Recently we took a trip to Seattle. We only had a couple of days there and we wanted to see as much as possible. So we decided to purchase a Seattle City Pass. We were able to visit 5 attractions at a discounted rate.

Seattle City Pass

Woodland Park Zoo

The map looks daunting. Looking at the map you would think it would take all day. However, the enclosures were surprisingly closer together then I expected. We were only able to see about half of the animals. The first half of our visit was one empty enclosure after another. It is hard wrangling 5 kids on a path to emptiness to just turn right back around and return on the same path. At the end of the visit we saw more animals. At least we ended with that. We saw elk, sleeping bears, spots of a leopard, strips of a tiger in the distance, gorilla.

Space Needle

Go early to stand in line to get a time. We were able to get our time and immediately get in line because we went early in the day. At that time we could get our second ticket for later at night. Tickets sell out fast, so go early to get them even if you are going later in the day. While we were standing in line they had free wifi. We were able to download their interactive app. They have circles on the floor at various places in line and at the top where you can take a picture with the app. Fun images appear within the app. The picture can be saved to your device. You can enjoy lunch or dinner at the top. (Hot dogs are $10.) The walkway outside wasn’t very wide. Inside it seemed crowded as well. My kids thought it was interesting but did not want to spend a lot of time up there.

Seattle Aquarium

When I think of an Aquarium I imagine something large. This one is not very large. There were interesting things to see like a giant octopus, sea horses, sea lions and seals. The kids were able to see and touch many smaller creatures like a star fish and a sea cucumber up close. They had some wet suits available to try on to pretend to snorkel. The Aquarium and Argosy Tour are next to each other. We saw part of the Aquarium until it was our departure time, and then finished the aquarium after the tour.

Argosy Cruises Harbor Tour

Stand in line 30 minutes early to get the best seats which are on the top of the boat exposed to the weather. There is a tour guide who points things out to you throughout the trip. Our guide was informative. Be careful which day you go because for us it was fine at one moment and then cold the next, then warm again. We did have coats that we took on and off a few times. I’m glad we went on a day without rain. It was fun riding in a boat seeing the sites we were not able to get to. It ended up being long for the kids and not something they want to do again.

Pacific Science Center

This museum is very interactive. A few things we liked were the mechanical dinosaurs, holding a tarantula and cockroach, hoping butterflies land on us in the butterfly room, seeing the size of the planets in relation to each other, watching a volcano documentary with popcorn, putting together huge ant puzzles, discovering what dry ice does when it is thrown on top of water and learning about how the body moves. There was so much to see and do. Of all the places we visited, this is the one we loved the most and could have spent even more time there.

We did the Seattle City Pass in a day and a half. Yes we were extremely tired at the end of each day, but we had a lot of fun! Parking in Seattle is a little tricky. Look down the side roads, not the main roads and you will find more parking options. We found parking for our motor home on a Friday afternoon and a Saturday morning! We did the Argosy cruise and the Aquarium on Friday. Saturday morning we did the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center. We arrived at the Woodland Park Zoo at about 3pm that day which gave us 3 hours. We finished just as they were closing.

The hard thing about the pass is the museums close early. I wish they would have longer hours because then we would have been able to stay longer at the Pacific Science Center which was our favorite!

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