Why we love our zoo membership

February 22, 2018

I remember going to my local zoo for school field trips when I was in elementary school. I do not remember going to the zoo much outside of those field trips. A trip to the zoo when I younger was such a huge experience for me. To give that same sense of wonder and awe to my children was something me and my husband wanted to do. The face my daughter makes when she sees the elephants playing melts my heart.

4 years ago, we invested in our first zoo membership. We decided to try it out for a year. A year membership to our zoo is $130. We did the math because we are a younger married couple and we have a budget to stick to.

COST BREAKDOWN
1-year membership – $80
Daily admission for our family – 2 adults x $10.50 = $21.00
3 kids x $6.50 = $19.50
Total for one day trip $40.50

In order for our membership to pay for it’s self we had to visit the zoo 2 times within the year.

Our zoo also offers discounted pricing to special events they host. We always attend those events as a family, so that was an extra bonus. We used our zoo membership so much in the first year that when it was time to renew we opted for the 3 year option.

Before we made the decision for the 3 year membership we again weighed the cost of a 1 year membership to a 3 year. We took the cost of each and divided it by the cost of a daily admission for all 5 of us.

YEARLY MEMBERSHIP COST DIFFERENCE
1-year membership $80 – 2 visits to break even
3-year membership $192 – 5 visits to break even

We decided that the savings we would see for the 3 year membership would benefit our family. Living in Arizona we have great weather most of the year so we can use our zoo membership almost year round.

We use our membership as a reward for our children. If they complete certain task we ask they can pick a trip to the zoo as a reward. If we have a period of bad weather and have to stay inside the house for a few days we will take a trip to the zoo to let them run free. Our zoo participates in a Reciprocal zoos program. It allows us the opportunity when we travel to view other zoo or aquariums at a discounted rate. This is a big help when we are traveling as a family and trying to keep cost down.

We have never looked back since we purchased our zoo membership and our children enjoy it just as much as we do. I enjoy is that it is an opportunity for us to make new memories as a family and enjoy time with each other, even though my kids usually fight 1 or 2 times every time we go.