I wrote a few months ago about the start of the Every Kid in a Park program, which aimed to give free National Park entry to all US 4th graders and their families. Â I have a 4th grader (with 6 kids, the odds were good, right?!?), so I was definitely excited about the program. Â The Every Kid in a Park program officially went live on September 1st, and I wrote about how to get your free Every Kid in a Park pass
Planning our National Park adventure
Free National Park entry would have been super helpful on our recent Amtrak trip to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore – where, because we’re a 2 rental car family, we paid $60 to enter Yellowstone and another $24 to enter Mt. Rushmore
(SEE ALSO: Why I didn’t spend $9,144.92 on my vacation)
(SEE ALSO:Â How I spent 350,401 points)
Living in Cincinnati, as we do, the amount of federal National Parks is slightly limited compared to what they might be if we lived in, say, Utah or Wyoming.  I mean the William Howard Taft historical site is nice and all but…. 🙂  So we looked through some of the options and one that we were interested in was Mammoth Cave, which is a few hours drive away in Kentucky.
I’ve been to Mammoth Cave before as a kid, and while I don’t remember a ton about it (because let’s face it, when you’re a kid, all you do is complain about places your parents drag you to, right? 😀 ), I knew it would be a good site for a family trip. It IS a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after all!
(SEE ALSO: Tracking UNESCO World Heritage Sites)
(SEE ALSO: Most Traveled People – tracking places you’ve been)
Calling up Mammoth Cave
So I went over to the Mammoth Cave fees and passes page, and found
I wasn’t sure if the Every Kid in a Park discount would apply here, so I called up and got the bad news. Every Kid in a Park just waives “entrance fees”, and because Mammoth Cave has no entry fees, there’s nothing to waive. Â You’ll still have to pay the full price to take a tour to actually go INTO the cave (and of course, that’s the whole point, right?)
I do understand that they have these fees to help support the parks, but it is a bit frustrating to have a program touting free access to National Parks, only to find that the closest big attraction will actually cost our family somewhere around $50.
In any case – now you know if you were planning an Every Kid in a Park fueled National Park trip! ONLY the Entrance fees will be free – everything else you’ll still need to pay for! Have you used your Every Kid in a Park pass yet?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
In reality, the users of the park so should pay to run the park. Why should some users get freebies? I don’t remotely get it.
Sure, users should help support the parks, but citizens who do not use resources should also help pay for them as a common good. It would be hard, for instance, to levy an individual tariff for my part of the space program’s costs, but we all derive benefit, collectively and individually. I believe the same is true of keeping wild places wild and of educating our youth about nature and geology through national park visits.
Sure – I get that and generally I approve. But my point is that the National Park Service introduced a program called “Every Kid in a Park”, which claims “This pass provides free access to national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and more”. So I was just sharing my experiences about how the National Park I wanted to attend wasn’t exactly free
They should not advertise free for fourth graders. It’s so close to being an outright lie. It’s FREE for EVERY grade, and ALL people ANY age, Those who have not started school and those who finished! Correct? Yes, it’s not just close to being a lie….It IS a lie!
As a single mom, I was excited to hear of this program and eagerly looking for nearby places.
I, too, am close to Mammoth Cave. I remember the cave as a child. Don’t remember anything about Jellystone park or camping. That is odd considering my parents had a KOA membership and a beat up RV. I remember loads of campgrounds…. Jellystone should have stood out, I would think.
Makes me believe we didn’t camp there. Just toured the cave…. Too bad my parents aren’t around to help me remember the trip, or I’d would love to ask them.
Im so glad that I saw this before just showing up. Its less than an hour away, I wouldn’t have called to check if it was true. I would have showed up with two eager, excited energy filled boys, who soon would have been broken hearted and teary eyed. Iif I had drove there, only to find out I can’t afford to pay for any activities. I would have cried with my boys! As we watched other people enjoying what we can’t.
We would have eaten our peanut butter sandwiches brought from home with soagy tear soaked bread. And then returned home.
It really must be nice to have enough money, no not merely just enough, but an enough PLUS extra money left over.. so much extra money after my kids and neices and nephews have all they need and most of their wants. That I can now give money to help care for wildlife or flowers or whatever… ENOUGH PLUS money for preserving the outside…. Ha! Some months we don’t have enough for all our NEEDS! The extra gas money I would have spent just driving there would have been splurging on my part. Zero of our wants are usually afforded to us… there are no extra “anythings”.
So what’s wrong with giving free admission to a 4th grader and his mom and his brother??? Most families need the extra money and help the MOST when their kids are young and in school.
People have more money to frivolously spend in their latter years. I would imagine that to be true for ALL people, not just some people.
So its a great concept, to bad its a cruel and horrible lie. Thanks for informing me or reminding me of just ONE MORE thing my kids won’t get to experience. Experiencing life with one parent and not a single grandparent! Never experiencing what it is like to be loved by MANY adults as a kid…. I can’t not yet see nor imagine what scars that give them. How they already feel less than others….I feel so uplifted and better about my whole existence now!!! Thank you thank you thank you. However shall I repay you? Oh I know, I’ll send a picture of my kids faces as they sit and watch through the glass at others who ARE worthy, and are a higher class of people, citizens that MATTER…. Instead of feeling like a 2nd rate citizen, and less than a human being, someone who is far from being worthy and far from being accepted with a smile. Instead of looked upon with a half disgusted face as people turn away from the ugly site of them, as to fix their gaze upon things that ARE loved and things that ARE worthy to not only be gazed upon but also worthy of donations and care….. yes, to know the flower beds have more worth than 2 dirty faced brothers with stains on their shirts. Who wear shoes that are too small, AND falling apart to boot! The looks on their faces as they silently feel all of these things inside them, while their eyes turn outward to look witness others enjoying what they can not enjoy now. Giving them a sense of…. not just for the “now”, but most likely for ever and always.. Feeling defeated before they even get to to the starting line. Yay!!! That should make the perfect photo! One worthy to be placed on the website page of Jellystone National Park!!! It will be quite a great picture if I can capture the broken hearts on their faces, for sure!!!! Yay!!!
Well then, good night to all. I trust you all will have a great experience and all of you will make great memories for you kids to forget, I pray you are still around to help your kids remember your trip and together enjoy reminiscing the good times, enjoy the time you will spend dwelling on the fond memories. I do, truly wish , hope and pray that you all will have that! Honest! Because
No one deserves to live a life devoid of fond memories, no, not ONE deserves that!!!
I Just hope your priorities are straight and you don’t forget to drop some more of your EXTRA money in the donation box before you leave for home! It is of the UTMOST importance that somebody is there to give love and to nuture those precious, worthy flowers! Now THAT, would TRULY be a great injustice in the world, a pity AND a shame…. if the flowers, TOO, were to wilt.
More frustrating than the exclusion of the “free” pass is the $80 annual pass that you can buy from the NPS. Many places, such as Mt Rushmore offer free access but require a fee to park.
Right – same basic principle. Mt. Rushmore is “free”….. if you want to hike there 🙂
I think you would run into a similar problem at Mount Rushmore unless it’s changed since we were there. Your National Park Pass doesn’t cover the parking fees as it is run separately. There isn’t actually an entrance fee.
SCAMMERS! 🙂
Yup – you are right – I looked on the Mt. Rushmore Fees and Passes page and it specifically says:
“There is no entrance fee for Mount Rushmore National Memorial. However, fees are required to park at the memorial”
and
“The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass, the Annual Pass – Military, the Senior Pass, the Access Pass and the Every Kid in a Park Pass cannot be used for parking fees at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. “
Can’t use it at smoky mountain np either.
Well Smoky Mountains National Park has no entrance fee either but there is a fee if you want to camp overnight. I guess in my mind that’s a little bit different. I think that what galls me about the Mammoth Cave situation is that THE WHOLE POINT OF THE PARK is to explore the caves, right? With the Smoky Mountains park, you can experience the park without camping, so I guess that doesn’t bother me as much that you are charged a fee if you want to camp overnight