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Thursday, July 25, 2013

HOT and CRAZY Free Fun Day

Prince and Princess One bought us a great gift for Christmas last year. It was a City Pass. Most cities have something like this where you can get into different locations for free through the year with one initial cost. 


I guess Groupon was offering a deal so they purchased us each a pass. It was really a thoughtful gift but I was stressing out that we don't live near the city so I was worried they wouldn't get used enough to justify the cost. 

I planned a weekend where I thought we could do it just before Princess Four went to Thailand. 

We have been so busy that I haven't been able to share this post. I have some advice that I wanted to share in this post so I felt that I should share it. 

We got some free tokens while the girls were dancing at the fourth festival as there was a scratch off two and win card in the middle of the program. 

Princess Five won $5 in tokens to one of the places listed on the "City Pass" so we thought we would go there. 

First off, if you are going to go anywhere in 100 degree weather, take some way to cool yourself. This place doesn't allow outside food or drink but..... 

There was a line out the door for hours (letting out the air conditioning) and to buy us a slush each, we waited 40 minutes in line. It took so long that we had to leave the line just as we reached the order booth as we had scheduled Laser Tag and if we didn't go then, it would be another two hours before we could get in as there were so many people there.

I was so upset by the heat in the place and the wait that I told the overworked girl at the counter that I was paying for the slushes then and when we got out of the laser tag, we would come and get them filled but I wasn't about to wait for another 40 or more minutes to get a drink. There were so many people there that the air conditioning wasn't keeping up and we were all getting dehydrated. 


The first thing we did upon arriving, was to sign up for the laser tag and then went "Black light golfing" where the balls glow. It was fun but short as there were only a few holes and we had people stacked up waiting behind us. 

We then went out to do the bumper boats and waited an hour in the heat with not much shade only to find out that if you are wet from the boats, you can't go into laser tag. It would have been nice if they had that posted near the sign up for tag or where you line up for the boats but they didn't say anything until we had waited in the heat for an hour. So, we didn't dare get wet on the boats which would have cooled us down. 

By then, we were so hot we got in line for the slushies. I felt like I was going to pass out from the heat as there were hundreds of people in the arcade, ride, rock wall area. I broke into one of the party rooms where I could see the streamers moving hoping to get cool. We enjoyed a little breeze in there while we drank our slushes but it was still hot.  
 
The girls spent their tokens and the last thing the younger girls wanted to do was the "Go carts." (Half of the rides weren't open. My guess is they didn't have the staff to man them as they were VERY understaffed the entire time) 

Princess Two and Three didn't want to do it as they can drive and were feeling really hot so they sat down and wanted to leave. I wanted to enjoy lunch together but the line was long and Princess four and five not driving have never gotten to drive little cars as they were too young when we did Disney and they haven't been to a "Go Cart" place before so they were excited about it and wanted to stay. 

Princess Two literally had a melt down. She started crying and feeling faint as it was so hot and there were so many people and no shade while you were in line except for a few feet where the workers stand. I was on the phone with her and could see her sitting on a bench crying. I was about to leave the line and make us all leave worried about her health when I told her to leave and stop at the Subway down the street and get something to eat and get a cool drink in the air conditioning. She gathered herself together and left in her car to regroup. 
 
She called us about five minutes later, just as we were next to get into our go carts and said she was better just sitting in her car in the air conditioning. 

I stayed to ride the go carts so that Princess Four and Five could have that experience as it isn't any fun going on things by yourself and we don't get to that area of the state often but I was still stressed about Princess Two. I looked down and on the race track right next to the car I chose was a penny. It was shinny and I just reached down and picked it up and looked over at Princess Four who was next to me and said, "Guess what I just found... A penny!" and she said, "Of course you did mom." 
 
I smiled and knew everything was going to be alright with Princess Two. We finished our race and arrived at Subway right after they ordered their food and Princess Two said just getting a drink made her feel better. 

My warning and the reason for writing this post. DON'T go to any place that offers a "Pass" during a holiday week. Go on a week day. Don't go to any place that is outdoor without some way to cool your self on a hot day. 
 
They sell little misters that you can fill with ice and then water and they spray you and keep you cool. Don't go anywhere without a bottle of water even if they say "No outside food or drink." as they may have long lines and each time you need a drink, you won't want to wait the 30 minutes to get one. With that many people, the water fountains had no pressure and weren't cold. When we got back for our slushie fill up after laser tag, the line had doubled from when we waited earlier. 

Take sugar snacks so that if someone gets low blood sugar, you can give them something to boost it until you can get them some food. I seriously think if we had waited much longer, she could have passed out. 

It turned a supposed to be fun day into a scary day. I won't be doing that again. We had fun but the heat made it really stressful for us all when it should have been a fun thing. I KNOW that they had more than their capacity in that place that day. I would be interested to see what the occupancy limit is and what their receipts show for the day. 

When we were leaving I had princess Four hold up the penny as a reminder.

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