4-8-20 Let's talk about getting passed
5At one time or another over the past 5 years the missus and I have had annual passes to Legoland, Six Flags, Ringling Bros Museum, Atlanta and Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the National Park Service, as well as memberships for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival , Sam’s, Costco and Amazon Prime. When the kids were young we kept zoo and science center memberships. Not much of a sports guy so no season tix for me.
Do you have any memberships/annual passes/season tickets? Do you feel you get your $$ worth out of them.
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I’m a VMP
@lichme oohhh I forgot that one. Guess not seeing the big “V” blazon by my name didn’t help.
Nah, unless you count a fishing license.
@PlutoIsAPlanet Counts.
If you are an amusement park guy/gal, I can wholeheartedlly recommend a 6-Flags pass. It pays for itself pretty quickly (less than 2 visits) and is often on sale at the end of the season for the rest of the current year and the entire next one.
@chienfou Their best sale of the year is Labor Day Weekend. If you have kids passes, put the parking pass option on one of the kids passes (the youngest). That way if they go with a friend or the other parent, parking is still covered, and you only need it on one pass for the whole family.
The food passes need more visits to pay for themselves, but if you’ve got teenagers, it’s cheaper than pay as you go. They also come with the free refill cup, but you can’t always take them on the rides as some don’t have cubbies and you hsve to rent a locker for $$.
@mike808 all good suggestions! Plus you can use them at the associated water park, and across the US if/when we are allowed to travel again!
I have a lifetime NPS pass.
@OldCatLady I am working on mine. I have forgotten to bring it with me the last couple of times I needed it, but it turns out you can ‘cash them in’ on a lifetime pass at any time, so I am doing the installment plan!
@OldCatLady what is NPS?
@moonhat @OldCatLady national park service
Does EZ PASS count?
@somf69 Those turnpike passes are worth their weight in gold. I didn’t realize FL used them until I had to go there for a second opinion. Cost me twice as much when I didn’t have one. And the PA turnpike when I took my mom to see her sister last Christmas - OMG way more than twice as much. The turnpike ticket booth guy called it the PA turnpike commission extortion scheme.
(not!).
I’ve been thinking about getting an annual Museum pass. I used to have an Aquarium pass. I had a couple of season tickets to the ballet for a few years.
But now? No. I’m keeping my powder dry for when the world tilts back onto its axis, when all the blood will rush back to its nestling chambers, when the moonlight will once more sprawl languidly across my toothpick calves and furtive woodchucks will chuck as much wood as they furtively can chuck.
Selah.
@UncleVinny ambien does wonders these days
@UncleVinny I had to look up the actual definition of Selah, Vinny, because I thought you were referring to the town near Yakima… which seemed strange
@moonhat whoa! I knew about Yakima and the Tieton River, but I’d never heard of Selah. That’s some Old Testament goodness, thar.
@UncleVinny vinnyyyyyy I thought you were a washingtonian
@moonhat I’m falling down on the job, huh!
We’ve been members of the museum/science center and zoo since before my oldest could walk. As a family we hit up one of the local museums or the zoo probably twice a month, sometimes more. Over the summer I’ll usually take the kids to the zoo a few times a week (it’s a relatively short walk from home). We’ll pack a lunch and head over for a few hours. The memberships also work when we visit family in Boston or Cincinnati, so we’ve got built-in activities if we need or want them. Totally worth it. Our local amusement park sells season passes that are about the cost of three visits, and we go about three times a year. But one visit is a school picnic and one visit is a work picnic so the passes aren’t such a good deal (for us). I definitely feel like we get excellent value for our memberships.
@Nate311 reciprocating zoos and science centers are a big part of why we buy memberships.
Six Flags season pass. Looking forward to the new Jersey Devil raptor coaster! It’a a single rail, record setting monster. I’ve also had a subscription to the theater (currently to Walnut Street Theatre in Philly) for 20+ years. At last count I’ve seen somewhere around 150 plays/musicals/productions, be it at the Walnut, other local theaters, or Broadway.
Many years ago Universal Studios offered an annual pass which included a “front of line” benefit, plus a 15% merch discount and 25% food discount. The cost was about 3x regular park admission (maybe about $80 at that time?). I only used it that one day, but it was an excellent investment.
@ruouttaurmind that must of been “many many” years ago. My first Universal pass was $149 and that was probably 6-7 years ago.
Passes are way more now. The discounts aren’t that much either. 15% off food and merch but nothing from stands. I get free parking because I bought the more expensive pass. It made sense because if you pay 20-30 each time you go for parking, you could afford the more expensive pass.
Also the express pass only works after 4pm for the most expensive pass.
Geocaching.com, Amazon Prime, Meh VMP, Netflix.