Photo credit: Krista
Balboa Park is home to stunning gardens, miles of walking paths/trails, an outdoor pipe organ pavilion, a world-famous zoo, and several magnificent museums. Whether you are a local San Diego resident or one of the many visitors who travel to “America’s Finest City”, there are so many things to see and do in Balboa Park. You will most likely find that one day is not enough time to explore all of this urban park paradise. Many of the outdoor spaces in Balboa Park are free, but the museums and the zoo have admission fees, which can add up quickly. This is where the Balboa Park Explorer Pass comes in to save you some money and to add value to your visit. What is the Balboa Park Explorer Pass and is it worth getting one? This post will cover this and more so you can decide which Explorer Pass is right for your visit to Balboa Park.
First, what is the Balboa Park Explorer Pass? It is a way to see multiple museums for one price. The Explorer Pass is available for one-day, multi-day, or a full year of visits. The one-day pass is valid at up to five museums on the same day. The multi-day and annual passes are valid at the seventeen participating museums. A multi-day pass that includes a one-day visit to the San Diego Zoo is also available. The Explorer Pass program started in spring 2014. Which museums are included? Check the official Explorer Pass website and refer to the list at the bottom of this post for links.
San Diego Model Railroad Museum – One of the seventeen participating museums of the Explorer Pass Program. | Photo credit: Krista
Next, where do you buy a Balboa Park Explorer Pass? You can purchase a Balboa Park Explorer Pass online in advance of your visit or at several Balboa Park locations. If you are at Balboa Park, purchase passes at the Visitor’s Center or at one of the seventeen participating museums. If you are buying your pass on a mobile device, please note that the Explorer Pass website states it is currently not compatible with iPhones or iPads. We purchased our passes at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Using the touch-screen kiosk, we entered the necessary information, swiped our form of payment, and the kiosk printed out our temporary passes. We used the temporary passes to enter the Train Museum. Within three days, our Explorer Pass cards arrived in the mail at our home address. For an additional $5.00 charge, we could have picked up our Explorer Passes at the Visitor’s Center the next day.
Balboa Park Annual Explorer Pass | Photo credit: Krista
So, how much does an Explorer Pass cost? There are varying costs for the passes depending on the type of pass you get and your age. Here is an overview of the choices:
One-Day Explorer Pass
- Admission to up to five participating Balboa Park Museums on the same day.
- Pass is valid day of first scan. Museum hours vary. Special events, exhibitions and some films are subject to an additional fee.
- Adults = $45.00
- Children (3-12) = $26.00
Multi-Day Explorer Pass
- The Multi-Day Explorer entitles you to one admission to each of the 17 participating Balboa Park museums within seven consecutive days.
- Pass is valid day of first use for seven consecutive days. Museum hours vary. Special events, exhibitions and some films are subject to an additional fee.
- Adults = $55.00
- Children (3-12) = $29.00
Multi-Day Explorer Pass w/ One-Day Zoo Admission
- The Multi-Day Explorer entitles you to one admission to each of the 17 participating Balboa Park museums within seven consecutive days plus one-day admission to San Diego Zoo.
- Pass is valid day of first use for seven consecutive days. Museum and Zoo hours vary. Special events, exhibitions and some films are subject to an additional fee.
- Adults = $94.00
- Children (3-12) = $61.00
Explorer Annual Pass
- The Explorer Annual Pass entitles you to visit the 17 participating Balboa Park museums for one year from date of first use.
- Special events, exhibitions and some films/libraries are subject to an additional fee.
- Annual Adult (18+) = $129.00
- Annual Senior (66+) = $99.00
- Annual Student (full-time w/ ID) = $99.00
- Annual Family (up to 2 adults + 4 children) = $229.00
- Annual Family Plus (up to 2 adults & 5 or more children) = $229.00 + $25.00 for add’l children beyond the 4 included in “Annual Family”)
Note: Museum admissions with the Balboa Park Explorer Pass do not include special events, exhibitions, and some films/libraries. In addition, adults will need to show valid I.D. with their passes, which are not transferrable.
Springtime in Balboa Park – Poppies on the Prado. | Photo credit: Krista
Is the Balboa Park Explorer Pass a good value? Let’s look at the math. If you wanted to visit multiple museums on the same day, the Explorer Pass would gain you entry to up to five museums for $45.00 (one adult). Now let us compare this one price to separately purchased admissions to five museums. If you were to buy a one-day ticket to the (1) San Diego Model Railroad Museum, (2) The NAT (San Diego Natural History Museum), (3) San Diego Air and Space Museum, (4) San Diego Museum of Man, and (5) San Diego History Center it would be $71.00 total for an adult. For this example, the One-Day Explorer Pass saves you $26.00.
The Multi-Day Explorer Pass is a good value when you consider the cost of $55.00 divided by 7 days is less than $8.00 per day. Visiting just one museum is approximately $12.00 each on average so for an additional $10.00 beyond a One-Day Pass, the Multi-Day Explorer Pass allows you one admission to each of the 17 participating museums over seven consecutive days. If you were to visit all of the participating museums one time each, it would be at least $150.00. For this example, the Multi-Day Explorer Pass saves you $95.00.
However, the best deal, especially if you plan to visit Balboa Park several times over several weeks or months, is the Annual Explorer Pass. At $129.00 per adult, this pass is by far the best value. Purchasing annual memberships at the seventeen participating museums would cost at least $700.00 for an individual. For this example, the Annual Explorer Pass saves you $571.00.
Yes, it is true that the Explorer Passes do not include access to special exhibits. However, with the overall savings of the Explorer Pass, you could buy access to the special exhibits and movies that you are interested in seeing. In addition, some of the participating museums offer special rates for upgrading to a full-access membership if you also have an Explorer Pass.
Even though the museums are supportive of the Explorer Pass, the separate museums would prefer you become a member through each one directly. Keep in mind, the Annual Explorer Pass is a basic level membership, without any special perks or benefits. Some of the perks of annual membership at the specific museums will often include access to members-only events, discounts at museum gift shops, discounts on special exhibits, and sometimes guest/movie passes. Depending on how often you plan to visit, or how important these benefits are to you, may affect which pass is best for you or if you choose to become a member at some of the specific museums.
Which Balboa Park Explorer Pass did we buy? We decided to purchase the Explorer Annual Family Pass. This option was the most economical for us at $229.00. It allows my husband and me to both visit the seventeen museums for a full year. In addition, we were able to add our grandson for no additional cost. In the past, we have been members at the some of the separate museums like The NAT, the History Center, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and the Model Railroad Museum. If we were to have family annual memberships to these four museums, the cost would be $293.00. While the Explorer Pass does not give us the added museum member perks like gift shop discounts and IMAX movie tickets, we did save $64.00 and have general admission access to these four museums and over a dozen more for the year. For now, we decided the general membership of the Explorer Pass was the best choice for our family.
Should you buy a Balboa Park Explorer Pass? Yes, an Explorer Pass is a great way to visit the museums of Balboa Park for a great value. You can then decide which museums you may want to become a member at directly for the added member benefits. In addition, your purchase may be a tax deduction because the Explorer Pass is a program of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, which is a non-profit organization. Similarly, the museums are non-profit organizations so any memberships you purchase directly may also be, in part or in whole, a tax deduction. Be sure to check the tax deduction status with your accountant.
Another perk of having a Balboa Park Explorer Pass is being able to participate in the San Diego Maker Faire, held in October. This event started in 2015 and is scheduled to return for two days in October 2016. Some of the Maker Faire exhibits are outside, but several are inside the participating museums that honor the Explorer Pass. If you have a museum membership or an Explorer Pass, you will be able to see all many of the imaginative and creative projects at the Maker Faire.
Correction: A museum membership, or Annual Explorer Pass, doesn’t give you access to all of Maker Faire, however it does give you access to the Maker Faire events going on inside the particular institutions/museums that are participating. The Maker Faire has great things to see all over Balboa Park. Some of the Maker Faire events may require separate tickets. More information will be available for the 2016 Maker Faire in the next few months.
San Diego Museum of Man – Another one of the seventeen participating museums of the Explorer Pass program. | Photo credit: Krista
Have you had a chance to visit Balboa Park? It is one of my favorite places to visit in San Diego and is a gem both culturally and historically. In 2015, Balboa Park celebrated its centennial (100th Anniversary) and in 2016 the San Diego Zoo is celebrating its centennial. The Balboa Park Explorer Pass is an opportunity to visit the museums of Balboa Park at a great value. It’s a win-win!
LINKS TO PARTICIPATING MUSEUMS:
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
San Diego Air and Space Museum
San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) – Museum of the Living Artist
San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum
San Diego Model Railroad Museum
The NAT (San Diego Natural History Museum)
Veterans Museum & Memorial Center
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