Planetarium Memberships are an Incredible Value...Even for Old Duffers!

Last week Trent was in charge of planning our date night and he took me to the Clark Planetarium at the Gateway to see the movie Born to be Wild. 
Excellent choice you would say if you knew that every Sunday when I was a little girl, way before the three hour block was instituted, my parents would gather us for ice cream and to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with none other than Marlin Perkins and his amazing side-kick Jim.  Marlin's role was more of "educator" and Jim was the handsome barefoot hunk who wrestled alligators and the like.  IT WAS WONDERFUL!
Well, my parents have often wondered if we watched a little to much Wild Kingdom because my brother and I love animals.  I bought for my children cats, dogs, rabbits, ducks, horses, snakes, crabs, hamsters, fish, birds and hedge hogs, to name a few. Why so many?  My parent's speculate that it was because the Wild Kingdom was taken off of the air and I was desperately trying to give my children a "Wild Kingdom" experience...in our home! Their suspicions were confirmed when I took the children to the zoo and aviary once a week starting at 6 weeks after birth and they weren't given shoes until they were two years of age!
Anyway, back to our date.  When we arrived Trent and I commented that there were many other movies we wanted to see.  Trent suggested that we also watch Sea Rex.  We bought our tickets at $8.00 a piece, $32.00 for both movies.  As we were turning to leave the ticket desk I noticed a annual membership flyer. 
At the Clark Planetarium they offer Duo $49.00, Family $99.00 for 5 people and Super Family $149.00 for 8 Memberships. We were interested in the Duo membership, especially when we saw all of the benefits for only $49.00.  We asked if we could purchase an annual membership and apply the $32.00 worth of movie tickets we just purchased to the cost of the annual membership.  The answer was yes.
Here's what the basic package includes:

• Free admission to all Hansen Dome Theater shows and most IMAX documentaries
• 15% science store discount (excluding telescopes)
• 15% concessions discount
• Free medium popcorn with each movie
• Invitations to exclusive member events
• Clark Planetarium monthly e-newsletter
• Blocks of 10 tickets for $50.00 to either IMAX documentary films or Dome Theater Shows
• 10% discount on Discovery Gateway memberships
• Free or discounted admission to more than 290 ASTC museums worldwide.

www.clarkplanetarium.org  801-456-7827

The movies and popcorn were great and Trent was relieved because for a year he has a fall back plan for date night.
Helpful hint: Parking validation reduced our parking fee to $1.00