Mt. Dana / Yosemite
Some people might be aware that I was originally from
Japan. I have been living in the United
States for almost twenty years.
One of interesting thing I found in this country is an
annual pass. It is very popular in many
places, including theme parks, museums, zoos and etc. I saw a similar concept in Japan, but the
difference between the once time and the annual in Japan is much larger than
here in the United States. Since the
price difference is big, I have never bought annual pass in Japan. However, I started buying annual passes right
after I moved in.
Typically, an annual pass price is probably a several times
higher than one time, it is sometimes only a few times expensive. Recently, I bought an annual pass for
National Parks, which is US $80. If
just single visit to Yosemite National Park is US $30 per a car. So if people plan to visit National parks
three times, then annual pass is lower cost.
In our family case, we definitely visit more than three times and we
always buy an annual pass. A similar
things I had done when our kids were little, I bought an annual path for a
zoo. In many cases, I think annual pass
would be a reasonable price in most of places, especially people live in the
local area of the facility for the pass.
But now, I think the one time ticket is probably too expensive. That’s is why people tend to buy the annual
pass here. The service provider might
want people to come multiple times.
Therefore, they set the price like that.
At least people, who buy an annual pass, may visit the place at least a
few times during the period.
In Japan, they assume people might not come multiple times,
therefore, they try to get more people with one time ticket. If I think about like this, a lot of facts
can be explained. As an example, museum
in Japan, they usually has the same display for a long time except some special
event. But many museums here are doing
change their display so often. It is
good for repeaters to see something different every time. On the other hand, people might not come back
if the display is almost the same as the last visit. So the strategy to get people is different!
Anyway, I think the annual pass system for the national park
here is very good. There are many
national park around San Francisco Bay area and I believe the fee is considered
as a donation which is tax deductible. I am not sure if it is still true or not, but
previously, there is some discount for camping fee in a National park. Then if it is one time, people tend to stay
longer in a park, to try seeing as much as they can. However, if people have annual pass, then
once they finish their purpose for a visit, such as a short hiking, then they
can leave and try to plan the next trip.
Typically, National Park here is huge, and it will take some time to
look around a park. This is also good to
focus a partial area in a visit.
Yosemite National Park is one of very famous National Parks
in the United States, it is always crowded in summer time. It is probably hard to visit multiple
places in a day. It is also hard to get
a place people can stay overnight in the park or near the park. People who come from outside of California,
they might not have much choice.
However, we live in around 3 hours driving range. Therefore, it is easy to make a day trip for
one particular area. I believe the one
time entrance is valid for seven days.
Therefore, unless people continuously stay in / near the park, people
require to pay another fee in the next weekend.
I guess it might be a bit expensive just pay $30 for a weekend. It is much better to have an annual pass,
don’t you think?
My previous pass was expired in June this year and I bought
a new pass in the July fourth weekend.
Since then, I visited Lassen Volcanic National Park and Yosemite
National Park twice. If I buy one time
tickets, it will be $20 for Lassen and $60 for Yosemite twice, total $80 which
is the same as the annual pass. The
other benefit is if people have an annual pass, sometimes they offer a faster
line or bypass the entrance station if the line getting into the park is long. The last weekend, they did at an entrance of
Tioga Pass in Yosemite. People who does
not have the pass needs to wait in a line.
It is nice to consider an annual pass for a national park in
the United States!
