Discover & Go Card

Another vote for Discover&Go. It is incredible how much money you save. I never pay to visit museums anymore. If I want to support the locale, I make a tax deductible donation instead. 

We have a Family-Plus membership to the UC Botanical Garden ($125/year), and it comes with really good reciprocal benefits - not just to gardens (get in free to SF Botanical Garden, Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, etc.) but also free/discounted admission to lots of museums around the country, including the Oakland Museum, De Young and many SF museums, Southern California museums, etc. Plus you get discounts at local nurseries. It's mostly not kid-focused places like Chabot and LHS, but for general museum/garden access it's the best I've found.  See all the details here: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/reciprocal/

Also, if you have an Oakland Public Library card, you can "check out" free passes to LHS, Discovery Museum and lots of other local attractions and museums with your library card through their Discover & Go program. (I'm not sure about other local library systems, but I think they participate, too.)  Details: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/services/discover-go-visit-museums-more-f…

I understand the dilemma - Personally, I wish you could buy a pass and choose 3 or 4 different museums to visit instead of having to commit to one. But here are some ideas. Did you know you can get free passes to lots of local museums through your library's Discover and Go program?  Depending on your library, I know that the Children's Discovery Museum is one of the museums, so that is a way of trying it out before getting a membership. There are also a lot of other great museums with free or discounted passes: http://www.discoverandgo.org/. Some museums we have enjoyed this way: Pacific Pinball Museum, Lindsay Wildlife Experience, Playland Not at the Beach.

Here's comments on your specific questions. We have belonged to Chabot but don't join if you don't like it.. it sounds like you like LHS. Since Chabot is part of the same network - you are better paying 1/2 price for Chabot and getting in at LHS free if that is your preference. Both have reciprocal arrangements with the Children's Creativity Museum. As far as the Children's Creativity Museum, I think you should check it out before joining (see free pass above). My child loved it and used to do claymation all the time, but it is not for everyone - it's creative, and hands-on, but limited.

Other free options -  Oakland Museum and Asian Art Museum - they have family days one Sunday a month with lots of activities. 

Although you are looking for a membership, your comments about outgrowing some venues made me think variety might be even more helpful. Have you ever tried Discover & Go through your local library?  You can get free tickets to many wonderful attractions in the bay area - this might help you discover new attractions in case you want to consider membership, or just give you a wealth of a variety of free options for fun entertainment for the family. Each library that has Discover & Go will have it on their website, but it might be helpful to ask a library staff member to show you how to find it (I'm a librarian and it can take quite a few steps on each website to find it). 

Some of our favorites: the Pinball Museum (where you can play pinball for free) in Alameda, the Asian Art Museum, Academy of Sciences, and more. It's worth the effort and time it takes to get tickets and figure out which venues are available. Each library may have different venue availability. And a handy tip: most libraries are free to join if you live in California (unless they are not funded by the state). You can have library cards for many libraries. :) Which gives you access to a wealth of ebooks, e-audiobooks, digital magazines, as well as traditional library books and movies!