celebrations". Other exhibits change throughout the year. It houses a small bookstore operated by the White House Historical Association.
context_section_description: In 1976 during the United States Bicentennial, long waits in line and a whole morning spent were commonplace due to large numbers in Washington, and a color-coded ticket distribution system was put in place. The system was put in place for good beginning in May 1977.
  White House tours were often in high demand. By 1981, a director of the White House Visitor Center was in charge of the operation. During the early 1980s, as many as 6,000 visitors were accommodated each day, with just as many turned away. Special pleas for tours coming from Washington officials had to be dealt with frequently. In 1981, there was a dispute between First Lady Nancy Reagan and New York U.S. representative Thomas Downey over his free tickets privileges having been suspended. During the early 1980s recession, White House tours remained fully booked even when other Washington attractions saw declining attendance; the Visitor Center continued to process well over one million visits a year. White House Visitors Office personnel are constantly caught between trying to satisfy demands and expectations for tours and events, and preserving the dignity of the presidential office and setting.
  The White House Visitor Office is also in charge of assorted White House special events, such as the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, in the South Lawn, the State Arrival Ceremony for visiting heads of state, and a national Christmas celebration.
  The Egg Roll in particular is an important function of the office; as one former director of the office stated, "It's the single most high-profile event that takes place at the White House each year, and the White House and the first lady are judged on how well they put it on."  Carol McCain, director of the White House Visitors Office from 1981 to 1987, added participatory activities and doubled the size of the crowds attending the Easter Egg Roll. Later, director Ellie Schafer and First Lady Michelle Obama changed the Egg Roll procedure to have a lottery system for gaining access and to allow more people to participate.  The lack of a director of the office in time for the April 2017 Egg Roll was seen as symptomatic of the disorganization of the incoming administration of that time.
  In April 1995 the current White House Visitor Center facility was opened in the Herbert C. Hoover Building, two blocks from the White House. The daily tour ticket distribution place was moved there, with exhibits meant to spend the time until one's tour slot had come about. The yearly run rate for visitors was now at 1.25 million, with as always demand exceeding supply. By 1997, ticket scalping was a persistent problem, with scalpers getting from $5 to $50 a throw.
  Early in the George W. Bush administration, White House officials cracked down on commercialized tours trying to get into the building as well as people late getting to their tour slot. Comparison were made against the more lenient policies of the Clinton administration.
  On July 22, 2012, the main White House Visitor Center facility closed for an extensive renovation process with the goal of including new exhibit galleries, interactive exhibits and improved visitor services. On July 28, a temporary visitor center opened near the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion at the intersection of 15th and E Street and it remained open until the main visitor center reopened on September 13, 2014.
caption: The line to get same-day tour tickets stretched a long way around in June 1994, with the Washington Monument looming in the early morning distance.
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