Zoo etrance tickets

Zoo etrance tickets
12-11-2009

I recently started to collect zoo entrance tickets. The collection stated accidently; when I was searching through some junk I realized I’d amassed quite a few zoo tickets and some of them were very attractive. In recent times entrance tickets have become more personalize (or brand), many now have pictures or logos on them. The two San Diego zoos have amazing artwork on them. Anyone else out there collect zoo tickets or know of any particularly attractive examples?

12-11-2009

just realized I spelt entrance wrong in the title

Blackduiker
13-11-2009

Never thought of that one, collecting zoo "etrance" tickets. Sounds like a good idea though. After all, I've been saving ticket stubs to concerts, plays, amusement parks, etc. for years.

14-11-2009

Looks like there’ll only be two of collecting entrance tickets then. That’s good because I want to have the worlds largest zoo entrance ticket collection so the less competition the better

Zoo Tickets
23-11-2009

I have a fairly large collection collection of Zoo tickets and all sorts of zoo related material. I have amassed most of my tickets when visiting zoos although I have also acquired and purchased older tickets from Belle Vue and London etc. I probably have over 400 or 500 tickets of one sort or another.
May have some spares if you are interested.

23-11-2009

Well, entrance tickets must be a UK thing because it seems to me that most U.S. zoos do not issue tickets. The ticket booth doubles as the entrance and you just pay your money and walk in. That is certainly how it is at my zoo (Reid Park Zoo). But I have been to many zoos across the country and it seems that I don't recall that many issuing tickets. A few of the real big ones like both San Diego Parks, but not too many. Although it might make a fun collection, it seems to me to be an unnecessary waste of ink and paper - especially for a conservation organization.

On a somewhat related topic, I think handing out a map to everyone at the ticket booth is also a waste, since many just end up being tossed on the ground. I kind of like how Port Lympne does it, a really nice "souvenir map" that you have to pay a little extra for if you want it.

24-11-2009

TwycrossZoo – I’d certainly be interested in any spares. Where do you find the old ones, I’ve never seen any for sale?

Arizona Docent – Funny, the only zoos I’ve visited in the US give entrance tickets i.e. the San Diego parks, Bronx, Central Park, Sea world.
On the subject of maps, it is only relatively recently that British Zoos have issued free maps. They did this (If my memory is right) because the tourist industry slated them for charging a fair amount of money for people to see animals, and then leaving those people to wander aimlessly with only the odd signpost to help.
As for tickets being a waste of resources, they can have a promotional use, (e.g. to get a reduced entrance fee within a certain number of months). Or for people who want to leave the zoo and return. Also, I don’t believe that not issuing them would do anything to help as far as conservation is concerned. A trip to the zoo involves a journey and this has accompanying environmental impacts. Considering I sometimes fly abroad to visit zoos, that impact could be quite considerable. I usually buy a guide book but any souvenir has environmental implications, e.g. the raw material it is made from, plus the energy used to produce it and transport it to the zoo from the factory.
If we’re going to go to the extreme of banishing entrance tickets made from an easily accessible and recyclable material, then maybe zoos should stop selling souvenirs and stop encouraging us to visit?
Needless to say, collecting anything has an environmental impact and hell! I don’t have kids so I get extra carbon credits.

24-11-2009

Some places give full consideration to this issue- for instance on exit, Colchester Zoo asks visitors to put re-usable maps in one box (which are then given out & re-used) and knackered ones in another (which, I presume, are re-cycled).

24-11-2009

Have picked up old tickets etc from dealers and at postcard and antique fairs. Mainly dealers who deal in ephemera have them but surprising what you find sometimes in old guide books etc

09-05-2011

I recall getting some very colourful and ambitious tickets in the past. But lately I've noticed that tickets zoos give you are little or no different from the receipt you get at the supermarket, hence the collecting value is next to none...

10-05-2011

I must admit that this is where my natural hording ability comes in.
I found a box full of 'stuff' recently whilst having a junk move around (I would call it a tidy up but I have to be honest - it doesn't look any tidier) anyway
I found 2 or 3 entrance tickets for Belle Vue Zoo for 1972 (I think, that would have been a visit back to the UK whilst we were living overseas anyway) as well as guide books for there and Berlin Tierpark (1970's x2), Walsrode (1974ish I think again) Jurong Bird Park (1971, think we went just after it opened actually) Welsh Mountain Zoo (1996), Dudley Zoo & Castle (1995) and several fron Chester Zoo through the 1980's & 1990's.

Thus I don't think you're on your own collection wise.

Also agree that most places now just seem to give you a till reciept rather than a printed ticket - I have some old tickets from Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port from the first years it was opened and they are quite pretty with different marine life on them but they just give a till reciept now (well that's all I got when I popped in for a look in early April)

Good luck in expanding your collection