Zoo Memberships
By kel1483
@kel1483 (986)
United States
June 4, 2008 11:41am CST
We go to the zoo a lot. The reason is my mom buys a Zoo Society membership with the local zoo. It costs her about $60 for a year and we get into the John Ball Park Zoo free and then we get free or reduced rates at over 100 zoos around the United States and Canada. We've only used the pass at zoos in Michigan, but we always consider going to some in nearby states. She also gets a newsletter and we get to visit the zoo for special events. For example, whenever they get a new exhibit at the zoo, we get to go after hours the night before it premiers to the public and see it. Like they now have a thing where you can touch stingrays. We were able to go the night before it opened and see it.
Do any of your local zoos have that kind of program? Do you do participate?
Also, feel free to talk about any of the exhibits you like at your favorite zoo. Or what zoo is your favorite.
2 responses
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
4 Jun 08
i think our zoo has a program like that but i haven't really looked into it yet. we went there a few weeks ago with my daughters preschool. when at the gift shop she asked us if we were members and said members get a discount at the gift shop as well as other stuff. when our youngest is a little older i think we might look into it. our zoo (pittsburgh pa) is pretty nice and it makes for a really nice family day.
1 person likes this
@kel1483 (986)
• United States
4 Jun 08
We don't ever buy anything from the gift shops, but my mom does get a discount at that, too. Yeah, the zoo is a nice little family day trip. We enjoy it. I've only been to zoos in Michigan and Ohio, but it'd be nice to go out to Pittsburgh or some of the others further east than us.
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
4 Jun 08
I think pretty much every zoo in the US has a program like that. It's a good source of funding for them. We don't have a membership, mostly because the nearest zoo is about seventy miles away. It does have a program with specials for members and stuff. It's just not worth it for us to drive there often enough to make it worth our money. We go to the zoo about once a year. Our kids get free tickets from the library reading program which makes it an affordable trip for us, even now with the gas prices so high. We have local options to see animals. Our local wildlife center is free with special exhibits run a couple of times a year. The one we attended last year had frogs, snakes, salamanders and the like on display. They were even allowed to pick them up and touch them. They talked about that for several weeks.
@kel1483 (986)
• United States
4 Jun 08
My mom usually buys hers when she gets her income tax return and she has extra money. We're about 35 miles from the nearest zoo, so it's not as far as you have, so we usually visit that zoo 6-8 times a year (and if we were to pay each time, it'd cost way more than the $60). I have 20 nieces and nephews, so that's really why we go so much.
We don't have a wildlife center around here, but it sounds like yours would be a fun place to visit for kids. We have a lot of farm markets around where they'll let the kids pet/feed the animals and stuff. Those are free (and closer to home) so we do take the kids to those.
