[citylife]

Is anyone a member? If so do you find it worthwhile? Do you use your membership often enough during the year, or considering children are free on the weekends and school holidays you would just visit any one of the 3 zoos during that time?

TIA

[123tree]

I am a member. We go to the Parkville zoo a lot but not the others. To be honest the school holidays and weekends are busy at the zoo and I find mid week visits much easier. I work part time and the kids are not at school yet.

The good thing is you can just go for an hour or two and not feel like you have to drag the kids around to get your ticket worth.

[Lyra]

We use ours quite a bit. At the moment I have one in school and one in kinder so I do use it a lot. Not sure how much I am going to use it next year when I have both in school. I will still get a yearly pass and then decide at the end of next year if I will get it again for the year after

I like it because it gives me options. On days when my school child has a curriculum day I can go to the zoo and like the PP said if you have the pass you don't feel compelled to be there the whole day. One time I misread the time for my son's hospital appointment so we went to the zoo for 40 mins, said hello to the orangutans and left LOL. Another time my daughter spent 90% of the time in Keeper Kids and that would have annoyed me if we had paid money to get in (well we had but it was different IYKWIM)

Other things I like are

* on busy days you can effectively skip the queue and go the front
* we get the magazine which my daughter likes to read
* there are special offers for FOTZ members

[my2earthangels]

We love our FOTZ membership. We use it every 3 or so weeks, other times more. As both our kids are young it is good go without worrying how much it cost to get in if for some reason you leave after 1hr. Our DD4 loves the magazine. Each time we go we spend time in one area. Money well spent we think!



This post has been edited by kymberley: 02/12/2012, 07:34 PM

[vanessa71]

We are members, I think it's worth it. It's means I can take DS for a couple hours to fill in time without having to worry about the cost. DD, has a day off school tomorrow, so that would be a nice thing for the two of us to do together.

This post has been edited by vanessa71: 02/12/2012, 07:29 PM

[noi'mnot]

It's unreal. To get your money's worth each adult only has to go 3-4 times per year (if I remember correctly), which is pretty easy to do. It's a lovely thing to do for an hour or two every 2-3 weeks, and not as exhausting if you go in shorter more frequent visits.

[Lyra]

It's unreal. To get your money's worth each adult only has to go 3-4 times per year (if I remember correctly), which is pretty easy to do. It's a lovely thing to do for an hour or two every 2-3 weeks, and not as exhausting if you go in shorter more frequent visits.

We worked it out that you need to go three times to break even and then after that it was free. We aim for each of the zoos once each year but we tend to spend most of our time at the Melbourne Zoo

[becstar101]

We've had ours for three years and love it! We've actually been to the zoo this afternoon, for a couple of hours.

As others have said, it's great if kids crack it after an hour or two. We live within a 15 minute cycle or 7 minute train ride, and go all the time. We also go to the Xmas party each year - might see some of you there!

[jojonbeanie]

We've been members for more than 15 years and consider it great value. I love that you can make a quick trip and not feel guilty about the cost. When DS Big was young I would frequently meet a group of friends, all members, just for an hour or so just to play on the playground and see one animal.

[mindy05]

DH and I joined over 18 years ago. When I was pregnant with DD, we used to go just for exercise. When DD was little, we would be there at least once a fortnight. With DS, we don't go as often, but I still try to take him at least once per school holiday, and during weekends. We used to go out for breakfast there- the restaurant near the Japanese garden is lovely. Even if your kids are getting in for free, you still need to pay for yourself. Now DD is over 16 she has chosen to let her membership lapse, but we still take DS. The way we see it is that the money is being used on improvements to the zoo, so it's like a donation with benefits. I also love the discount at the zoo shops- get lots of Christmas presents for overseas there. And I think they have a reciprocal agreement with other Australian zoos for free or discounted entry.

ETA You don't pay for membership for children any more, even though they are listed on your membership.


This post has been edited by mindy05: 03/12/2012, 10:06 AM