Passes and Memberships

Passes and Memberships

Today, we talk about different passes and memberships that benefits all you travel bugs! From camping, to theme parks, to city exploration. If you're looking to save money or for new adventure ideas, you'll love this episode.

Transcript

We're the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time on this episode of TravelEssary We're going to discuss different passes and memberships that you can be a part of that will not only help you save money on different trips, but give you a lot of ideas and opportunities for your next vacation.  Let's chat.  

Welcome to this episode, as we talk about passes and memberships. I am so excited to get into this because there are so many tips and tricks out there that a lot of people don't know. However, some of the trips that we took whenever we were younger, we didn't know that these things were even around. And if we would've known. What we know now, of course, hindsight 2020. It would've saved us so much more money back in the day. 

And I'm so glad that we know about these now. And we definitely want you to know about them as well. 

I feel like the most well-known is of course the national parks, like that's one of the most visited.  I mean, yes, a lot of people in America, whether they're coming from overseas or whether they're in the United States, you hear about Yellowstone and you hear about all those national parks that you can go to. 

 And.  Having a.  National park membership. Or pass. Is incredible and it works. All over the United States.

And it'll definitely save you some money. Now, if you're just going to one park one time, it's probably. You know, not necessary. They're not super expensive to get into. So depending on how large your family is and how much you frequent the parks. Will depend on if you want a pass or not. 

And there are different passes.  The America, the beautiful paths is what you want. It is a yearly or annual pass. And. You pay that one-time fee and it will get you into any of the national parks and then some.  Yes, and  we definitely love our  America. 

The beautiful pass. Uh, we've used it a few times. We're looking forward to use it a whole lot more as we go visit more national parks. And it's one of those things  that if you're a veteran, they definitely want you to be a part and to. Kind of show you a little bit appreciation. When you do get it for free. And so. Lifetime pass.  It's good for you and three other guests. Yeah, I think it's three of your family members. 

Um, and the only thing that we had to pay for years was like a $5 shipping fee to get it in the mail. And other than that, Completely free. You just provide your veteran credentials and they send it to you. And for the rest of your life. You and your family, can you get into the national park for free? Right. 

So if you are a veteran or you're a family member of a veteran, I definitely look into this and, and see if you can pull this off because it's, it's a simple process you put in some information they verify. And then you pay a small little fee. They ship it to you and you're good to go   and if you're not a veteran, but you want to visit the parks frequently. Then it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and get the annual America the beautiful pass, right? 

Because almost every pass, if you go one time. Maybe two times, it's probably not worth it, but if you go.  Three times. Then it pays for itself. And then at that point, you're just saving money over and over and over again.  

But just a lot of other different passes works that the more you go, the more you save, and this is definitely one of those things that you can definitely save some money. I think the standard price for national parks is around 15 to $20 a person, person.  Yeah. So if you're like us and you have a family of five, That America, that beautiful pass is really nice to have. 

Yeah, because I mean, You're looking at $75 for a family of five to go for. One day, and the national parks offers so much there. They're absolutely beautiful.  Our kids got to experience their very first national park just a month ago. 

And I am so excited to take them to many, many more. It's definitely one of the best travel memories I have. With our kids, as far as them being teenagers now. It was a blast. It was beautiful. We got to see sites that you don't normally see. That's why these parks are preserved. Is because they are so unique and so beautiful. And we want to keep them that way. But  I'm so excited to visit more.  

And going from the national aspect down into the local state level. There are well, at least for Texas, we know for sure there are state park passes. And this past allows you to get into state parks or give discounts. For getting into our stain at state parks.

 Like Jeremy says that gets you in for free. So normally it's what, like $5 a vehicle for a day pass. They all fluctuate. They're not all the same. Us, I think is $5 a vehicle. Yes.  I mean, it doesn't matter what the vehicle is. Some are $5 a person. Yes. , some parks do break it down per person, and that is only a day. 

So you can only go in at a certain time and you must leave at a certain time. Right? If you want to stay the night, either camping by tit or can't be by camper. Then that is an additional cost. But sometimes, , there are discounts if you have the past, right. And having the past does not mean you stay for free. 

You still will pay if you have the past. That just means you don't have to pay to get into the parks.  But not all states offer that. A lot of states throughout America do, but not all of them offer that.  Some of them.  Offer part passes per park. Like you can buy a park pass for that one specific park, but they don't do it for the whole state. 

  But did you know. There are some states that do not charge to get into their state parks at all. And therefore they do not need passes.  I did not know that that's. That's actually a pretty awesome. Yeah. , I think that's amazing that they don't charge. Brothers state barks. 

I may not understand the fees, but I think it's really great for the ones that don't charge.  I mean, yeah, because they use those fees for everything to preserve the park or to make the park. Better. I know the one that is right down the road from us. That they use those fees to maintain their park and they're doing new stuff all the time to try to make it better 

so, I mean, I totally understand the fees because  anyone who loves mother nature at all, You know, once to keep it around for as long as possible and your national state parks, they definitely do their absolute best. To try to keep it as natural as possible.  And if you're a family that you love fishing, you love hiking. 

You love camping. , state park passes and national park pass is definitely, I think, should be a priority.  Because it'll save you so much money, but it'll also give you so many opportunities , to find new places, to discover. In doing those things.  Our state park,  the one that's just a few miles down the road from us. It has so many different hiking trails. Beautiful. Oh, all of them are beautiful. They all give you different perspectives of wildlife. 

Whether you're looking at the lake or whether you're looking at a wooded or a grassland area. , but just going down those trills of just taking. The different photo opportunities that you have and able to make memories with the people that you're walking with. Is this. It's really nice and really awesome. 

And I can't speak for every state because we're really only familiar with the state parks in Texas as of now. And hopefully that changes soon. But our state parks do a lot of different programs. , especially the one that is down the road from us. They do like  night hikes.  Christmas, , hike under the stars or something like that. 

They have all these little fun community type programs that they get to bring people in. You can take your kids and take your family.  . You can do the under the stars night hikes or whatever. 

I can't, my mind is blanking, but I see it pop up on our Facebook group all the time. They do so many different activities out there. , so many hiking activities, so much educational things that they put on. I'm like one time there was like a photography tour they did, and they invited. All the photographers in the area or  aspiring photographers. 

And they did a little, I don't know, valance call it a hike, but a little.  Tour that they took them around different places at the state park and shared.  Like photography tips  on nature and things like that. How to get the best picture of a bird. It was completely free to do so, but you did have to pay to get on to the park, but once you got onto the park, everything was fine. Unless you have the park pass and the passes are the ones that will allow, allow you to get on for free and enjoy to the fullest without spending.  An exuberant amount of money every single time that you go. 

And talking about going whatever. We talk about going to different places or stay in the night. , especially if you are V or if you're traveling with a camper or you're doing some type of camping with a tantra or something. , there are places that you can go, that you can be a part of memberships that will give you discounts and will save you money. While you travel. 

Yeah. Outside of the national and state parks. These are different parks, , that will expand your area of places that you can travel and go. But one of those is thousand trails.  I think thousand trails might be one of the.  Most well-known. There are so many. Like, we're barely going to scratch the surface today, have different passes and memberships, just to kind of give you an idea, depending on what your family likes. 

We're going to talk about various topics. But I think thousand trails is probably.

One of the most well-known. , like Jeremy said, Whether you're RV, camping, or tic camping, they have cabins that you can go, but if you are a part.  Of the thousand trails system.  One, it saves you a ton of money , but to all of their parks, have different amenities and stuff that you can enjoy. 

Like, , they have recreation rooms sometimes with games and arcades. , pool tables, things like that. A lot of them have miniature golf. Swimming poles, basketball, Bali, Bob pickleball. Fun things that you can do with your family. You know what they remind me of?  They remind me of. Those old, like.  Eighties movies, where the whole family goes to a camp together, like a resort together. 

And they do all these things. With other families. Oh, yeah. The other different activities. Like if you were going off to like summer camp, Dancing where they like, they go to this whole reason.  

You know, An RV tent style. Right. Big luxury style or reminds me of something like that because they do. Activities and movie nights, and it's just a fun. Communal atmosphere for those who also like to camp. Right. And thousand trills. Go all over the United States. I mean, there's usually a thousand. In every state. There's usually a thousand trail.  Uh, state, not everyone is definitely covered, but they do go around, especially if you're the coastal area. Um, they got you covered as far as that goes. 

Yeah. All up and down the coast. Lately.  There's other ones, like Missy said, we're not even going to begin to scratch the surface of the different memberships that you could possibly get, especially with camping, because there's also another one called KLA. Oh yeah. But before we get into the Koa,  I want to specifically mention on the thousand trails. Once you pay for that yearly pass.  You can stay at their parks for free. So when you buy that annual pass,  It.  Allows you to have 14 days. In their system. 

And then I think you have to have like seven days out or something like that. But for two weeks you can go and stay at any thousand trails park without paying a dime extra. Once you pay that annual fee. And that annual fee, , I think is around $500 a year.  So. Imagine if you're a family that likes to do something like that, and you just did it over the summer, how much money you could save, because if you know anything about staying in an RV resort , or even just getting a camping spot for a tent. We're doing a camping ground. The $35 a night. Yes.  They're not extreme. 

I mean, there are some that are extremely expensive. There are some out there that you will be paying. As much as a hotel room to park your RV. A night. A night.  There's others that have discounts. , another one that has a discount is KLA.

So Koa.

I think has the most parks throughout the United States. You are way more likely to find a Koa than you are a thousand trials. However.  With the Koa and they're very similar in style and what they offer. As far as amenities and that communal atmosphere.

But the Koa pass. It only gives you a discount.

 You don't get to stay for free. You are just getting like 10, 20% discounts on your stay.  , so it is a good way to save money and it does give you more opportunities of different places to go and camp and put your RV or your tent, or even stay in a cabin. 

So between those two places, state parks and national parks. 

If you are a family that likes to camp and you like outdoor activities.  I feel like one.  Or more of those are definitely a must and there's so much more. So we talked about the national level national parks. We talked about. The different RV membership associations that are out there that are, that are national. 

We talked about your state parks, but even going regional.  There's a place called the, uh, the lower Colorado river authority.  Which is a local basin, which is in a certain region, a certain area. They even have a pass that allows people to go into their parks and go fishing or camping in those areas or go. Put their boats in the water. And so even those places have passed it. 

So there's so many different places out there. It all depends on what you're looking for and what you're wanting to do, but I promise you there is. More than likely going to be a pass or there's going to be a membership somewhere where you're going to get some type of discounts that's out there. 

Yeah. So whatever region. Your family normally vacations at, or you desire to vacation, whether it's a state or a small region of a state.  Or a part of the United States.  Research that area and what they offer.

 But if you're not into hiking, if you're not into camping, If staying at the state park, doesn't  thrill you. Then there are other things that you can use.  So for instance, we have a six flags over Texas. There are multiple six flags. In the United States. And if you get a pass. To six flags. You can use that pass. . On any six flags.  And they offer discounts as well. 

So if that pass, doesn't transfer over. At least you can get a discount to go to another six flags. So we have six flags over Texas, which is an Arlington. And we also have Fiesta, Texas, which is in San Antonio. 

And. If you get a season pass to six flags over Texas, you can go use that same pass at Fiesta, Texas.   But there's also other ones like SeaWorld. We have a SeaWorld in San Antonio. We know that they're SeaWorld in Florida and in California, and you can use those passes and those memberships as well in those. In those other locations. Yes. 

And no. So whenever you are purchasing your annual passes, your season passes, , there are different tiers and memberships and there are some that. If you want to save money and you know, you're not be traveling outside of your area.  It will be cheaper just to get the season pass for that. One.  Location for that one theme park or you can get. I think it's like, There's platinum there's gold or silver. 

I don't remember, but you can get the higher tier passes. And that enables you to go to all of those specific theme parks across America. So there's so many different levels, so whatever fits your. Budget or your family needs. That's what you would want to get.  Yeah. And there's other places that do this as well, not just theme parks. 

, one that kind of comes to my mind is. The great Wolf lodge also does that because they're there all over the nation that you can get discounts and memberships as well. 

That will save you money in the long run. If you use it, like I said, more than once or twice. In my experience because we've gotten annual passes a lot to six flags SeaWorld.  Things like that in my experience, if you go twice, it's paid for. Right. If, if you go twice, it's definitely been paid for, if you go three times or more. , you're definitely getting your money's worth because then you're starting to reap the benefit of either going at a really low cost or going for free over and over and over again. And you just, you just use it more, you just get more out of it.  And of course, places like Disneyland and Disney world have passes, but they are very. Um, park specific or location specific. 

And we don't know a lot about that because it is way out of our budget. So. Not only is it out of our budget. It is a long ways to go. Whether we want to go to California or we want to go to Florida. It is a very long trip to get there

but number one, we can't afford it. Number two. My job will not let me off that much to make trips down to Florida or to California. But I know people that are in the area that have season passes. That go all the time and it is so worth it. 

But the point is, is that. Anywhere that you like to frequent or that you wish to frequent more often? They're probably going to offer some sort of pass or membership that will greatly reduce your cost.

And I feel like everything we've talked about thus far. Is probably pretty well known or familiar or people have a really good idea of, but this last thing we want to share with you is something that we actually didn't realize until a few years ago. And I'm doing more research on it, even just for this podcast, we've learned more and that is a city pass.  Now it's not a pass in the sense that we've been talking about so far as in, uh, you know, , a specific.

Thing like a specific,  parks or theme parks or resorts, it is a pass for that entire city. And it's common in most large cities through throughout America. And I think. Even the world.  Yes, they are offered all over the world. They're called a multi attraction travel pass. Yes. And now we've only used one in San Antonio, which we do talk about  on our podcast episode, making the most of San Antonio. We do talk about, , the city past that we used and give you more information about it. But what a city pass is.

It's a one time.  Fi, I guess that you can purchase a pass per person that you can purchase. And then that. Pass, we'll get you into usually three to five, depending on what pass and what city it is.  Events activities that you can do throughout that city. For example, it will be zoos or theme parks or experiences. Or museums or something like that. 

And you can choose any of the ones  from what they offer to be part of your package. Like you get to choose and pick your package. And I know whenever we did. The one for San Antonio, it saved us a huge chunk of money, a couple of hundred dollars. And I think it was around $200. It saved us.  And 

they're unique to every single city. So it's not like just a blanket. Of, . You know, if you go to New York, you're going to get the same package. If you go to San Francisco, or if you go to San Antonio or Chicago or Miami, Orlando, they're all different. And usually. They offer anywhere from around four to six, I'm offered a little bit more attractions that you're going to get at a discounted price. 

That's going to save you probably 40 to 50%. Off of the retail tickets. If you normally go to those things and.  Do you purchase them? There is a timeframe that you, you have to use the passes in and then, but you get to go and see all these attractions like New York offers. , a pass in their package to go see the statue of Liberty, which is really cool. 

Or you can go to the museum of science in Chicago, or you can do the world of Coca Cola and Atlanta, Georgia. So there's so many different. Variations to this past. And it's something that has become super popular in almost every city that you go to every big city that you go to. I don't wanna say every city, but every big city that you go to that has multiple attractions or multiple things like museums and theaters, , and different attractions restaurants are getting involved in this as well. 

It just allows you to.  Really experience and sight. See all of the.  Touristy things that are out there. All in one package at a discounted price that you can still get done within three or four days. If you're there long enough.  Especially if you're going to be there for a week.  Uh, city pass is definitely the way to go, because it's going to allow you to do all this stuff like San Antonio. 

We got it to the zoo. , at a discounted price, which was really nice. There were some other attractions that were in there as far as their museums and sight see, and things that you could do for.  Really cheap ticket prices. I think for us, it was about a 40% discount. Like per person of what we would have normally spent. 

Right. So that's pretty good. That's. Really good discount. So it's, it's definitely worth it. It's not the city. You know, trying to get more money. They're not price gouging. You, it is definitely a way to save money if it's the kind of  activities that your family wants to do, right. Because you can't go on there and be like, okay, Hey, I want a Broadway show. 

I want to go see the empire state building. I want to see. The statue of Liberty, you don't get to go hand, pick the attractions that are there. They put a packet together and.  They offer that packet out or an X amount of price. It's a list of attractions.  Or activities that you get to choose from?   And there are multiple websites to find this. So I suggest the best way to research it is put in the name of the city here, going put in city pass, and then.  Different options will come up of what you can choose. Um, because , you're not going to find all these passes on one, one website because it's very specific to that city. 

So if you research the name and then city pass and then. Your options should come up. Right. And.

It's worth it to do. Just a little bit more extra research. I mean, you've already gone through the time of finding you. A hotel or an Airbnb to stay at, you've already kind of looked at the restaurants. And you've already  looked at your main attractions that you want to go to anyways. Going just a little extra checking out that city pass. Finding out  what kind of packages that they have, what you can choose from what you can put together and then get a discount price. 

You. You can't beat that. There's no way you can beat that. 

It was definitely one of those that. Whenever we were going through and we were looking at the different options and the memberships and all the other things that were out there. This is one that  stuck out the most that I was the most excited about was the city pass, because they're specific to those cities, but they still give you. The attractions and the eating places and all the other great stuff that. That city. Offers. And of course it does save you money, which to me is, you know, the best part of the past. But whenever we did ours in San Antonio, I learned of a few things that I didn't, I didn't even know existed in San Antonio. 

So that gave us an opportunity to explore. , places we didn't know about in the city.

The city passes or worth  going and exploring. And 90% of time they are worth the money. 

So look into passes and memberships. If you are big on travel like us, if you're frequent travelers, it'll save you lots of money and it will give you. A lot of new ideas and perspectives of the places that you're visiting. Join us next week, we are going to break down some tips on how to find the best food while you're traveling.