Glorified Carnival

Some friends of ours invited us to go to a "theme park" not far out of the city.


They had a car, and we had never been, so we were excited to try it out.


Right before we went in, I realized we hadn't taken a family picture in forever, so I asked our friends to take one for us.


Beautiful scenery with the empty parking lot behind us, huh?


Now, let me tell you the price for a card that you can swipe on any 20 rides....

FOUR DOLLARS!

They obviously haven't learned the secret that carnivals across America know, and that is that you can charge out the wazoo, and people will still spend the money.





Our first look at the nearly abandoned park.  Actually, it gets busy when the sun goes down, but during daylight hours, it's a lot more empty, plus there was a possibility of rain in the forecast.




























The first ride the big kids got on was this rocking pirate ship.  If you look close, you can see Doug, Kylie, Karis, and Caleb at the top.

























However, on the other end, I was shocked to see these three girls STANDING up, not buckled in, and laughing for the whole ride.

I was slowly getting the idea that this was not going to be a typical American carnival.  Even though American carnivals aren't uber safe, I feel like they at least try to take a few safety precautions.

There wasn't anything "easy" enough for Keira, so she and I went to the carousel.

She was in love.

Again and again and again.  The guy never made us get off.  We just kept waiting for the next start.

We took a time out to watch the big kids try this ride (again, with no safety precautions).

And then it was time for something else "easy."

Then Caleb joined us for a trip to Dinosaur Land.  This, however, cost about $5 extra, but it was air conditioned, so who's complaining?

Keira kept her ears covered through most of it.  The electronic "roars" were a little much for her, even though she smiled through it.

Some Japanese engineers did a good job designing this place.

I love this picture of Keira looking up at this monstrosity.

Night fell on the giant carnival.

And I spent the last hour or more on the carousel with this princess.  The man didn't even bother making us pay for more when we reached our 20-ride limit.

We haven't gone back, but I will say, the six of us got about 6 hours of entertainment that day for $34 (if you add the dinosaur land).  This may be a place to re-visit when it gets cooler now that we have a car, even if it is a glorified carnival.