Opening Day
So I wanted to end my offseason early and Kiddieland's opening day was today. Chitown convinced me to go after letting me know about coupons for $10 off admission at Jewel.
Left the house around 2p.m. went to Jewel got the Coupons and after almost getting lost I arrived around 2:30. First time I had ever been there, kind of odd how they have the train going through the parking lot. So as your being directed to your parking spot you have to be careful you don't run down the train
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Got in line for tickets, and waited and waited and waited. I felt like I was at SFMM all over again with how long it took me just to get into the park. After about 20 minutes of waiting me and my brother finally got our tickets and into the park we went.
Decided to look around at the park before we rode anything. Then it was off to ride the Little Dipper. After a short 5 minute line I was off on my first coaster ride of 2004. It was faster then I thought it was going to be. Id say it ranks just above Spacley's but below TRFKARE aka Beaver Land Mine Ride (just cause you got to go through that circuit twice).
Found Chitown and his daughter buying Dippin Dots after we got off the ride. And then we all headed to the "Pipeline Water Coaster". It's one of those waterslide type rides without the pool at the bottom so you stay pretty dry. Your going down in pure darkness so you can't even see your hand in front of your face. Mid-ride there's a dip followed closely by a sharp turn that makes you feel like your going to flip over. Got off with a smile on my face, best ride I had ever had on one of those after riding ones just like it at Indiana Beach and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Went back to Big Dipper and rode it again, then Chitown's daughter wanted to check out the arcade. So we all went in and played a few games. The arcade was very picky, you couldn't use quarters just tokens. Played some of the Basketball games and Ski Ball. Then it was back to the midway.
Went to go ride the Bumper Car or "Scooters" as they called them but they were only filling 8 cars. Which didn't seem to bright since it had a long line. So we decided to skip it and keep walking.
Next me and my brother Tom rode the Swinging Ship they have there. It was a decent ride, I think I saved some kids life cause a kid hoped over the netting and I saw him go under the ship where the wheel kicker was. I told the Ride op about it and he seemed relived I told him. They might want to rethink a netting fence around that ride with so many kids around. Anyhow the ride was pretty good, just like River Rocker bascially.
Next it was the Polyp, which was like a Scrambler meets East River Crawler. Very fun ride that had you up against the side of your seat the whole ride.
Then I think we rode the Log Flume, the first thing I noticed on this flume was how quickly the water was moving. These boats haul ass through the water...sort of looked like Roaring Rapids type water as well. Anyhow, we brillently tried to fit 4 people in the log. Not a good idea, Boats may appear larger then they actually are! Very tight and very uncomfortable fit for me and my brother. Meanwhile Chitown's sitting in back with his daughter with plenty of room to spare! After flying through the twist and turns we made it to the lift. When you get to the top there's just a simple turn to the drop, and a steep drop it is. Seemed like it was steeper then any flume ride I have been on which was cool. Nice splashdown at the end, that didn't get you to wet although Tom might disagree since he was in the very front and came off with a face soaked with water. A very good flume ride for this small park!
After that we went to our cars. I went to get my camera out of the car and to see if I had a sweatshirt since it was starting to get chilly out. No sweatshirt there, so it we had to freeze
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Back in the park we went walking around...took some pictures, shot some people with the spray thing on the log flume and ate some food which my usually cheap brother surprsingly paid for
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We then rode some of the smaller rides, like a minature frog hopper type thing. Chitown wasn't enough kid sized enough to fit on this one though so he had to sit out. A very fun ride until the end when it was time to get out. The middle of the seat on this ride is very high so when me and my brother both slide forward out of the seat we both racked ourselves pretty good. It seemed as if it everybody but us had a good laugh over the situation, but it happening to us at the same time made it even funnier I guess.
Next we rode the carousel in the front of the park then had a ride on the train that went around the park and through the parking lot. It's a pretty long train ride for such a small park. We then rode Little Dipper one last time, before we went to what would be our final ride.
The Tilt-A-Whirl our final ride of the night there was insanely intense, I have never ever spun as much as I did on a tilt-a-whirl as I did on this one. It was awesome, that thing was spinning like a teacup lol.
Right before we were leaving the park after I we said goodbye to Chitown and company I noticed I had lost my keys. Luckily I knew I had them before the Tilt-A-Whirl so I knew they had to be there. Asked the ride op and he had them in his hands..whew close one, had me very nervous for a minute.
Overall I had a great time at Kiddieland. It's a nice park and far better then I ever expected it to be. I was expecting to be bored with the place but ended up having a good time.
Finally my offseason has ended
Click here for Kiddieland Pictures
