3 Tips on How to Survive an Amusement Park with Kids
Posted in Online Diary
Yesterday I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California and these pictures are the stories of our exciting day. I’ve thrown in few valuable survival items that may help you out on your next trip to an amusement park. It was my wife (32), myself (40), our son (11), and his three friends (11,11,14). Taking three pre-adolescents to Magic Mountain was a blast. Having said that, we got a workout!
#1) Get the free refills cup! The drink cup my son is holding cost $12.99. He was able to refill it anywhere in the park all day for one price. At first when my wife suggested getting on, I scoffed at the high initial price. However, after the day was over, when he had refilled it about 10 times at no extra charge, it wasn’t hard to do the math on how much we saved. Ideally, these wouldn’t be shared items but we found that our son and his friends didn’t mind drinking by pouring the cup in their mouth. This way they can share and no one gets germs. This is also probably against the terms, but I haven’t checked.
YOU MAY GET WET! Here’s a tip I am very excited about. If there are water rides, and there are a few quite intense ones at Magic Mountain, #2) bring a plastic bag the size of a large ziploc or grocery bag. You can keep your electronic items such as cell phones, PDA, video cameras, etc. protected as you carry your purse or bags on board. If a cell phone gets wet, it’s most likely to be history. Bring the bag!
#3) Use “non-ride” attractions to wear the energetic kids down. Waiting in lines can actually be tiring. You can avoid doing it so many times by going to shows throughout the day and taking advantage of photo opportunities such as this one. Can you tell which ones are the grown-ups? LOL. We suggested that the kids flex like “crime fighters” with the great characters Batman and Robin.
Have fun! Your kids will watch you and probably make fun of you or act “too cool.” Still, you are there to set an example. If they watch you having fun, they are likely to be less afraid of the big rides and more ready for bed when they get home! Who said being a parent meant you couldn’t have fun at an amusement park?
View the full album of our day at Six Flags Magic Mountain here.
6 Comments
Glad to see you had a good time (and came back in one piece). My favorite ride at Six Flags had to be X. Did you try that one? It’s marketed as a 4D coaster, since the seats rotate too.
@Michael Kwan: We wanted to ride it but the wait was 2 1/2 hours so we bailed. Viper had no lines most the day so we rode the heck out of that one as well as Goliath. How about that drop!
It looks like you had a fun time there.
Another tip in addition to the ziploc bag is to wear shorts with zipper pockets. That way, when you’re going upside down and twisting in every direction on the roller coasters, your valuables won’t fall out of your pocket. (This can also save you from having to rent a locker everywhere you go.)
With a bunch of kids is the best way to do an amusement park! Looks like you had a fun time!!! We’ve lost a phone on a ride, not once but twice. Not from water but just from it falling. I make the kids lock them up in lockers now when we go.
Oh and those big rides? Ummm yeah, it’s me who is scared to go on them! My kids must be daredevils because they will try any ride at an amusement park. Not me. I wait on the bench for them to stand in line, ride and come back. You’d never catch me on those things! LOL
@Rich: Absolutely. I wore long swim trunks with a velcro pocket. Came in handy. That in concert with the plastic bag (which we didn’t have and therefore fried a cell phone) will make the wet rides much more fun. Thanks for the awesome comment.
@Jessica The Rock Chick: Some of them are pretty rough. I just figure smart people built them who didn’t want to be sued ;) Thanks for that, and sorry about your 2 phones :(