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If you live in New York City, there is one thing you must take advantage of: IDNYC. IDNYC is a free identification card for all New York City residents. This card comes with a lot of perks–from movie ticket discounts to free museum access. The process of getting this card is easy. There are several locations you can go to in order to register for your card. Joe and I chose the Mid-Manhattan Library [down the street from that well-known New York library on Fifth]. You do need an appointment [we didn’t realize that and had to wait longer]. You can start your application and make an appointment here. Make sure to bring proof of your address and photo identification!
Now that we’ve covered how to get your card, let’s jump into some of the perks. Here are a few of my favorite benefits:
Entertainment Discounts: We mostly take advantage of the movie ticket discounts [I will say that you have to purchase the tickets online and there is a fee for each ticket–convenient but also annoying]. You can get tickets at several different movie theaters; we have several AMCs nearby so we typically opt for those tickets. There are discounts on Broadway shows and theme park discounts. We haven’t taken advantage of this yet but I definitely plan to in the future. Hello Disney World!
Free Museum Memberships: IDNYC offers free one-year memberships at over 35 museums in New York City. Joe and I didn’t realize we had to initiate these memberships within the calendar year we got our cards [we thought it was within a year of getting our cards!]. We rushed around on New Year’s Eve to get all of our memberships–it was kind of crazy! We ended up with memberships at the Met, Guggenheim, American Museum of Natural History, NYC Ballet, Carnegie Hall, Museum of the City of New York, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Zoo & Queens Zoo.
Health/Fitness Deals: Apparently there are a few health and fitness benefits that come along with IDNYC. Card holders can get discounts on some prescription medications and at some hospitals. Also the YMCA offers discounts on memberships for card holders. Citi Bike offers 15% off your annual membership. Finally Modell’s Sporting Goods offers a 10% discount on purchases [this one is new for 2017!].
I’m just scraping the surface here with a few of my favorites. Check out their benefits page for all of the perks!
Of course there are so many cheap & free things to do in New York City and I will continue to share more activities in the future!
I hope this was helpful and gave you more ideas of how to enjoy this wonderful city.
