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We began our day at 2:30 p.m.
As 6:45 rolled around, and we were just coming off of our second ride
at the amusement park formerly known as Camp Snoopy, currently known as
the The Park at MOA, soon to be known as Nickelodianland, I said to
myself: “is this worth $25 bucks a kid in armband expense? I would wait
in line anywhere.”
But they couldn’t. When you have six children, and you spend $25
($24.95 to be exact) on each child, you want to be sure that you are
getting something for your money.
Oh sure, the two year old got onto four little kid rides in the four
hours that we had spent at the park, but still...the lines were so long
that the bigger kids just got onto two rides. In four hours? What is
this Disneyland?
That wasn’t where my frustration began that day.
The second ride that my children did get on, the person working the
ride wasn’t yet 18 so she couldn’t strap the children in. SHE WAS THE
ONLY OPERATOR IN SIGHT.
No, I’m not yelling at you, I AM YELLING AT THE PEOPLE WHO MADE $1.5
MILLION THE DAY WE WENT TO CAMP SNOOPY SELLING WAY TOO MANY TICKETS FOR
THEIR CAPACITY.
For you see, as I reference several conversations I had with other
people, whose children were standing in line, we weren’t the only ones
who had been duped.
We had planned to go to Fudruckers for supper, my son’s choice.
However, we decided to have dinner at the food court above the park
formerly known as Camp Snoopy, currently known as The Park at MOA, soon
to be known as Nickelodianland.
Which would be a decision that would pay off.
After eating a sandwich, a strange thing happened. The lights on the rides came up, the sun went down, and the lines were gone.
My children, who before dinner were somber, depressed, the day not
living up to the expectation, were now laughing, running from ride to
ride, no delayed gratification would be needed. They could get right
onto most of the rides, and if they did have to wait it wasn’t the two
hours which had greeted them during the afternoon. My anger soon faded
and joy, an emotion I thought I might never recall, was once again part
of my psyche.
I don’t have a problem spending any amount of money to see my children
smile, something that can occasionally frustrate my wife, but to pay
$25 a head to see them frown wasn’t worth any of the free passes in the
world.
So my advice is go to Camp Snoopy just before supper time. You’ll have
much fewer crowds to fight, spend much less time frustrated by lines,
and have an all together better time overall.
Besides, aren’t the amusement parks from your childhood memories always well lit up anyway?
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