Our 2019 Theme Park Trips
I'll admit it, I like to go to theme parks. We have a season passes to our local park. Over our last couple of vacations we had trips to amusement parks included. Scooter loves amusement parks, so this is not a hard sell for a vacation.
Happy Hollow Park and Zoo -Walking distance from our house, I couldn't count how many teams we have been here this year. We went there on New Years Day and rode the Pacific Fruit Express, which was lucky because it was closed for most of the spring. We even had Scooter's birthday party at Happy Hollow this year. This year all of the rides at Happy Hollow have been checked off by scooter. I think we will be going more often in the new year.
California Great America - This year we went to California Great America a lot this year. I've gone over 40 times this year. I work a few miles from Great America, close enough I can go to the park, ride a roller coaster, pick up lunch, and make it back to the park. By doing that I got to ride all the roller coasters in the park. I also made myself into a roller coaster enthusiast. After watching a couple of YouTube roller coaster channels, I've been trying to evaluate the roller coasters on the way they describe roller coasters.
Scooter came with me more than 20 times. We went to the Great Pumpkin fest a couple of time, to Winterfest A few times we went to see fireworks and stayed until the park closed. It is really easy to go for an hour or two at the end of the day. In the summer we went to the water park a bunch of times. It was enough we renewed our Season Passes for another year. There are days I really miss the chance to ride roller coasters at lunch time. I look forward to Gold Striker, RailBlazer, and Flight Deck in 2020.
Disneyland - We went to Disneyland twice this year and we bought an annual pass because we knew this in advance. There is so much to do at Disneyland, there feels like there is always something new to do. On the second trip Scooter was 41 inches tall. This opened up Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Star Tours on this trip. He loved all of those rides. He wants to go back to ride "The Fast Railroad".
We went to Disneyland right after a trip to Knott's Berry Farms. It is interesting to go to two different amusement parks on the same trip. You can see what is special about Disneyland. I need to go to more amusement parks to confirm this, but Disneyland is just different. I am going to write a blog post just about this.
Disney California Adventure - I played hooky one day while going to a conference in Orange County and took a day at Disney California adventure. This gave me a chance to ride a few rides by myself. If you get a chance to go to a park by yourself, you need to try it. It is very cool. I didn't get to ride that many rides, but it was still worth it.
For the November trip Scooter was tall enough for Radiator Spring Racers, Mission Breakout, and Soarin'. He loved all of those rides. These three rides are what Disney does best. They are not the kind of rides you find in other amusement parks. I think we will be hitting these rides every trip for the future.
Gilroy Gardens - We took one trip to Gilroy Garden during the summer, two trips during the Great Big Boo. When we went in the summer we spent almost the whole time on the splash pad area. We went to the Great Big Boo to do some extra trick-or-treating. We went to Christmas a Gilroy Gardens and see the Peanuts Christmas Show. The bad thing is Scooter is not tall enough to ride the roller coasters yet. We will be going back in 2020 to go to the splash pad.
Sesame Place - On our trip to Pennsylvania this year I wanted to take Scooter to Sesame Place. It seemed like he was the perfect age for this trip. I thought it would be the perfect weekday thing to do while everyone else was at work. We got to ride both Roller Coasters (Scooter stood on his tippy toes and they didn't notice) and and a number of water rides. Going with Scooter's Aunt Dot was fun for all of us. We wrote a pretty small number of rides. If we go back we will have the chance to ride a lot of new rides.
Knott's Berry Farms - This visit was my choice. For a while my friends have been telling me we need to visit. I hope hoping we would meet some of our San Diego friends there, but it didn't happen. I didn't know what to expect. We went to Knotts Berry Farms for two days. We spent most of our time at Planet Snoopy. It has lots of cool kids rides. The park was empty mid week in November.
Scooter loved the Log Flume, we rode it 10 times in a row. Many times the wait was less than 10 minuets. He wanted to do it over and over again. Everytime he took my arm and put it around him like a seat belt. It was really fun.
We stayed at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel. We stayed on the wing that got us a visit from Snoopy each night. That was pretty cool. I think we might stay there in the future. I didn't get a chance to ride a single Roller Coaster, so I have to go back.
Belmont Park - I went to Belmont Park at the end of a business trip, but the Giant Dipper was closed. I didn't get a chance to pick up that roller coaster credit. I did get to walk around and take some pictures. I'll have to try again in the future.
Happy Hollow Park and Zoo -Walking distance from our house, I couldn't count how many teams we have been here this year. We went there on New Years Day and rode the Pacific Fruit Express, which was lucky because it was closed for most of the spring. We even had Scooter's birthday party at Happy Hollow this year. This year all of the rides at Happy Hollow have been checked off by scooter. I think we will be going more often in the new year.
California Great America - This year we went to California Great America a lot this year. I've gone over 40 times this year. I work a few miles from Great America, close enough I can go to the park, ride a roller coaster, pick up lunch, and make it back to the park. By doing that I got to ride all the roller coasters in the park. I also made myself into a roller coaster enthusiast. After watching a couple of YouTube roller coaster channels, I've been trying to evaluate the roller coasters on the way they describe roller coasters.
Scooter came with me more than 20 times. We went to the Great Pumpkin fest a couple of time, to Winterfest A few times we went to see fireworks and stayed until the park closed. It is really easy to go for an hour or two at the end of the day. In the summer we went to the water park a bunch of times. It was enough we renewed our Season Passes for another year. There are days I really miss the chance to ride roller coasters at lunch time. I look forward to Gold Striker, RailBlazer, and Flight Deck in 2020.
Disneyland - We went to Disneyland twice this year and we bought an annual pass because we knew this in advance. There is so much to do at Disneyland, there feels like there is always something new to do. On the second trip Scooter was 41 inches tall. This opened up Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Star Tours on this trip. He loved all of those rides. He wants to go back to ride "The Fast Railroad".
We went to Disneyland right after a trip to Knott's Berry Farms. It is interesting to go to two different amusement parks on the same trip. You can see what is special about Disneyland. I need to go to more amusement parks to confirm this, but Disneyland is just different. I am going to write a blog post just about this.
Disney California Adventure - I played hooky one day while going to a conference in Orange County and took a day at Disney California adventure. This gave me a chance to ride a few rides by myself. If you get a chance to go to a park by yourself, you need to try it. It is very cool. I didn't get to ride that many rides, but it was still worth it.
For the November trip Scooter was tall enough for Radiator Spring Racers, Mission Breakout, and Soarin'. He loved all of those rides. These three rides are what Disney does best. They are not the kind of rides you find in other amusement parks. I think we will be hitting these rides every trip for the future.
Gilroy Gardens - We took one trip to Gilroy Garden during the summer, two trips during the Great Big Boo. When we went in the summer we spent almost the whole time on the splash pad area. We went to the Great Big Boo to do some extra trick-or-treating. We went to Christmas a Gilroy Gardens and see the Peanuts Christmas Show. The bad thing is Scooter is not tall enough to ride the roller coasters yet. We will be going back in 2020 to go to the splash pad.
Sesame Place - On our trip to Pennsylvania this year I wanted to take Scooter to Sesame Place. It seemed like he was the perfect age for this trip. I thought it would be the perfect weekday thing to do while everyone else was at work. We got to ride both Roller Coasters (Scooter stood on his tippy toes and they didn't notice) and and a number of water rides. Going with Scooter's Aunt Dot was fun for all of us. We wrote a pretty small number of rides. If we go back we will have the chance to ride a lot of new rides.
Knott's Berry Farms - This visit was my choice. For a while my friends have been telling me we need to visit. I hope hoping we would meet some of our San Diego friends there, but it didn't happen. I didn't know what to expect. We went to Knotts Berry Farms for two days. We spent most of our time at Planet Snoopy. It has lots of cool kids rides. The park was empty mid week in November.
Scooter loved the Log Flume, we rode it 10 times in a row. Many times the wait was less than 10 minuets. He wanted to do it over and over again. Everytime he took my arm and put it around him like a seat belt. It was really fun.
We stayed at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel. We stayed on the wing that got us a visit from Snoopy each night. That was pretty cool. I think we might stay there in the future. I didn't get a chance to ride a single Roller Coaster, so I have to go back.
Belmont Park - I went to Belmont Park at the end of a business trip, but the Giant Dipper was closed. I didn't get a chance to pick up that roller coaster credit. I did get to walk around and take some pictures. I'll have to try again in the future.
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