Music | Oliver All Over

Hurricane Harbor

Our nine year old niece is visiting this weekend, so this morning we set out to Hurricane Harbor, the Six Flags water park nearby. The greatest thing about living 15 minutes from a theme park is that you get to go even when the day is overcast, you slept late, and you know you may not have more than a few hours anyway. All the pressure is off. We’ve had season passes to this park ever since we moved here 5 years ago. They make it impossible not to – if you go to the park twice all year, it’s cheaper to buy the season pass. The way I think of it, every visit after the first two is free. So, you actually go more, because who cares if its raining, or a little chilly, it’s not like you are losing any money on it.

Unless, of course, you become hungry or thirsty during your visit. In that case, lose hope for your pocketbooks all ye who enter. I got a kid’s size Sprite and a medium Diet Coke, and it set me back almost eight bucks.

I am also going out on a limb to say this is not the ideal destination for a traveler with disabilities. Seriously, I do not know how they are not breaking the law by having not one of their waterslides accessible to people who can’t climb stairs. Just because you use a wheelchair doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to strap on a life vest and careen down a waterslide.

The park is clean, and the music has been carefully chosen to make you feel like you are on a beach vacation. They’ve got some calypso tunes, lots of Jimmy Buffet and Beach Boys. If your favorite artist ever recorded a song with “beach,” “surf,” or “island” in it, odds are it’s on the playlist.

They have phtographers through ought the park, and they will give you a wrist band if they take your picture, so you can look at it on the way out. It’s all digital now, so you look on the computer monitor, rather than at a printed copy, like some other places (cough..disney boat..cough) do. It makes so much more sense this way. Today, the photographer pictures were no better than ones I’ve taken myslef at the park, so we passed. I rarely buy these pictures anyway, but have once or twice at other places. I’ll post them when I write about those trips. One in particular was taken with a – gasp – Polaroid. And not the good kind. And we PAID for it. But hey, we were young and in love, and how many times do you get a change to get your picture taken inside a shark?

What’s you favorite photo taken by one of these resort photographers?

Daddy and Oliver’s Fun Day

by Daddy

I had a lot of fun with Oliver yesterday going to the Ultrasonic Superfantastic Kids Day. They had a lot of fun things that we tried, including a lego making tent, the Teddy Bear Hospital, a magician, and inflatable snake obstacle course, and REAL bulldozers that you could climb on. Oliver also played in New Jersey’s biggest sandbox, and watched the Mad Science show. At the Mad Science show they made green slime, and made cups stretch, among other things. Now he knows what a polymer is! Oliver went on 2 rides in the carnival section, ate pizza, and watched Captain Bogg and Salty, some famous singing pirates. It was a great time and we will surely come back next year.

Now with all that fun, guess what his favorite part was? Rolling down the grassy hill! Well that’s a four year old for you.