I have purchased family annual passes in the past. I did again this year through Groupon which is the only way we could do it.
Positives:
* It was not busy today at all! We didn't have to wait to use things like we have before. I know it is a hit or miss when you come.
* The Pompeii exhibit was amazing!!! My teens really enjoyed it too. It was worth the money we spent and I'm pretty picky on spending extra.
* It was clean and the bathrooms were clean.
* All staff I interacted with were friendly and helpful. They even let me park my expensive stroller next to them so they could keep an eye on it.
* There is so much to do. We were there for a few hours and didn't see everything.
Negative:
* I had to pay $8 for my 5 year old to see the Pompeii exhibit. I knew she would not be interested in it. I wish they would have let her in free. I had to pay to take her in because obviously she couldn't be left alone. It would have been nice to not have a charge for her since it's way over her head.
* We are a family of 6. One infant so he doesn't "count". The Groupon is for a family of 4. To add another member on is $25. Seems like a lot when I got the family a pass for less then $70. Not a huge deal but would have been nice if they had family passes in more options then just 4.
* It can be busy depending on the day and the one group we saw was very rough and noisy. We stayed away from them and luckily it wasn't busy in other areas. I have seen this before. There needs to be a way to control the children that are there on field trips.