Monterey Bay Aquarium doesn’t give teachers a discount on admission. Its visitor FAQ asks “Do you offer any discounts?” and the answer is “No.” What it does run for educators is a free Educator Open House, an after-hours evening with an optional sleepover, and its page says applications are closed and doesn’t say whether it will run again.
If you were picturing a school ID at the ticket window and a lower price, that isn’t on offer here, and we’d rather tell you now than have you find out in line. The parts of this page worth your time are the free ones: the open house, the free field trips for your class, and the educator institutes.
How To Get The Monterey Bay Aquarium Teacher Discount
There’s no discount to claim, so the closest thing is the Educator Open House. Its page says it’s open to all educators, and it also says it’s open only to formal and informal educators. The fee is listed as None. It’s limited to 250 participants, and priority acceptance goes to educators who live and/or work in coastal communities of color. You apply, and right now the page says applications are closed. For questions it gives educator@mbayaq.org.
To hear about the next one, the educator programs page has a sign-up to receive the aquarium’s educator updates. The open house page doesn’t say whether it comes back, so treat any plan around it as a maybe.
What The Open House Offers
The page describes an after-hours exploration of the exhibits with special events throughout the evening in appreciation of educators. You can come for just the evening or sleep over. The list of perks includes dessert in the exhibits, sleeping next to your favorite animal, a full catered breakfast in the cafe, and a visit to the Aquarium Store before the aquarium opens.
Free Field Trips For Your Class
Taking students is where an educator saves money here. The field trip page says the aquarium’s field trip programs are free of charge, and for in-person programs that includes complimentary entry for all participating students, teachers and chaperones. Each individual class is eligible for one free trip per school year. The aquarium’s Other Ways To Visit page adds that it offers free programs for Pre-K through Grade 12 at public or private schools and for college classes attending a scheduled field trip.
Educator Institutes
The educator programs page describes free institutes and workshops, and says attendance at the institutes qualifies for professional growth hours required to renew a California Teaching Credential. The page lists programs such as Teaching Ocean Plastic Pollution and the Design for Equity, Community & the Ocean Educator Institute. We didn’t check which of them is open for sign-up today.
Visiting On Your Own
The aquarium’s tickets page lists Adult admission at $65 for ages 18 to 69, Youth at $50 for ages 5 to 17, and Senior at $50 for ages 70 and up, with admission free for ages 4 and under. It has no educator ticket, so a teacher pays the same as anyone else. The same page lists free admission for up to four people for valid SNAP EBT cardholders, which isn’t a teacher benefit but is worth knowing about if it fits your household.
Cash Back Routes We Checked
Fluz lists 1.5% cashback at Monterey Bay Aquarium with a Fluz virtual card, so the rate applies when you pay with that card. We didn’t test whether the aquarium’s ticket checkout accepts one. We didn’t find a TopCashback page for the aquarium, and Rakuten’s address for it loads a general page instead of a store page.
What We Couldn’t Confirm
The open house page doesn’t say whether the event comes back or when applications would reopen, and it doesn’t say how the aquarium confirms that you’re an educator, since the only step it names is the application. We found no way to get a lower admission price with a school ID, and the FAQ says there are no discounts, so we can’t promise one at the window. We also didn’t check whether a Fluz card works at the aquarium’s checkout.
Q&A
Does Monterey Bay Aquarium give teachers a discount?
No. The visitor FAQ answers “Do you offer any discounts?” with “No.”
What is the Educator Open House?
An after-hours evening for educators with special events, dessert in the exhibits, and an optional sleepover with a catered breakfast. The fee is listed as None.
Can I apply to the Educator Open House now?
The page says applications are closed and doesn’t say when the event returns.
Who gets priority at the open house?
The page says priority acceptance is given to educators who live and/or work in coastal communities of color, and that it’s limited to 250 participants.
Are field trips free?
The field trip page says its programs are free of charge, including complimentary entry for students, teachers and chaperones on in-person programs, with one free trip per class each school year.
Do the educator institutes count toward credential renewal?
The educator programs page says attendance at the institutes qualifies for professional growth hours required to renew a California Teaching Credential.
How much is a regular ticket?
Adult is $65 for ages 18 to 69, and Youth and Senior are $50.
More Information:
The details above come from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s own pages, plus Fluz, Rakuten and TopCashback, as they loaded when we checked, and they change without notice. See more entertainment discounts for teachers.
