Cheap insurance. My dummy board has saved me more times than I can count.

The "library museum pass trick" is seriously underrated. We used ours for the zoo last summer and it was half off, which for a family of four adds up fast. The science center too, they had a deal where kids got in free with the adult pass. Just check your library's website because not every branch has the same ones (ours only does museums and the zoo, no aquarium sadly).

Oh man, and it's not just the smell, it's whatever is in that fake lemon stuff soaking into the plastic itself. I had a container that smelled like flowers for weeks even after I ran it through the dishwasher twice, so now I just toss anything that holds a scent like that.