Membership
Policies and Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions not listed here, please reach out to us at [email protected] or 650-342-7755.
Policies
Memberships (excluding certificates) are valid immediately after purchase and members do not have to wait to receive membership materials before visiting. If you would like to visit before you receive your cards, please show a photo ID at the front desk. You will need to pay the $6 county park entrance fee if you have not received your parking permit.
Within 10–15 business days of purchasing your membership, you will receive two emails: an acknowledgment letter with your parking permits, and a separate email to download your digital membership cards.
Your membership donation is fully tax deductible. Please consult a tax professional for advice on tax deductions. You will receive an acknowledgment email or letter that can be used for tax purposes.
Current CuriOdyssey volunteers receive complimentary Family Memberships (after meeting a minimum hours requirement), please contact [email protected] for more information.
CuriOdyssey is pleased to invite visitors of all backgrounds to engage in positive experiences that inspire a love of science and curiosity about the world. To foster a positive environment, CuriOdyssey expects visitors to follow our code of conduct.
Membership automatic renewal is opt-in at the time of initial purchase. CuriOdyssey does not impose contracts on our members, and members are free to cancel their membership at any time. Please email [email protected] to check if you have auto-renew enabled. Membership for All memberships are not eligible for auto-renewal.
Proper notice is required to disable automatic membership renewal and members can submit cancellation requests via email, phone, in person or writing via this form. If auto-renewal is disabled, your current membership shall remain valid until the end of it's current term.
Memberships are prepaid and operate on a yearly-basis. The membership cycle begins the day the member joins and, if auto-renewal is enabled, will renew automatically every year for a subsequent period of the same length as the initial term (term length of 1, 2 or 3 years as determined by member). The recurring charges that will be charged to the members credit or debit card are subject to change with proper notification.
Memberships do not automatically cancel due to inactivity. Members must provide notice to stop their membership from automatically renewing.
Membership auto-renewal payments are processed at the beginning of the expiration date for your current term (typically the last day of the relevant month). If members request to cancel auto-renewal is given after 5pm on the day before your current term's expiration, your membership charge will go through but will be refunded within 3 days.
It is the responsibility of the member to bring any billing discrepancies to CuriOdyssey’s attention within 60 days after they first appear on financial statements. After 60 days, the member’s right to dispute any discrepancies is waived.
We evaluate and issue membership refunds on a case by case basis; we do not provide partial refunds. Memberships are only eligible for refund consideration in the case that it has not been used since it was purchased or renewed and less than 60 days have passed since the date of the transaction. We do not issue refunds for gift memberships or due to account inactivity.
CuriOdyssey members are allowed to park in the three lots nearest to us when they are visiting, marked in yellow on the park map linked here. Members must pay the Coyote Point vehicle fee if they are not visiting CuriOdyssey, are visiting on a day or time we are closed, or are in an undesignated lot. You will be asked to pay for parking unless you show both a membership card and a parking permit to the ranger at the gate. If there is no ranger present, you may drive through.
If you are interested in access to all Coyote Point parking areas, as well as six other San Mateo County Parks, you may be interested in a San Mateo County Park Pass.
You must be a current member at the time you register for camp. To purchase a membership, visit our Membership page.
The children you register must be on your membership. This means that camp registration is restricted to the Family Level and above, as the Individual Plus Level does not include children. To upgrade your membership, please contact our Membership Department at [email protected] or 650-342-7755.
As a member of CuriOdyssey, you can receive free or discounted admission at other science and wildlife centers. For more information about reciprocity, please visit our reciprocity page.
Membership for All Memberships may be applied for online or in-person, and application approval may take up to 10–15 business days. Applicant must qualify under the specifications on our Museums for All webpage. Applicants must provide documentation of their participation in a qualifying program or proof of income. If the applicant does not want to upload documentation via our online application, they may instead show their documentation to a CuriOdyssey staff member in-person by applying in-person at our front desk.
General Questions
Online: The fastest way to use a membership is to purchase online. To do so please visit our general membership page, find the membership level that is right for you, and choose “Join or Renew now.”
Telephone: To purchase a membership over the phone, please call 650-342-7755 during open hours (Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm).
In person: If you would like to join in-person, please ask a visitor engagement associate for assistance. It will take 5-10 minutes to get you enrolled as a member.
By mail: We only accept payment for mail enrollment in the form of checks. Please print out this Membership Application and mail it and your check to:
CuriOdyssey Membership Dept1651 Coyote Point Drive
San Mateo, CA 94401
You should receive an email to download your digital membership cards within 10–15 business days of purchasing your membership. You will also receive a separate email with general membership information, welcome letter, and parking permits.
Memberships are valid as soon as the payment is processed and you do not need to wait to receive your membership cards. You can use your membership immediately by showing a photo ID at the entrance, though you will be expected to pay the $6 Coyote Point vehicle fee if you have not yet received your parking permits.
Information can be changed by contacting us. Please call or visit us during open hours (Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm), or email us at [email protected] at any time.
Membership For All memberships are an extension of our participation in the Museums for All program, and can be applied for in-person or online. Please see our Membership for All page for more information.
Parking
Your parking permits are on the bottom of the welcome letter, attached to your member information email that you should receive within 10–15 business days of your transaction. Please print your welcome letter and cut the parking passes out. If you visit us in person we can give you pre-printed parking passes.
CuriOdyssey members are allowed to park in the three lots nearest to us when they are visiting. Members must pay the Coyote Point vehicle fee if they are not visiting CuriOdyssey, are visiting on a day or time we are closed, or are in an undesignated lot. You will be asked to pay for parking unless you show both a membership card and a parking permit to the ranger at the gate. If there is no ranger present, you may drive through.
The vehicle entrance fee is paid directly to and directly supports the county park. To receive the benefit of free parking while visiting CuriOdyssey, members must present a current membership card and valid parking pass to the ranger at the gatehouse, and then display the parking pass on their vehicle’s dashboard. The Coyote Point Park Gatehouse does not keep a list of active museum members.
Named Members
Membership cards are only distributed to the named adults on the membership. Depending on the amount of your donation, there can be one to two named adults. Organizational memberships are not available at this time.
If you have a Family level membership or higher, your children are always covered under your membership, so your membership card will allow free admission for them. Any guests they bring will receive a $8 discount on regular daily admission (up to 4 tickets).
If you are interested in free admission for additional adults, you may purchase a membership that allows more named adults (Director's Circle levels), or a membership that includes guests every time you or your children visit (Family Plus, Advocate and Innovators Circle levels).
Admission applies only to the named cardholders on the membership card.
Individual Plus memberships must have an adult as the named member and they must be present to receive any benefits.
Because this level of membership requires the named adult to be present, children only receive free admission if the named adult is present.
Memberships may change one of the named adults once per year for free. After the first name change, there is a $19 fee associated with additional changes.
Reciprocity
Please bring a photo ID and your CuriOdyssey membership card when visiting any of our reciprocal partners. Your digital membership card is valid, though you may need to show the details on the “back side” of the card. The different methods of installing your card have different processes for viewing details.
- Apple Pay: click the three-dot icon on the top right.
- WalletPasses and Wallet Union: click the “i” icon on bottom right.
- GPay: click the “Details” button on the bottom center.
For information about discounts that may be offered at other science and wildlife centers, please see our Reciprocal Program page. We highly recommend contacting the institution you plan on visiting to learn how they honor reciprocity and how they would prefer you acquire tickets.
Membership Cards
Now that we use digital member cards, our distribution process is much faster than it was previously, however we do still require processing time to ensure that all memberships are free of errors. You do not need to wait to receive your membership card to visit CuriOdyssey, you only need a photo ID.
If you require your digital membership card immediately, please contact [email protected] and we may be able to issue you a temporary card while you wait to receive your materials. Please note that our membership staff works Monday–Friday, so it may take a couple of days for us to respond.
On the same date you receive your membership welcome email, you should get a separate email from [email protected] which contains a link to download your card. If you don't see the email in your inbox, be sure to check the Junk, Spam, Unwanted, and Promotions folders of your email.
Open the email from your smartphone, scroll down and click the "Download" button. On that page, select “Add to Wallet”, and from there tap “Add” in the top right corner, then “Done” in the top left. The card will automatically go to your iPhone’s Apple Wallet, where it can be accessed at any time.
Your full card details can be viewed on the Program Details page, which you can view by tapping the three-dot icon in the top right corner.
The card is only able to be downloaded from the original email once, in order to download the card on another device you will need to share the card from inside the app. You can do that by navigating to the three-dot icon in the top right corner and selecting the share icon in the top right corner, which looks like a square with an arrow pointing upwards.
If the device you are trying to share the card with is not an iPhone, make sure to send the card without using iMessage, as they will not be able to open it.
Android users will have the best experience if you download the Wallet Union app, if you use the pre-installed Google Pay app, the card will not be formatted properly.
On the same date you receive your membership welcome email, you should get a separate email from [email protected] which contains a link to download your card. If you don't see the email in your inbox, be sure to check the Junk, Spam, Unwanted, and Promotions folders of your email.
After you install Wallet Union, access the email from your smartphone and click the "Download" button, this will open your internet browser. On that page, select "Add it to Wallet Union", this should open the Wallet Union app, on that page select "save", and your card will be installed. If the Wallet Union app does not open, your card has not been installed and you may need to try again using a different browser.
The card is only able to be downloaded from the original email once, in order to download the card on another device you will need to share the card from inside the app. You can do that by tapping on the “i” icon in the bottom right corner, and selecting "Share Pass".
If you still have access to the old device, share it from within the app. If you do not have access to the old device, please contact [email protected] or 650-342-7755 so that we may issue you a new digital card.
Physical membership cards are available upon request only. If you would prefer physical cards please visit us in person or reach out to us at [email protected] or 650-342-7755. The first two physical cards are free, there is a $5 for any replacements.
Join the CuriOdyssey Community
LOCATION
1651 Coyote Point Drive
San Mateo, CA 94401
Ohlone Land Acknowledgement
650-342-7755
[email protected]
CuriOdyssey is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Tax ID 94-1262434
