Six Flags

     In April we bought Six Flags season passes to Great Adventure in anticipation of the big trip. We were able to go to Great Adventure twice and Six Flags New England once before we left on the trip in July. Of course we had been to these parks before but it had been a few years. The main use for the passes was of course to hit six new Six Flags parks on our big road trip cross country.
     Orignally there were supposed to be seven. Six Flags did not renew it's land lease in Kentucky and closed the park there. It was supposed to be our first park stop so it was a little disappointing. By the end of the trip my husband and I were quite glad it had closed. It would have been too much. Too many parks. We had a much better time spending hours at the Louisville Slugger Museum which was much better than we ever expected it to be. If you're ever there you and you enjoy baseball, you must stop.
     It was great to see the different parks and their different layouts. Unfortunately there were only a few different rides here and there. Most parks had so many of the same things. Of course the kiddie areas were a lot alike. Although there are Thomas the Tank Engine areas in a few of the parks(Georgia, California, New England). That was always an extra fun treat for Jake. Each one always had a Thomas to ride and a store to shop in. Beyond that there were maybe one or two other rides. Each was like another kiddie ride but just had a Thomas theme. Like Bertie the bus that went up and around. Or Harold the helicopter flew around in a circle. Jakes favorite was probably the Percy roller coaster at Magic Mountain in California.
     All the parks had a few roller coasters. Some more, some less. Some were the exact same ride with a different name. Sometimes they kept the same. That made it easy for us to know if we could skip it or not. The craziest one had to be the X2, also in Magic Mountain. I did not get to ride it as Rob and the boys waited two and a half hours for their ride. Apparently as the coaster moves on the track, the seat your in also moves and spins you around and there's music coming from speakers in your headrest. I would have liked to try it but it just was not worth the wait. Rob has said he wasn't sure if he liked it it was just so strange.
     There was almost always a train around the park. It's funny that our home park Great Adventure does not have one and all the rest seem too. They all had an observation tower or sky ride of some sort which always gave a nice view of the park. There were always bumper cars, and antique cars that the little kids were able to sort of drive. Lets not forget the water, with a log flume and rapid ride at each park. Each one also has shows. Some were different, some were the same. We didn't get to catch them all but the ones we did were always worth the stop and the little kids usually loved them. Of course they all had character spots to meet, greet and take photos with Looney Tunes characters and some superheroes.
     The difference was always the people. That and of coure the few special stand out rides. Texas' Fiesta park was definitely the nicest. Rob and I both had some great conversations with people while waiting on the lines. Most couldn't believe the trip we were on and thought it was great. We did too of course. We will also never forget little Evan. About Emilys age, we met him in the wave pool at Six Flags St. Louis. He caught the live frog that was swimming in the water with us, took him out and set him free.
     By Geogia, Rob and I were definitely all parked out. We did not care about the rides just let the kids have a good time and got on when we had to. Yup, we're older and we learned how certain rides as much as we might like to do them they are not very nice to us. I had to shy away from a few roller coasters after feeling as if I was going to black out on one. And I definitely was not a fan of the heat.
    Right after we got back Jake asked when we could go to the rides again. Not wanting to disappoint and figuring we should make use of the passes some more we planned to go a week later. By the time the day came to go, Jake and I both weren't feeling well. At least we waited until after the big trip. I would have dragged myself through had he been ok to go. But when he wasn't it needless to say it was a relief to both Rob and I as we really couldn't care less about going anymore. We are still all parked out. We were trying again a few days later but by then Andrew wasn't feeling well. Yet again we put it off, not at all to the parents dismay. We've got one more shot before school starts and that will be this Friday. By now I think Rob and I feel we owe it to them to get there. Lets' hope we all stay well and make it. If we don't we've still got weekends through October to get them there.