My family likes to go to Easter egg hunts. It’s fun to see the different approaches people take when they host an Easter egg hunt, so we usually go to three or four a year. Crazy, I know. But this last year, something even more crazy happened at one of these Easter egg hunts.
This hunt was the last hunt we were going to attend, and our baby was getting cranky. So, I went to take care of her specific needs and left the other four with my brave and intrepid husband. The hunt was set up so that the children had to see the Easter Bunny to get their egg, and then they could go hunt in the area for more eggs.
A lot of people had shown up to this hunt because the sponsors were offering a family four-pack of tickets to Six Flags, Magic Mountain in California. There was no way any of my kiddos would find the “golden egg”. They are all too little and we teach them not to run and grab from other people.
Well, my husband lined the kids up to see the Easter Bunny and get their one egg (the others had already all been hunted) and then we were going to go home. Our Kindergartner gave the Easter Bunny a high-five, and the Easter Bunny gave him the “golden egg”. We’d won the family four-pack to Six Flags!
Naturally, we had to go. It took us until this summer before we could arrange time to go. But we went and had a great time. Here are six tips from a family perspective.
-
Take your Discover card.
Seriously, take your Discover card. Six Flags has a special entrance gate for Discover card holders. You’ll get into the park 15 minutes ahead of everyone else by showing the park employees your card. It pays to Discover!
-
Be there at 10 a.m.
Yes, it’s hard to have little kids hanging around with not much to do for 30 min., but the wait is worth it. The park opens at 10:30, but the largest influx of people seems to happen around lunch time. If you want a chance to ride a lot of rides, without waiting for literally hours, go first thing in the morning.
-
Go ride the big rides first.
This is going to sound a little selfish, but if you have a roller coaster junkie let him/her get their fix first. The lines for some of the major coasters can have wait times longer than 2 hours. So, go do the big rides first, when the crowd is smaller. We were able to ride the X2 (“intense” according to my husband), Roaring Rapids, Jet Stream (which my kids loved), Apocalypse (my personal favorite), Goliath (I thought I was going to die, but in a good way), and Colossus (which is retiring this year). We didn’t have much of a wait for any of these, except Goliath – and we were trying to ride Goliath in the afternoon. One major let down was Tidal Wave. The major draw for this ride is the tidal wave created by dropping about 50 feet into a pool of water. The only problem is that none of the riders get wet. My three older kids and husband waited about 45 min. to ride this ride, and were very disappointed. I was waiting with the baby and preschooler on the bridge for the rest of the family and had a better ride experience. My preschooler got blasted with water and was very upset about it. I would recommend not riding this attraction, but just waiting on the bridge. You’ll have a better experience.
-
Buy the nachos for lunch.
We looked at buying a chicken dinner for our family of 7, but the cost was out of our budget. They wanted $40 for a meal that would feed four. So, we found Los Cuates Mexican Grill that sold nachos for about $10 a plate. We fed our family of 7 for about $20.
-
Bring in a water bottle.
The biggest problem with amusement parks is keeping everyone hydrated. We brought in six half liter water bottles and just refilled them over and over again. Also, a park worker told me that we could ask for a glass of ice water from any of the restaurants, and it would be free.
-
Plan on spending serious time in Bugs Bunny World
Bugs Bunny World is the kid’s area of Six Flags, and it is fantastic! My kids’ favorite rides in this area included Elmer’s Weather Balloons, Canyon Blaster Rollercoaster, and the Looney Tunes Lodge. Elmer’s Weather Balloons was a tea cup ride and a plane ride all in one. My preschooler loved this ride so much, we went on it five or six times. The Canyon Blaster is a kiddy rollercoaster that actually feels like a rollercoaster. You go up a hill and down into a short spiral turn, then back around over several bumps, and into the loading area. The ride attendants often let you go twice before unloading.
But, probably the best place is the Looney Tunes Lodge. This is a two story, ball pit attraction (without the pit). The whole room is full of cannons and Nerf-type shooters, vacuum tubes that feed into buckets, and fabulous ways to throw balls at people. It’s air conditioned, and has only one entrance or exit. So, it’s a great place for the parents to rest, and the family to chill in the middle of the day. Also, Bugs Bunny World has a lot of photo opportunities with the Looney Tunes Characters. So, bring your camera and say cheese.
Overall, Six Flags was a fantastic amusement park to visit with my young kids. We have unfinished business there. My husband still wants to ride the Tatsu, as well as a few other coasters. We’ll probably wait until our preschooler is 48” tall. We were on a train ride and she asked when we were going to go up. Looks like I have another roller coaster junky coming up.
On this trip we put our second grader and fourth grader on two of the most extreme rollercoasters in the U.S. Are we crazy? What crazy adventures have you helped your kids experience? Let me know.
