Did you know that many museum and zoo memberships give you discount and free admission to other zoos and museums around the country? Your local zoo or museum should have a list on the website of other locations where it is honored. With our zoo membership, we can visit the Montgomery and Atlanta Zoo for cheap and those are both one day trips.
Our zoo admission is getting so expensive that just 2 trips within a 363 day period more than pays for the membership.
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cindy says
acheck with the museums/ zoos. the museums in chicago have free days throughout the year (but they can be.very.crowded) or try a city pass they often have a variety of ones u can visit for a discount, but must use in like 14 days.
also on a side note, buying season passes for local amusement parks can get u into some all over the.country. six flags near.chicago runs about 65 a person but gets u into all six flags on the country. and cedar fair platinum passes run about 160 but gets u into all thier parks & water parks & free parking for all too. some of the passes include food.coupons and coupons for friends to get in st a discount
Irene says
I just found out that Bank of America (our bank) offers free admission to certain listed museums in the country (to the card holders-hubby and me) on the 1st weekend of the month! Our family plans on participating with this program in August! Can’t wait! We are in Kansas City by the way.
Dana says
Another tip is to check with your local library. Our library is connected to a program sponsored by Macy’s and it allows you to “check-out” a pass to local museums, etc. The passes are usually for free admission or buy 1 get 1 free admission.
CJ says
The mueseums in my town have free admission on the 2nd Saturday of every month. If there is an exhibit that I want to see then I just wait till then to go.
Jean C. says
My tip is to get the membership at a small zoo or museum – it may be cheaper and still offer reciprocity to other larger zoos and museums. We pay $50 for a family membership to a very small local zoo (cost would be $18 for our family for 1 visit), but it gets us into a larger zoo further south for free (cost for 1 visit would be $44). So we save money just by going to each zoo only 1 time in 1 year. My 2nd tip to to not just renew automatically – we wait until we are ready to actually go to the zoo again before we renew since the membership is good for 1 year from when you pay.
Kelly says
Unfortunately, the museums & zoos in my area doesn’t participate in the nationwide free access program. They do, however, offer free days throughout the year. The down side to that is that free days is almost always super crowded and packed. If you can deal with the crowds and lack of parking, it can be a great deal.
Another thing to look out for is membership discounts and sales. The economy is tough for them too and I’ve noticed there are more discounts for memberships now than ever before. For example, I recently scored a 50% off deal for a membership to a museum in my area off of Living Social. That ended up being just $2 more than a one time visit for my family. What a deal!
Our zoos runs promos through their own marketing team and website, so if you’re looking to buy a membership, call and ask to see if they have any promos going on or coming up. Don’t jump right into the memberships right away. Research around first. Also, many places will allow you to apply that day’s admission towards the membership cost.
Amy says
Come to St Louis, MO- where the majority of exhibits/attractions at the zoo, science center, art museum, and history museum are always free!! There are visiting exhibits that cost a nominal fee, (and Omnimax movies at the science center cost, too) but you can enjoy probably80-90% of the exhibits in these venues for free. More than enough to keep you busy!
We have purchased a family membership to our zoo for $60, but it came with 6 free parking passes ($66 value there alone- but if you don’t mind walking there is free parking available) plus a number of rides on the Zooline railroad, plus 10% off all food and beverage/gift shop purchases as well. Plus we got into the Pittsburgh Zoo for free when we visited my in-laws due to the reciprocal arrangement!
cindy says
my best friend from high school lives near there and we visited for the first time last summer. really enjoyed ourselves and cannot wait to go back for another visit.
Clare C. says
We did this with our local science museum. We bought a family membership last year (with a $10 off coupon) and were then able to get into some amazing museums around Chicago last summer during our vacation. Saved us a ton of money plus we’ve been to visit our local museum all during the year as well.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
How fun! :)