As you well know, we’re amusement park enthusiasts and this little spot in Maryland has been Six Flags America, Adventure World, Wild World, and the Wildlife Preserve. Yes, way back in the 70s Maryland, had a drive through safari! These days, the park is focused more on family fun and rides so we set out to spend the day at Six Flags America, , fully prepared to experience the fun, the food, and the rides.
First 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!)
If you’re not a fan of long lines (who is?) and don’t mind shelling out a few bucks, you can score some front of the line passes (called The Flash pass). 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.
In summary…
We had a great family day making sure everyone had something fun to do and we only had an hour’s drive home!
Watch all the fun we had!
