I have ninja-like skills when it comes to finding a great rate on airfares and hotels. I hop on slashed deals with lightning-quick reflexes and accrue points with dizzying speed thanks to my Chase Sapphire card, which has also gotten us free hotel and resort stays. But one of my favorite secret weapons for saving some bucks while on vacation with kids is the Association of Technology-Science Centers’ (ATSC) Travel Passport Program.
The ATSC is a consortium of science centers and museums ALL over the world. The beauty of the ATSC Travel Passport Program is that they have a reciprocal program for most sites so if you are a member of an ATSC museum, you can use that membership to get into another “non-local” ATSC center for free. What that means is if you are a member of an ATSC museum in your hometown, you cannot use the free admission benefit in a participating museum or science center within 90 miles of the member museum or within 90 miles of your residence. However, the benefits for places outside of that radius are substantial, and if your kids like visiting science centers as much as mine do (they are always at the top of our to-do lists), it’s a great deal.
Here’s an example: We have a family membership to the Indiana State Museum and their 12 historic sites around the state. It costs $100 per year and is good for two adults and all children living in the same residence.
Last year, we visited Chicago and were able to use that membership to get into the Field Museum, known for its fantastic dinosaur fossils and bones, and The Museum of Science and Industry, which is one of our favorites because my kiddos love their incredible interactive exhibits like Science Storms where you can create and walk through a mini tornado and their toy making assembly line where you can see a spaceship top being made.
Basic admission to the Field Museum is $24/adult and $17/child 3 to 11 or $82; and entry to the MSI is $21.95/adult and $12.95/child 3 to 11, so it would be $69.80. Just visiting those two sites would have cost us $151.80, but with our membership, they were free.
We also went to Salt Lake City and checked out some of their family-friendly museums and saw even more cost-savings! We visited hands-on fun Leonardo (saved $43.80), learned about dinosaurs at Thanksgiving Point (saved $70), journeyed to Jupiter at the Clark Planetarium (which is free to visit, but we received tickets to a show thanks to our card ($28)), and explored the Natural History Museum of Utah (saved $49.80), which is simply one of the best anywhere – the exhibits and architecture are stunning.
So for the year, the ATSC Travel Passport Program saved us $243.40, which a plane ticket from Indianapolis to New York City!!! The total for all five museums was $343.40 minus the $100 for our membership to the Indiana State Museum.
Worth noting:
- It’s only as valuable as you have use for it. It’s worth finding out in advance if the museums you want to visit accept the Passport, even if it is listed on the Web site.
- Make sure you bring your membership card with you. There is no central database that a center can use if you fail to have your card. Also, make sure you have your ID. The rules state that a center may request ID as well as your card, although we have probably used our card a dozen times and have never had to do so.
The ATSC Travel Passport Program combines two of my favorite things: saving money and exploring a cool museum. We have used it as far away as San Francisco and internationally at the Ontario Science Center. I’m looking forward to using it again soon to go back to the Museum of Science and Industry and Kentucky Science Center and to visit the COSI in Columbus, Ohio.
