Are you leaving town over Spring Break? Whenever we travel, I grab my local museum passes and check out the museums in other cities to see if they have reciprocity programs. What are those? Basically, if the museums belong to the same "club" you get a discount for going.
For example, if you belong to Morrill Hall, you get into the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for FREE. Yes, you read that right. FREE. For a family of four this is a savings of $50. That is equal to the cost of joining Morrill Hall. Below are some of our favorite museums in nearby cities and their reciprocity discounts.
These are the cards that you want to have on your person when traveling: a membership from a museum that belongs to the ASTC (Morrill Hall), a membership from a zoo or aquarium that belongs to the AZA (Lincoln Children's Zoo) and a premium membership from a museum that participates in ACM (Museum Traveler from Lincoln Children's Museum).
Morrill Hall is part of the ASTC Travel Passport Program. This card is like gold; you get in FREE admission to hundreds of great museums (even internationally)! The Lincoln Children's Zoo membership will get you into over 200 zoos with a great discount, including Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. We don't have the Museum Traveler Membership from Lincoln Children's Museum so we are unable to take advantage of these discounts. We have a different level membership. This membership gets you into children's museums all over the nation for 50% off admission.
Nebraska
Omaha Children's Museum-Two adults and their dependent children
(FREE admission with ASTC card)
(50% off admission with ACM card)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
(50% off admission with AZA card)
Colorado
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
(FREE admission with ASTC card for two adults in the same house and their children)
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
(FREE admission with ASTC card for all members of one family living in household)
Space Foundation Discovery Center
(FREE admission with ASTC card for up to 2 adults and their children (under 17) living in the same household )
Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum-Persons living year-round at the same physical address
(FREE admission with ASTC card)
The Children's Museum of Denver
(50% off admission for up to six family members with ACM card)
Iowa
Science Center of Iowa
(FREE admission with ASTC card for two adults and two children aged 18 and younger )
Blank Park Zoo
(FREE admission with AZA card)
Kansas
University of Kansas Natural History Museum
(FREE admission with ASTC card for all members of a single household )
Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City
(50% off admission for up to six family members with ACM card)
Missouri
Kansas City Aquarium
(50% off admission with AZA card)
Sea Life Aquarium
(50% off admission with AZA card)
Science City at Union Station
(FREE admission to number of people on affiliate's ASTC membership)
Don't forget your card! They have no way of checking whether or not you belong.
Going a bit further for Spring Break? Here is the AZA reciprocity list, the ASTC list and the ACM list.
An easy way to remember which list is which is this way: Z is for Zoo, S is for Science and C is for Children.
