How I get a Zoo membership for less than the cost of 1 trip.

[Itchin4Scratch]

My children love the zoo (Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, NY), but it costs so much money!  $11/adult, $8/child, meaning ONE trip would cost a family of 4 $38, and a season pass at my zoo is $85!  Ouch.

So I looked around for other zoos/aquariums that offered memberships and found that in the next city over (about 1.5 hours away) there is an aquarium (Aquarium of Niagara, Niagara Falls) that offers a membership for only $50... except that membership also includes free admission to several zoos around the country, including MINE!  So I would be able to get a season pass to an aquarium AND my zoo for my family for only $50.  Better yet, they even let me get my pass through the mail, so we didn't have to drive 1.5 hours to visit an aquarium if we didn't want to.

But wait, there's more!  I was also able to find a Groupon (on groupon.com) for half off the aquarium membership!  So now we're down to $25 for a family of 4 for an entire year of zoo, not $38!

But wait, I'm not done yet.  The aquarium membership let me add on as many children as I wanted for free, so I added 10 children to my membership.  This way, my children can bring as many friends as they want to all year for FREE!

But heck, I'm not satisfied with the savings yet.  Because the pass is good for 12 months after it is purchased (not just good for the current summer like some passes are), I bought my pass mid summer.  That way we can visit the heck out of the zoo for half the summer this year, and half the summer next year, meaning that we only have to buy a season pass once every 2 years!  BOOYAH!

So lets just say we only visited the zoo once a year, and brought no other friends.  Our zoo trip only cost us $12.50 instead of $38.  The more we visit, the cheaper it gets, and boy-oh-boy will we visit!

I'm sharing this in hopes that you can use my tips to save on a season pass for your local zoo/aquarium/or other attraction.  Good luck!

[kt]

impressive!

[N]

if its for 12 calendar months, then wont you need another one in 12 months? not every two years?

[ender]

if its for 12 calendar months, then wont you need another one in 12 months? not every two years?

I think the idea is you use it extensively during the second half of summer 2013, and the early half of summer 2014.

You miss the second half of summer 2014 and then buy it again mid summer 2015, which covers early summer 2016.

[oldtoyota]

This makes me grateful our zoo is free. I can't imagine paying to visit a zoo!

[janus.rising]

We're from Rocheddar too...will have to show the wife this!  Awesome!

[markstache]

Ron Popeil approves of this post. (Me too!)

[CommonCents]

This is great if you plan for multiple trips to the zoo in a summer.  If you want to go only once or twice, check to see if your library offers a museum pass, with free or heavily discounted passes to a variety of museums, zoos, and aquariums.

[Dan T]

One thing to watch for here (I'm assuming not a problem for this particular zoo), is that with these membership exchange programs, there can often be requirements that you live outside a certain radius from the location that you are using the reciprocal membership.  Just a snag that others trying to emulate your success should be aware of.