Kids Free in San Diego in October

The San Diego Zoo is widely regarded as one of the best zoos in the entire country, with hundreds of incredible animal species in beautiful exhibits. Many of the animals at this zoo are rare or endangered species that are hard to find elsewhere!

During the month of October, kids between the ages of 3 and 11 can enjoy free admission to the zoo! There are plenty of incredible kid-friendly activities throughout the zoo, including interactive encounters with the animals, character meet-and-greets, and live shows.

I take my family to the zoo all the time, and it’s just as fun for older teens as it is for young kids - and for parents, too! There’s no age limit on being a wildlife lover, and this all-ages appeal makes it one of the best things to do with kids overall.

You’ll find plenty of delicious food and drinks throughout the zoo as well. One of my favorite things to do is taking a ride on the Skyfari Aerial Tram for incredible views of nearby Balboa Park and Downtown San Diego.

Be sure to grab Go City San Diego passes for the rest of the family to join as the San Diego Zoo is one of the featured attractions of the All Inclusive Go City San Diego pass and as such, they offer big discounts on admission for adults in your party.

A Parent’s Recommendation

The zoo is the best of the best in San Diego, and in my opinion, no vacation here is complete without seeing the animals. You can easily spend a full day here, but if your time is limited, check the map before your visit and pick out your “must-see” animals to chart your route, as the zoo is very large!

As a bonus idea, visit during the HalGLOWeen at the San Diego Zoo event in October which includes neon lights, activities, shows, dancing, music and much more! The event takes place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening starting at 5:00pm and is included free for kids!

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is located in Escondido and is run by the San Diego Zoo. Though these two attractions share some wildlife, in my opinion, they’re both unique experiences offering different ways for kids to learn about their favorite animals.

At the safari park, you can see animals like giraffes, cheetahs, elephants, tigers, rhinos, and many more enjoying their natural habitat.

In October, kids between the ages of 3 and 11 will enjoy free admission all month long! It’s the perfect time to take a safari and feel transported to another country.

The safari park offers plenty of enrichment activities just for kids, including animal encounters and special presentations. It’s also full of fun activities for kids and adults of all ages.

A Parent’s Recommendation

For animal enthusiasts who want to see it all, October makes visiting both the Safari Park and the Zoo a possibility, even on a budget.

But if you don’t have time in your schedule to visit both, we’ve also got a comparison guide - San Diego Zoo vs San Diego Zoo Safari Park - that can help you decide which attraction to prioritize.

Located in Carlsbad, LEGOLAND California is a very popular theme park that’s designed with kids in mind. You’ll find plenty of Lego-themed rides and attractions, including kid-friendly roller coasters and water rides.

During the month of October, LEGOLAND California offers free admission bundles for families with kids aged 2 to 12. They also host their annual Brick-or-Treat event every weekend in October, which includes trick-or-treating, spooky meet-and-greets, and much more.

In addition, visitors can also enjoy the nearby sister park formally known as the SEA LIFE Aquarium at LEGOLAND® California Resort which features live shows, Lego-themed shopping and more character meet-and-greets, perfect for your youngest visitors!

A Parent’s Recommendation

Staying on-site at the LEGOLAND California Hotel or the Castle Hotel is a great way to add to the fun and might fit in the budget if you plan to visit in October and save on kids’ tickets.

But if you’re looking for more affordable hotel options, there are a lot near LEGOLAND to choose from, many of which I’ve stayed at with my own family.

SeaWorld San Diego is another one of San Diego’s most family-friendly attractions offering deals in October. Kids between the ages of 3 and 9 enjoy free admission with a full-priced adult ticket throughout the entire month!

At SeaWorld San Diego, kids can get up close with some of the world’s most exciting marine wildlife. The park offers live animal shows, interactive animal encounters, and more, all of which are popular with my family and sure to be a hit with the marine life lovers in yours.

The park features rides for visitors of all ages, including heart-pounding roller coasters, water rides, and carousels. Depending on which day you visit, you can also enjoy live music, circus performers, light shows, and more.

Though it’s aimed a little older than the 3-9 crowd, SeaWorld San Diego also runs its annual Howl-O-Scream event in October, which I’ll be attending with my family this year.

A Parent’s Recommendation

If you’re headed to SeaWorld San Diego, one of my favorite hotels is right nearby. Paradise Point Resort & Spa has that family-friendly feel while also creating a resort atmosphere that makes it easy to relax after a long day in the theme park.

Plus, other attractions that kids will love are right next door, too, like Belmont Park in Mission Beach.

Few names in children’s TV are as recognizable by adults and kids alike as Big Bird, Elmo, and Oscar the Grouch. Whether you have kids who watch Sesame Street now or you grew up with this friendly cast of muppets yourself, seeing them come to life at Sesame Place San Diego in Chula Vista is a ton of fun.

A visit to Sesame Place is on my personal list of the best things to do with kids that I would recommend to any parent with younger kids. Whether you’re looking for interactive meet-and-greets, storefronts and setpieces lifted directly from the show, live performances, or even a dance party parade, you’ll find it here.

Sesame Place is an even better deal during October, when you can get any single-day children’s ticket for kids aged 3-9 for free with the purchase of adult admission (plus children 3 and under always enter for free!).

A Parent’s Recommendation

This is an excellent park for young kids, but keep in mind that by the fall, water rides have closed for the season.

However, Sesame Place does run a special not-so-scary Halloween event with trick-or-treating and a costume party, so look forward to attending The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular on October weekends in 2024 at no additional cost!

Most of San Diego’s museums offer free admission for kids through the entire month of October through the San Diego Museum Council.

The Fleet Science Center offers free admission to two kids under the age of 12 throughout the entire month with the purchase of each adult ticket.

This science museum is located in beautiful Balboa Park and offers plenty of fun interactive activities designed just for kids. The center’s exhibitions are hands-on and give kids plenty of opportunities to burn off some steam and learn while doing it, which is a huge benefit if you’re looking for ways to make learning fun for your kids, even on vacation.

You can also enjoy immersive IMAX movies and other digital shows that take an inside look at some of the world’s most fascinating scientific concepts. These shows are really amazing, and even as an adult, I always learn something new.

A Parent’s Recommendation

Speaking of shows, The Sky Tonight planetarium show is a must-watch.

It usually runs in the evenings, but Fleet Science Center has a special family version that’s held in the afternoon on the second Sunday of each month.

The San Diego Museum of Art is another amazing Balboa Park museum that offers free admission for children in October!

The museum is housed in a stunning historic building and features a huge variety of art exhibits to explore. Their permanent exhibits feature art from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and more, and they also host rotating exhibits of both historic and modern art.

This museum has a wide variety of exhibits that are sure to capture your child’s imagination. Though they might not stack up to your own little Picasso’s macaroni collage or crayon drawings on the fridge, touring the displays just might inspire their next work of abstract art.

A Parent’s Recommendation

Your kids might be back in school, but a visit to the art museum is just one way to keep their minds active outside of the classroom.

For more ways to combine fun and education during the Kids Free October promotion, you can also save at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park or learn about Southern California surfing culture at the California Surf Museum in La Jolla.

The San Diego Air and Space Museum, located in Balboa Park, offers free admission to children under 12 in the month of October. Up to two kids can enter with each paid adult ticket.

At the Air and Space Museum, kids can see an incredible collection of historic airplanes and spacecraft, as well as other historic artifacts, a film archive, and more. Special exhibits offer a unique look at air and space technology from a different perspective.

Some of the museum’s newest additions are big hits with kids. These include Above and Beyond, where you can feel what it’s like to sit in the pilot’s seat through interactive and immersive displays, and Moon Base San Diego, where they’ll experience a recreation of life on the moon for astronauts.

A Parent’s Recommendation

The Air and Space Museum has its own fall festivities with their annual Pumpkin Chunkin’ event, which invites kids to dress in costume, build mini catapults, and see physics at work when pumpkins are dropped from the museum roof.

It’s not as grand as some of the ways to celebrate the holidays in San Diego, but it’s a fun way to kick off the Halloween season.

The Birch Aquarium at Scripps is part of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UCSD, and it’s home to more than 5,000 fish and marine animal species in stunning underwater exhibits.

This is one of the only places on the West Coast to see rare species like Little Blue Penguins, which are a real treat to see up close. The touch tanks are also popular with kids - they’re like seeing the tide pools at Ocean Beach without having to wait for the perfect conditions, plus it’s totally safe for kids to get hands-on.

The aquarium is located directly on the coast in beautiful La Jolla and has stunning views of the ocean. Up to two kids per adult ticket can enjoy free admission throughout the entire month of October at the aquarium and families can get heavily discounted admission for adults with a Go City San Diego pass.

Remember to use the discount code GVSD5OFF to save even more!

A Parent’s Recommendation

The Birch Aquarium at Scripps isn’t a huge building, which can make it more manageable for younger kids compared to big parks like SeaWorld San Diego.

I like getting to see and do everything in one trip, but there are always lots of reasons to come back too with rotating special exhibits plus the museum’s major upcoming renovation.

San Diego has a rich history as a naval base, and the USS Midway Museum is a great place to learn more about it.

Located in Embarcadero neighborhood just next to the San Diego Bay, it’s situated on a historic real aircraft carrier that was retired in 1992. Not only can you walk through recreations of different areas of the ship like the living quarters and galley, but you can also see different aircrafts docked in the hangar. It’s really cool to see history come to life and sure to be just as interesting for kids as it is for history buffs.

Throughout October, kids under the age of 12 enjoy free admission at the USS Midway Museum. The museum offers guided tours, flight simulators, interactive displays, and much more.

A Parent’s Recommendation

During October, the USS Midway Museum also hosts its Haunted Hangar Halloween Bash.

This is a separately ticketed event, so you’ll need to purchase admission for any kids and adults attending, but it’s also a unique chance to attend a Halloween party on the Hangar Deck of an aircraft carrier which sounds totally worth it.

During the month of October, City Experiences Cruises (formerly known as Hornblower Cruises) offers free tours for kids under the age of 12 with the purchase of one adult ticket.

These tours take you around the entire San Diego Bay, giving you a look at all of San Diego’s beautiful landmarks from the ocean. City Experience offers one or two-hour cruise options with various themes, including whale watching cruises and dinner cruises.

The bay is one of my favorite places to see the sunset in San Diego, and getting to take my family along makes it even better.

A Parent’s Recommendation

You’ve got lots of cruise options here, but the Whale Watching Tour is among the most popular for families. This is an especially great time of year to see Humpback whales during their migration, and there’s a good chance you’ll spot some dolphins or seals too.