We have three near us – the one in Dallas, one in Fort Worth and one in McKinney. There is a science passport program that lets you have reciprocal membership benefits but the catch is you cannot visit museums that are within 90 miles of your home. Dallas requires photo ID as proof of residency. There is a museum in Kansas City that is also part of the program, along with some in Kansas and Oklahoma on our route to the grandparents. And others around Texas, including Killeen (where family is.) We could visit all of those with a passport membership but NOT the ones here in DFW! Which makes me sad…

However, the three DFW museums set up another plan. Memberships with them range from $75 to $90 for a year pass for family. If you sign up at the $150 level (I sound like a PBS ad) then you can get reciprocal membership between the local museums as well as the passport to museums further away. It signs you up for the Dallas Kids Club which is a partnership between Dallas Arboretum, Dallas Children’s Theatre, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Zoo, Museum of Nature & Science and Trinity River Audubon Center. Plus the other two science museums. (It said arboretum but other sites don’t list it.)

Which sounds like an amazing deal! If you plan to hit all of those places even once within the year. It does not give you free admission to all of the places (except the sciences ones) but it gives you a discount to Museum of Art, Audubon Center, & less expensive theater tickets. Not something I would be ambitious enough to do in the next year but we may do that as a family Christmas gift perhaps next year. This year I think we may be doing a zoo family membership instead to Frank Buck Zoo. Much smaller price and more in line with what we can manage with the little monkeys. 🙂