A friend told me that she got her kids, (the family) a zoo membership for Christmas. I asked her if they really went to the zoo more than once or twice a year and she told me that our zoo in Pittsburgh, PA has a ton of special days.
The member ship for the zoo for a family two adults and as many kids under 18 is -70
The zoo is open 362 days a year
Each month they have about 7-8 activites listed such as- Breakfest with santa, Trick or treating at the zoo, Radio Disney visits the zoo, craft days, special animal days, christmas light up night, new years noon party etc....You get into all the events FREE if you are a member

I think that this sounds like an awesome deal for a family and a great way to spend like one week day and one weekend a month it would only be like 4.00 per time you went

When I had a membership we would go all the time!! esp in the summer and have picnics at the zoo!!
my paretns have gotten us it for a gift!! and we have renewd it! the memberships are soo worth the money it pays for itself!!

the thing I liked best was one time when oldest dd was 2 she was soo crabby we didnt stay long I didnt feel bad about spending all this money for a wasted trip! we saw a couple of things wich made her feel better but she still was too wiped!!
there were times when we just went to see a doplhin show just to get out of the house int he winter!! or go sit at the fish for a while!! it was great!!

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We belonged to the zoo for many years when my children were younger. We always went at least 5 or 6 times per year.

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My parents get us a membership every year and we really use it! In fact, we are going tonight because they have a New Year's Eve event for kids from 6-9 with a mini ball drop and radio Disney, and all the rides are free

We should meet up and go to the zoo sometime!

We were going to take DS to Halloween at the zoo, but my MIL was all anal about it having ghosts and witches there (or so she figured).. DH and I were kind of disappointed not to take him. I just checked the Pittsburgh zoo site and realized that we missed the Christmas lights! Next year we'll definitely go. Dh and I decided we're going to get a pass to the zoo.. If you get a membership after visiting the zoo, they will give you credit towards your membership in the amount you paid on your last visit. From what DH and I figured, if we had bought a zoo membership after going in October, it would have only cost us like $20 once they credited our visit cost to the price.. At least Pbgh does it that way - I'm not sure about other zoos. Also, I read online that if you're a member of Pbgh Z&A, you can get into other zoos for free too. So I could go to the zoo with DS up in Buffalo, Ny with my mom if I wanted - and get in free. You can't beat that! If we had a pass, I'd be able to go to the zoo with DS and my MIL or just go up by myself with DS for special events. And we'd go more as a family - we often think "it's a perfect zoo day" but we don't have the money for tickets.. if we had a pass, we could throw some sandwiches & drinks in a cooler and go for the day.

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Oh and memberships are tax deductible too

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We LOVE our pass! We live in San Diego and so our pass covers both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We go to at least one of them once a month. For 2 adults it costs us $95 a year and that is the upgraded membership that includes parking at the Wild Animal Park. We just upgraded again this past weekend...another $55 which allows us to get into the park about 2 hours earlier than the general public which works out great for us since our kids get up between 630 and 7am.

And kids under 3 are free! And with your membership they give you some free passes, discount ride coupons, discount food coupons and a magazine that gives you the schedule of events and other interesting tidbits about both parks. And both parks are only 20-30 minutes away from us so one week we go to the zoo and the next we go to the Wild Animal Park.

Sandra

I LOVE our zoo memberships! We've had memberships to 4 different zoos and they always pay for themselves, especially with 4 kids. We have a zoo membership to the zoo closest to us this year and I was able to get into the Portland, OR zoo for free went I went home to visit this summer and to the Jacksonville, FL zoo this fall when we went there on our family vacation since both were on the reciprocal list.

The Pittsburgh Zoo is definitely a good buy. We've been members for years. My son is obsessed with tigers so once I went to the gift shop to buy him some things. I got 10 percent off because I was a zoo member. There's a farmers' market in the front parking lot but I don't know what days it's open.

The Amish go to the zoo a lot. I always see them there.

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"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." ~Henry Van Dyke

I am glad to see some Pittsburgh people on this board!!

WE SHOULD ALL MEET UP AT THE ZOO!*!* in the summer!!or spring LOL

I just love the zoo!!