My husband decided that William, our two year old son, was ready to ride a roller coaster. He is very big for his age and would be tall enough to ride several of the larger kiddy coasters at Six Flags Great America in Illinois. My husband let me know that he was going to take our son to an amusement park this summer; I could come along if I liked.
Well gee thanks dear. I think I will.
I packed both the boys a diaper bag for the day with two of everything they could possible need. We dropped Steven (the baby) off with my in-laws who were taking care of him for the day. My husband, my toddler, and I hit the road.
We got to the park without incident. We parked the car after a 20 minute wait in line and made our way inside. Woo Hoo! We were ready to rock and roll.
The first thing you pass upon entering the amusement park is a gigantic two story carousel. So the first thing we rode upon entering the amusement park was the carousel. Then it was off to the kiddy coasters. There were boats and trains and cars, oh my! William was enthralled.
We had a talk with William before entering Six Flags about what to expect and what our expectations were of him. We let him know that we were going to ride really neat rides, but that we had to wait our turn in line before we were able to ride the fun rides. He did far better than I expected. It probably helped that there were “trains” (roller coasters) going by overhead every other minute with people screaming. He wanted to ride those “trains” too.
My son, Mr. Fearless, wanted to ride everything. He was a big fan of the kiddy coasters. It was quite literally a jaw dropping experience for him. Mommy would yell “Weeeeee!” and William would say “whoa!” with his mouth hanging wide open as we zoomed along The Little Dipper.
Williams favorite ride was Yogi’s Yahoo River where he got to sit and steer a boat while ringing a bell. He liked to dip his hand in the water when he though no one was looking. He enjoyed twisting and turning the steering wheel, oblivious to the fact that he was not actually turning the boat. He loved to ring the bell, especially whenever another rider started ringing their bell. However, he was not a fan of getting off of this particular ride. He thought that if he scooted as far away from mom as possible he would be out of reach and allowed to continue to ride in the boat. This is the only ride he did not willingly leave. He rode on this ride over and over and over again. If there was a Facebook “Like” button for this ride, he would have clicked it.
We eventually moved on and tried other rides. We ate a very quick bite before heading back out into the world of roller coaster craziness. By early afternoon William was done. It was well past nap time and every ride became too cool to leave. We hit the carousel one last time before heading out for home.
Once William was strapped into his car seat he was out like a light. He slept the entire car ride.
When we asked him later if he had fun his response is a resounding “YES!” When asked if he wants to ride the roller coasters again he responds with an unequivocal “Yes, more trains.”
I think our first ever trip to Six Flags was a success. Now I am starting to get an itch for a family trip to Disney World. Who doesn’t love a little Mickey Mouse?
