Six Flags America

While we did complete our cross country travels at the end of August, I did not complete the blog posts. We have been busy settling into a rental house and resuming our homeschool routine.  More on that later.  :-)

After the day we had at the Smithsonian Museums, we decided to visit Six Flags America (Baltimore/Washington, D.C.).

Although this is a smaller park, here are a few benefits that I noticed:

• The park was not crowded.  It could have just been the day we visited, but nevertheless, it was nice.
• The park was very clean. 
• There were a lot of beautiful flowers, which attracted TONS of butterflies!

• Two large kid's areas with lots of fun rides!

• Several thrill rides including Apocalypse (a 10-story stand up steel coaster), Batman's Batwing Coaster (my husband's personal favorite), Superman: Ride of Steel (a close second favorite at 20 stories high), and ROAR (a wooden coaster).  

ROAR

Superman: Ride of Steel

• We listened to patriotic music and enjoyed the displays throughout the park.

• We witnessed filming for Fright Fest.

We were able to get through the entire park early enough to get back to the campground and go swimming. It was a fun family day.  If you are in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, I would definitely recommend a day trip to Six Flags America.  Tomorrow we will re-visit the National Mall.

Nicole

Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey

From what we knew about Six Flags Great Adventure it was going to be a busy day, so we decided to arrive at the park early.  We got there 30 minutes before the park opened and were able to park in the handicapped section of the lot, which was really close.  We then had to wait amid all the other park goers until the park opened.  Our first stop was guest relations to obtain James' disabled pass.  Then we headed towards the way back of the park to get on the Safari Off Road Adventure since this attraction can have wait times up to 3 hours.  We were extremely fortunate to be able to walk right up and immediately board.

Our tour guide was very entertaining and shared a lot of information with us about all of the animals during the tour.  Since it was in the morning and cool enough we saw every single animal awake and playing.  Some even came right up to the tour bus.

Daniel and I were extremely impressed with this park.  They had two large kid areas with rides for the kids under 54 inches.  They even had a small roller coaster our entire family was able to ride.  Our one complaint with the kid areas is that it seemed to take a long time to get the children on and off the rides.  

The park was very clean and there was plenty of bathrooms.  There was a good variety of food places disbursed throughout the park.  Here we are eating lunch.

They also had several thrill rides for those over 54 inches.  Alex was the only one able to go on those rides with Daniel.  Although waiting for them was incredibly hard for the other kids, we broke it up throughout the day so everyone was able to do something.

And last but not least, Daniel's all-time favorite {wooden} roller coaster...El Toro.

After 8 hours of fun we were ready to head back to the trailer.  We had a great time at this park and would definitely return if we had the opportunity.  For now, we'd better get some rest because tomorrow is a driving day.  We are headed to the Maryland/Washington, D.C. area.

Nicole

Six Flags Great Escape in New York

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day!  Six Flags Great Escape was only about 15 minutes from our campground which was great.  We knew this was a smaller park and figured we wouldn't be here all day.

The disabled parking was located on the same side of the street as the park, otherwise we spotted a larger parking lot across the street and people walking via a walkway bridge over the street.  There is a lodge with an indoor water park located across the street, but Six Flags Great Escape also offers a water park with its gates.

The first ride the kids saw was Sasquatch and the only one not tall enough was Amada, so I waited with her while all the boys went on.  Johnathan was so funny, he liked the name 'Sasquatch' so he just kept saying it.

Amada was happy when she found out she could drive this car all by herself.  Alex and Johnathan rode together.  I wonder how many arguments were started during that car ride?

This particular park didn't have many roller coasters, but the ones they did have had shorter height requirements so Johnathan was able to go on all of them.  He was a very happy little boy!  They did have a lot of kid rides too.

One complaint about this park is that there weren't many choices of what to eat for lunch.  We walked in circles trying to find something and finally settled on hot dogs/corn dogs.  Later when we entered the back sections of the kids' area there was more of a selection but it wasn't well marked within the park.

The boys thought it was cool to meet Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and Shaggy.  {Last Halloween Alex dressed up at Shaggy and James as Scooby Doo.}  Amada would not get anywhere close to them. More characters came out and they had a little dance contest.

There was one ride that our entire family was able to go on together, called Alpine Bobsled.  It was not a smooth ride at all, but it was unique.  It begins like a regular roller coaster on a track, but then it propels you into a bobsled track.  Like I said, unique.

And the last ride of the day was 'The Comet', a wooden roller coaster, and the only ride in the park to take your picture.  {By the way, we figured the best value for purchasing pictures is the USB since we knew we were going to be traveling around to a lot of the Six Flags parks.  I believe the initial expense of the USB was around $35, and each picture we want uploaded is only 99 cents.}

We were able to ride all of the rides we wanted and still be done in the afternoon.  We promised the kids they could play on the play equipment at the campground.  I need to do laundry and buy some groceries before we leave tomorrow for New Jersey.  Have I mentioned I love being able to do all of my laundry in the time it takes to do a single load?

Nicole

(This blog post does not correspond to where we currently are on our trip.  We didn't have internet for several weeks and are having a lot of fun so I am behind in blogging.  I will continue to post in chronological order.)  

Six Flags St. Louis

Johnathan is our resident roller coaster expert, in fact, he is a bit obsessed.  Since we have season passes to Six Flags and knew we would be taking this cross-country trip, we planned to stop at as many of the Six Flags locations as we could.  {We've already visited both of the Six Flags parks in California.}  Once Johnathan found this out, he insisted on figuring which rides were at specific parks and what the height requirements for each of the rides were.  We actually printed him a list for each of the Six Flags parks height requirements and highlighted all of the ones he was tall enough to ride. He even looked up each of the rides on YouTube to see what they do.

We were extremely pleased when we arrived at Six Flags and were able to park in a handicapped spot in the first row. The way this specific parking lot is in relation to the front gate, there is no tram and really no need for one. We stopped at Guest Relations first to get a disabled pass for the boys, which allows them access to the rides without having to wait.  Since we have James' wheelchair/stroller, it is much easier getting on rides through the disabled entrance.

Our first ride of the day was American Thunder, a wooden roller coaster.  I thought this was fun, fast and smooth.

It was a hot and humid day, but we had a blast!  Both Daniel and I remarked at how friendly and helpful everyone at the park was.  Amada kept insisting she did not want to get wet, so Daniel took the boys on the log ride.

All 4 kids were able to go on Pandemonium so we let them ride without us.  It made it even since each car was able to hold 4 riders.  Well, as the kids were at the end of the ride it broke down.  I felt SO bad since neither Daniel or I were on the ride with the kids and they were stuck in the sun.  Luckily they weren't even stuck for 5 minutes.  And they didn't care because they asked to ride it again later in the day!

We decided maybe that was a sign we should stop for lunch.  After lunch we went on a dizzying ride and Alex wasn't feeling too good.  The ride "Dragon's Wing" was also in that area of the park and Daniel decided he wanted to go with Johnathan.  Amada really wanted to ride too and unbelievably she was tall enough. Alex wasn't too happy about not getting to ride even though he still wasn't feeling well.  I was able to take this video of them on the ride.

Daniel and the boys also braved "The Boss" which is another wooden roller coaster. However, it is taller and faster than American Thunder and more jerky.

Daniel and the boys rode several more roller coasters before I was exhausted.  We decided to give our feet a break from walking and try to cool off so we rode the train around the park. It was also something we could all go on together.  Towards the end of the day all the kids wanted to go on the giant ferris wheel, Colossus, which once again we were all able to ride together.  We enjoyed the beautiful views from WAY up there.

Before we left the park, we decided to get on the big inner tube water ride to help cool us off.  Amada went kicking and screaming, but was happy once she did not have to go under the waterfall.  We were done at the park by about 5pm, just in time to discover Steak 'n Shake {yummy!} before we headed back to the KOA for a swim.

Tomorrow we will head into downtown St. Louis for a tour of the Arch and a Riverboat Cruise on the Mississippi.

Nicole

Cross Country Travels...Our Route

Well as we countdown the last 24 hours before embarking on our journey across the country, I updated our google map to include Florida.  We figured since we were already driving to the east coast we might as well take the opportunity to visit Florida.  Our planned route covers just under 10,000 miles!  Yikes!

How did we decide where the stops would be?  One of the deciding factors was the locations of Six Flags theme parks.  We received season passes for Six Flags last Christmas and our passes allow us access to the Six Flags parks nationwide.  We will be visiting the parks in Missouri, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Georgia, and Texas. Our children love roller coasters and we love a good deal.

The second deciding factor was location of national parks/monuments we've always wanted to visit, such as Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, the Arches in Utah, and the Grand Canyon.

Lastly, we wanted to stop where we have family.  There are many family members from my side of the family who are spread out across the U.S. and whom we haven't seen in way too many years.  Daniel's family, along with our older daughter, are all in Oregon so that will be our first stop.  This will also be the first time in the last 10 years that we will not be hosting 4th of July at our house, but you can bet Daniel will be helping light the fireworks.

We will be utilizing campgrounds, especially KOA's, during this trip so stay tuned for our pictures and reviews.  If you haven't already, please take the time to subscribe to this blog by e-mail so you don't miss any updates.

If you were to take a trip of a lifetime, what would be your top choice destination?

Nicole

Six Flags: Read to Succeed

Are you a homeschooler?  I am excited to share that Six Flags is giving away FREE tickets in their Read to Succeed program.  Each homeschool child in grades K-6 is eligible and the teacher is provided a ticket as well.  All you have to do is register and each child needs to read 6 hours.  You will need to verify these hours BY March 1, 2012.