Why is there a price posted for the "Skyfari" cable car at the San Diego Zoo?
October 24, 2011 9:27 AM Subscribe
Why is there a price posted for the "Skyfari" cable car at the San Diego Zoo?
I was at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday. They have a cable car, the "Skyfari", which connects two points within the zoo. There is a fare posted, $4. But it's free with zoo admission.
So why is there a fare posted at all? As far as I can tell -- and I'm guessing I'm wrong here -- there is no way to get to the cable car without paying the zoo admission fee, and therefore nobody pays this fare.
I was at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday. They have a cable car, the "Skyfari", which connects two points within the zoo. There is a fare posted, $4. But it's free with zoo admission.
So why is there a fare posted at all? As far as I can tell -- and I'm guessing I'm wrong here -- there is no way to get to the cable car without paying the zoo admission fee, and therefore nobody pays this fare.
No, actually madcapentor is right - my wife and I are members, so we just show our cards, but we noticed that it was free for people with paid admission as well.
We decided that the answer is that there are indeed people who get in without paying for admission: the people who use one-time passes given to them by people with memberships. There might be others, but those people are the one outlier to the members/paid admission Venn diagram that we could think of.
posted by LionIndex at 9:38 AM on October 24, 2011
We decided that the answer is that there are indeed people who get in without paying for admission: the people who use one-time passes given to them by people with memberships. There might be others, but those people are the one outlier to the members/paid admission Venn diagram that we could think of.
posted by LionIndex at 9:38 AM on October 24, 2011
I have wondered this same thing!
ShootTheMoon, how recently have you seen that it's only for zoo members? Every time I have gone in the past three years it has always been free with admission, and that time spans covers roughly half a dozen visits for me. The visits were all at non-holiday times of year and I don't recall any particular promotion but I could have been unobservant. I'm not a zoo member, though I keep thinking I probably should be since I inexplicably end up there so often despite living in LA.
I wonder if more than three years ago it was a members-only thing and they just never took the sign down or wanted to keep their options open? Or if they're just always running a promotion?
posted by Nattie at 9:39 AM on October 24, 2011
ShootTheMoon, how recently have you seen that it's only for zoo members? Every time I have gone in the past three years it has always been free with admission, and that time spans covers roughly half a dozen visits for me. The visits were all at non-holiday times of year and I don't recall any particular promotion but I could have been unobservant. I'm not a zoo member, though I keep thinking I probably should be since I inexplicably end up there so often despite living in LA.
I wonder if more than three years ago it was a members-only thing and they just never took the sign down or wanted to keep their options open? Or if they're just always running a promotion?
posted by Nattie at 9:39 AM on October 24, 2011
Best answer: Skyfari access is not included in all of the multi-day passes, nor is it included with all of the CityPass or bundled tickets sold through other locations.
posted by fief at 9:40 AM on October 24, 2011
posted by fief at 9:40 AM on October 24, 2011
Yes, it's free with regular paid admission but then it gets variable after that. I remember someone at work talking about pricing tickets for a Company Fun Day and there were various with/without options.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:47 AM on October 24, 2011
posted by Lyn Never at 9:47 AM on October 24, 2011
When I was there a couple of months ago, we had Skyfari access included with the special 2-day theme park tickets we had purchased. This also gave us access to the bus system around the park. I did notice that they were much more vigilant about checking our access handstamps for the buses than for the Skyfari, but it's also possible that depending on the promotions they run at any given time, the operators may get more apathetic about checking.
posted by Diagonalize at 9:58 AM on October 24, 2011
posted by Diagonalize at 9:58 AM on October 24, 2011
When I was there a couple of months ago, we had Skyfari access included with the special 2-day theme park tickets we had purchased. This also gave us access to the bus system around the park.
Note that as a member, I do not get to ride the bus tour at the zoo without paying (although I do get coupons for the tickets with my membership). That may be included with Diamond level membership, though.
posted by LionIndex at 11:43 AM on October 24, 2011
Note that as a member, I do not get to ride the bus tour at the zoo without paying (although I do get coupons for the tickets with my membership). That may be included with Diamond level membership, though.
posted by LionIndex at 11:43 AM on October 24, 2011
Response by poster: I had a full-price, one-day ticket. Nobody in line with me seemed to pay with actual money (and I was paying attention), although it's possible that you can buy separate tickets for Skyfari elsewhere. But I didn't realize that some of the bundled tickets didn't come with it. (So I had a crazy theory where Skyfari is classified as some sort of public transit, and therefore is legally required to post a fare, despite the fact that nobody pays it.)
posted by madcaptenor at 1:15 PM on October 24, 2011
posted by madcaptenor at 1:15 PM on October 24, 2011
Was also there very recently, and the staff weren't checking tickets nor did they have a cash box or credit card POS set up. If it's not free for some ticket combinations like fief mentions, am guessing that those tickets types are rare enough that the staff doesn't even enforce it.
My guess at the time was that posting a fee allows them to advertise the tickets as a "bundle worth XXX" instead of just being admission.
posted by oblio_one at 1:28 PM on October 24, 2011
My guess at the time was that posting a fee allows them to advertise the tickets as a "bundle worth XXX" instead of just being admission.
posted by oblio_one at 1:28 PM on October 24, 2011
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posted by ShootTheMoon at 9:31 AM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]