Monday, May 11

Amusement Parks - Vacation?

Sorry~I'm late posting this! I actually spent Saturday "vacationing" at King's Island, an amusement park near Cincinnati, and we didn't get home until midnight-ish. (My daughter's select choir was participating in a competition in the area and the awards ceremony was held right there at the park. Her choir won first place in their division and were named as grand champions overall! Yay!)

Notice the quotes around the word vacationing. Seriously. I love the rides as much as anyone, but I think I'm becoming an amusement park Grinch. After passing over some of the best attractions because the wait times were flirting with two hours, failing to find any non-junk food for lunch and paying over four dollars for a bottle of water, I reached a startling conclusion. I am sooo over amusement parks.

I will admit that I've done more than my share over the years. Parks I can remember going to (and some of them more than once) include Knotsberry Farm, Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Six Flags in five different states, Kings Island, Cedar Point, Universal Studios, Stone Mountain, Busch Gardens, Saratoga, Lagoon, Hersheypark, Idlewild, Tokyodome, Yomiyuriland, Disneyworld (including Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios), Tokyo Disney, DisneySea, EuroDisney and Seaworld in California, Florida and Japan. Yeah. Too many. So I think I've done my time. It was probably more fun when the kids were younger and they got excited about all the simple stuff, but now... I'd rather spend my vacation time lying on a beach somewhere with a good book or exploring an exotic new locale.*

What about you and amusement parks? Love 'em or leave 'em?


* Speaking of new locales... (WARNING: BSP!) Aphra races through exotic locales in Italy and France to thwart the bad guys in DEATH BY DENIM, coming your way this week!

6 comments:

Summer said...

Right now, amusement parks... love them! I don't get to go nearly enough. I love Cedar Point the most. Waiting for two hours for a three minute ride... it's like a rite of passage or something. Haha. You really learn something about yourself in those lines, who you really are as a person. Being all strategic about what you're going to do and when. Buying crap you should never ever have. Wasting money on pictures and unwinnable games. Yeah, I love all of that.

shawnte said...

WOW! you went to a lot of amusement parks. i was never really into rollercoasters. but i enjoy going to amusement parks. i think it'll be more fun when i have kids and can take them.

Wendy Toliver said...

I love amusement parks, particularly those with the scary rides. There aren't any 'major' amusement parks around where I live, so to go to one is a real treat.

Kelsey said...

Me love amusement parks. Actually I'm going to a amusement park for my class trip on the 27th. I'm so excited!

Meredith said...

I LOVE amusement parks. They are so awesome. The adrenaline rush from rollercoasters, the strange things you see/hear people do and say, the souvineirs...

Although, sometimes, I would like to have a week at the beach just relaxing after.

~Meredith

Gerb said...

Summer, our competition was supposed to be at Cedar Point and then they changed it to King's Island. Bummer.

Watching the kids have fun really does make it more exciting, Shawnte. Especially when they're little and get all starry-eyed at Disneyland.

I like the rides, too, Wendy. Just not the parks so much anymore. : D

Have fun on your class trip, Kelsey!

Ah, there you go, Meredith! The best of both worlds. : )