Free entry with museum memberships

[o_mom]

Just wanted to pass this along for people travelling this summer. We are going to a couple cities with science/kid museums of one sort or another. The two we are for sure going to would be $32 and $40 for all five of us, so $72 for one day at each. I found that if we join our local museum for $59/yr we can get into those museums for free.

http://www.astc.org/members/passlist.htm

In addition, there are several museums on the list that are close to grandparents and other places we go often. So, for the next year we will be able to get in free. The only restriction is for museums within 90 miles of where you live. HTH someone!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Oh, yeah!!! We do this with the children's museum, the science museum, and the zoo memberships we have. We pay a little bit extra on some to get reciprocity, but we take our cards with us to FL when we visit family and museum-hop for free all week!

I find that we get more visits on vacation sometimes because DH is with us and he enables us to get out of the house more easily.

[o_mom]

Our children's museum and zoo don't do the reciprocity, so I had really stopped looking for it. Turns out our state museum is on the 'science' museum list - who would have thought? I was even considering getting a membership to the science museum near my parents to do the reciprocity, but the state museum is cheaper.

[pomegranate]

I looked at the Passport list and as the OP said, there are restrictions for museums within 90 miles of where you live. Has anyone thought to buy a membership at a museum far from where they live, just so you can use that membership to get into all the local places? So we don't travel that much and live in California. It seems like I can buy a membership to someplace, say, in Chicago. Then I can get into all the local places in CA for free. Has anyone done this?

[Piglet]

We did this once but they cracked down on that sort of thing a year later - it just so happened that my DH's boss was from a much cheaper museum city and he told DH about it. We felt a bit guilty and then they stopped the program (i.e. you can only use it at museums more than 150 miles from your address or something of the sort). I don't recall the specifics but we felt guilty anyway so it worked out well that we had to stop doing it.

[o_mom]

I think the 90 miles is measured from your home address, and 'as the crow flies', so it might not work if they check IDs. If you have a grandparent in another city that visits frequently, they could do that though - most of them include grandparent memberships in the reciprocity.

[eliasmom]

I used to have a CA membership that gave me ASTC reciprocity at all of my local museums in Chicago. Never had an issue with the 90 mile radius thing.

[sunriseiz]

Hmm. The way I read it was that museums WITHIN 90 miles are excluded. Maybe I need to read it again....

[o_mom]

Originally Posted by sunriseiz

Hmm. The way I read it was that museums WITHIN 90 miles are excluded. Maybe I need to read it again....

I think the PP was saying that she lived in Chicago, but bought a membership to a museum in California to use just for the reciprocity at multiple museums in Chicago. Since the CA museum was more than 90 miles away, it was not excluded. If she had bought a Chicago membership, it would only be good at the one museum and not eligible for the reciprocity in Chicago.

The only issue with this is if they check your ID and see that you actually live locally, since that is technically the rule (museums within 90 miles of your home are excluded).

[missym]

Thanks! I think this could work out to be a really good deal for us as the girls get a bit older. A membership to our local science museum is only $56/year. Hopefully the Chicago museums will stay on the list!