This post is sponsored by Kia and DriveShop. All photos, opinions, and content are my own.
As you well know, we’re amusement park enthusiasts. And we’re also car enthusiasts. So bringing both together sounded like a family adventure that we could all get on board with.
We set out to spend the day at Six Flags America, which is about an hour from where I live, fully prepared to experience the fun, the food, the rides, and Kia.
Let me explain.
Kia has a partnership with Six Flags and that means that a handful of select Six Flags locations around the country will host a Kia Ride and Drive just outside the park entrance. Stay tuned because that played an important part into how we took a chilly, overcast spring day and turned it into a GREAT day. Here are some of my tips.
Get on a ride OUTSIDE the park.
Just before we reached the entrance to the park, we were greeted by the Kia Ride and Drive pavilion, complete with a relax & recharge lounge. But because we were just getting started, I really just cared about going for a drive. Scroll to the bottom for a list of upcoming Kia Ride and Drive events at Six Flags.
And then my husband Sean decided he wanted to go for a ride as well. So we picked out our respective vehicles and took them for a spin.
My husband picked the all new Kia Niro, the compact hybrid SUV that I showed you in San Antonio.
For me, minivans are still a novelty. I’ve never owned one and probably never will with my little ol’ family of three. But Evan insisted we take this for a ride. And Cara, our product specialist who seemed to know everything about every Kia, was more than happy to ride with us.
I figured we’d go once around the parking lot but Kia had an elaborately coned course that allowed you to test out things like acceleration, handling, and the use of the back-up and/or 360 camera view when parking.
As it turns out, it was totally worth stopping in before our entrance because upon departure, they bestowed us with these lovely parting gifts.
Next Stop: LUNCH
Wait – didn’t we just get to the park? Yes, but we’re late risers and so we arrived right around lunchtime. One of the friendly park staffers steered us in the direction of one of the few sit down restaurants in the park, the Crazy Horse Saloon, where we were treated to a menu of meat and carbs. And so I ordered meat and carbs.
Trust me. Everyone in the family gets cranky when they’re hungry so feed them well. And besides, amusement park calories don’t count!
Let that food settle.
Unless you’ve got super anxious kids, I don’t recommend heading off towards the rides right away. So we checked out the arcade right across from the restaurant. You can barely see Sean on the right because he’s preparing to shoot alien invaders. But Evan is taunting me to play him on this curved table air hockey.
Yes, I beat him.
Go for the thrill rides (and use your The Flash pass!)
Remember those front of the line passes (called The Flash pass) I got from Kia? They’re perfect for the big thrill rides that usually have the longest lines. So Sean marched right up to the Apocalypse where he stood in the front row for this crazy coaster.
Why didn’t I go on it? Well, someone has to take the picture.
Remind your kids that it’s okay to just look.
My son Evan is not a daredevil or thrillseeker or anything in between. He’s a worrier so he usually prefers to just look at the rides. And that’s totally okay too. We looked at the giant wooden roller coaster, Roar.
We caught a glimpse of the Fireball from the train and decided that we had NO interest.
And even something as simple as the Carousel doesn’t do it for me (rides that go around make me nauseous). But isn’t it beautiful?
Let your kids get behind the wheel.
While Evan asked repeatedly if he could drive a Kia, I offered him the next best thing: Great Race Antique Cars and the Coyote Creek Crazy Cars. I put him behind the wheel and let’s just say Kia made a good call in not letting unlicensed minors drive!!
Take in a show.
I could tell Evan was feeling a little deflated that he couldn’t find many rides that didn’t cause him anxiety so when I mentioned a show, he jumped on the idea. My husband, on the other hand, rolled his eyes wondering what kind of song and dance show he’d have to sit through.
But we found something to make everyone happy.
The Sword of Destiny show is a stunt show about dead pirates and a filmmaking team set in what looks like an Old West village.
Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to us either. But it didn’t matter. It was funny and entertaining and heavily improvised (at least for the show we were watching).
Fuel up for the ride home.
While we got our fill of meat and carbs, I just felt like I hadn’t ruined my figure enough and stopped to eat a plate full of regret. I mean, a funnel cake.
Evan and Sean had ice cream. We have all paid for our sins.
Ride with Kia one more time.
In case we missed it on the way in, there’s a Kia pavilion in the park to make it easy to register to drive. But we were already registered so we headed back out to the Kia Ride and Drive to see if we could drive two more cars.
Sean picked the gorgeous Kia Cadenza
And I went for the Kia Soul EV, an all-electric version similar to the Kia Soul Turbo I drove in California.
In summary…
We had a great family day making sure everyone had something fun to do and we left wondering how soon we could get one of those Kia in our driveway!
Watch all the fun we had!
Kia Six Flags Ride and Drive
4/14 – 4/16: Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Pkwy, Valencia, CA 91355
4/14 – 4/16: Six Flags Great Adventure, 1 Six Flags Blvd, Jackson, NJ 08527
4/21 – 4/23: Six Flags America, 13710 Central Ave, Bowie, MD 20721
COMING UP! 5/13 – 5/15: Six Flags St. Louis, 4900 Six Flags Rd, Eureka, MO 63025
COMING UP! 5/27 – 5/29: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 1001 Fairgrounds Drive SW, Vallejo, CA 94589
COMING UP! 5/27 – 5/29: Six Flags New England, 1623 Main St, Agawam, MA 01001