Wonderland?

Dutch Wonderland. We wanted to love you. Really, we did. On a scale of 1 - 10, you get a five. Okay, maybe a six. You had your moments. Like the oh-so-cute frog princess diving show, and the super nice cashier who filled our water jugs with ice and water for free. The nice ride operators who let our kids stay on the same ride more than once. And the leisurely Sky Ride with views of the park.



But good grief. The crowd. It didn't help that it was one of the nicest days we've had all month. Or that it was a Friday at the end of summer before school begins. The place was packed. The waterpark side was a frenzy and so hard to keep track of our boys. The ride lines were painfully long. We never made it down the big waterslide, for fear of dehydrating in the 45 minute wait to go down. You can't reason with a two year old about waiting in line, especially when he has missed his nap. And the food was mediocre at best. I've never seen french fries quite that shade before. The 40 minute wait for the bath house to change into bathing suits forced me to strip my two year old naked in the midst of the crowd, and there was no A/C for me when I finally got in to wrangle out of my wet suit. I may have been better off hiding behind the Amish playhouse and getting nude.







Let me just add, we were probably on crack when we decided to do this trip up and back in one day. We did it once before this summer, unsuccessful as you'll recall, and still had our tickets to use before school starts. So rather than springing for the hotel room again, we toughed it out and did a day trip. Too, too far Dutch Wonderland. Three plus hours of driving one way does not make for an energetic pair of parents, ready to deal with theme park crowds with patience and grace.


We hung in there though, we made it through. We had some laughs. The kids were troopers and the drive home was better. The boys wanted to rock out to The Police with Logan playing air drums and singing Da doo doo doo, Da da da.... and Dylan asking repeatedly for Spirits in a Material World.



And although we awoke today with a theme park hangover, we'll forgive you Dutch Wonderland. Through the crowds and the bad food and the traffic jams, we could see your true intentions. Just remind us to come back at the beginning of June, when school is still in session.