My kids love animals and we are very fortunate to have a wonderful zoo in our town, Riverbanks Zoo, about 15 minutes from our house. We have had a zoo membership since the day Molly was born.... literally my parents bought it when they were in town for her birth. They wanted to do a fun activity with my niece and the zoo was very close to the hospital. The ticket line was extremely long but the membership line was empty. My mom purchased a basic family membership in my name, used some of the guest passes and we got to enjoy the benefits for the rest of the year. We have renewed it each year and always talk about what a great deal it is.
Yesterday Dan and I took the girls to the zoo together. I enjoy taking them on weekday but Dan is usually working. He happened to have the day off and Molly doesn't have preschool on Tuesdays so off to the zoo we went. We have the Family Explorer pass which allows each member a wrist band to enjoy all of the attractions at no additional cost. The membership is $189 and we get 12 guest passes with that which is a $192 value. In the past 4 years I have never run out of guest passes. The membership price has recently gone up a bit... I have always paid $159 but the extra money is totally worth it. We got the basic family membership for the first 2 years since Molly was too young to really enjoy the rides. The membership fee is also partially tax deductible.
To see how much money we save by having a membership I like to keep a tally in my head of what each visit would have cost us without a membership. Below is the breakdown from today's visit:
Admission for 2 adults and 1 child, Lucy is free- $45.50
4 tickets for carousel- $8
1 pony ride- $5
3 train riders- $6
2 handfuls of lettuce for the giraffes- $4
total- $68.50
3 Visits to the Zoo per year and our membership has paid for itself and we got way more than that. We usually keep our trips under 2 hours, just enough to check out the animals, enjoy a carousel ride, and then head home for long naps!
To add to our savings we also have a souvenir cup. It allows us drinks for only $1 and they are pretty big. The zoo has stopped using straws so if you get a regular drink it doesn't come with a lid or straw. The souvenir cup is the way to go!
I have also been able to use my zoo membership card to get a 50% discount at the Aquarium in Charleston. We've only been a few times but with adult tickets being $25 saving 50% is a pretty good deal!
If you have a zoo in your area and don't have a membership you should really check it out. We started taking both girls at about 6 months old and they both loved it.
If you have a zoo in your area and don't have a membership you should really check it out. We started taking both girls at about 6 months old and they both loved it.
We love the beautiful hand painted carousel.
The train rides are always fun and if you are lucky Santa will be the driver 😉
Molly was confused today when she saw his Santa picture on his ID card but I explained that he needed something to keep him busy when it wasn't Christmas season.
Feeding the giraffes is always fun and the girls giggle so loud when they stick out their long tongues. They recently added the vertical bars to the feeding platform. The giraffes used to be able to get right up next to you! I will admit it was a little frightening at times.
The gorillas are my favorite. We have 5 total, 4 that are a family and then a larger male that doesn't like to socialize with the others. If you look carefully at the gorilla in the front you can see her pregnant belly. They are estimating her due date any time in the next 3 weeks. The baby will stay with the family so we will soon have a baby gorilla joining the group!
Molly loves the reptile house/ aquarium.
I like the fish but don't like to spend too much time looking at the snakes.
And a few throwback pictures to baby Molly at the zoo!
