Editor’s Note: This is the third of a series called “Sunflower Summer Adventures” documenting the summer activities of the Frey Family using the Sunflower Summer App. The app, administrated by Kansas Tourism, provides Kansas families free tickets to more than 200 attractions across the state.

Video:https://youtu.be/XRc34E-sr2A?si=0Dnuov2vHut1f3pI

By Chad Frey

Newton Kansan

For our third Sunflower Summer Adventure it was time to cross something off the “Summer Bucket List” for one of the children in our family – see the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita.

Just how did this go from a fun trip to a mission? Simple. The combination of a pandemic and illness made it so our youngest child missed every field trip to the zoo during grade school.

With a ticket price of well over $100 for the family, finding the budget has been a challenge. When the app was activated on May 25, the Sedgwick County Zoo was the first place we checked for availability.

That alone fulfilled a promise, and another promise followed. Since the zoo was on the list, it was promised that a trip there would happen.

We just needed the right day. And we found it – a weekday that was supposed to be warm but not oppressively hot, no rain in the forecast.

Gate admission to the zoo is $25 ages 12 to 61, $20 for ages 3 to 11 and $18 for seniors 62 and older.

For our family that’s $120 this year.

That baseline admission includes an entire day to see as many of the more than 3,000 animals across nearly 400 different species as you can.

We visited nearly every area of the zoo before we wore out. Africa, Australia, South America, Asia and North America were all represented in our travels. We visited a gorilla forest ,rain forest, Stingray Cove and Penguin Cove.

We did not see it all, but we were satisfied when we left.

Admission with the app does not include any extras — the Safari Express (a train ride around the zoo), Stingray Cove (a new attraction where you can touch a stingray and a shark), feeding a Giraffe and a boat ride called “a conservation cruise.”

Those things cost $5 per person, with a discount available when purchasing multiples of five tickets.

We all agreed that since we didn’t spend $120 at the gate, this was the day to try some of those things. Plus, no one had done any of those on school field trips.

That was a wise decision – each of those things did add a little to the day.

Another wise decision made was packing our own lunch – something that is allowed by the zoo. You can take a wagon or stroller with you and stash a cooler, but we chose to get stamps that allow for re-entry. That led to a “parking lot picnic” for lunch.

Also not included in baseline admission are encounters, those are limited access by day and cost between $20 to $60 per person.