Creationists Are Selling Absurdly Expensive Lifetime Passes to Ark Encounter

How much would you pay for a lifetime pass to both Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum?

(Well, okay, not you, but other people?)

As we’ve noted before, a family of four (with teenagers) buying a one-day pass to Ark Encounter would have to pay approximately $150. That’s before taxes ($11.12 when I checked last night) and before another $10 for parking.

It’s about $130 for the same family to visit the Creation Museum, before taxes and before $5 for parking.

It’s a lot of money. There are slightly discounted combo packs if you want to visit both, but still.

Perhaps trying to cope with the closure of both venues due to the pandemic, Creationist Ken Ham announced Answers in Genesis is bringing back “Lifetime Boarding Passes” — basically lifetime passes to both attractions, free parking, a handful of guest passes (minus parking), a year’s subscription to Creationist Netflix, and a few other small perks.

By purchasing a lifetime boarding pass, you’ll be helping sustain the Answers in Genesis ministry during this time our attractions are closed, and you’ll be securing lifetime admission to both attractions — something we haven’t offered since we were fundraising to build the Ark!…

Honestly, had he just said he was looking for donations, I would’ve ignored this. But when I saw he didn’t include the prices in the press release, I got curious.

So back to the original question: How much would you pay for a lifetime pass to both Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum?

I’ll spare you the extra clicks.

If our hypothetical family of four wants to purchase the Boarding Pass, it’s $3,000. An individual pass is $2,000.

Our hypothetical family of four would have to visit at least 18 times to make the cost worthwhile. (Fewer if we’re talking about a quiverfull family.) It seems excessive, especially for two museums whose contents will never seriously change.

Again, if Christians want to donate to the ministry, that’s their right, but trading an arm and a leg for a lifetime pass to attractions where one visit is already one too many? There are better ways to burn your money.

I knew Creationist math was bad but Creationist inflation is something else.