This weekend we went to Kansas City to meet up with family and go to World's and Ocean's of Fun. We had booked rooms at the Days Inn close to the Park. The reviews on the rooms varied greatly, so we were not sure what to think. We did get a good discount thanks to my membership to FLW Outdoors.
The parking lot was nice and well lit when we pulled in. The rooms seemed to be pretty nice, other than the fact my daughter's feet would be black after walking around on the carpet for a while. We visited for a bit before calling it a night. The next morning we were up with anticipation to head to the park.
The sisters and their mom made sandwiches for everybody to come out of the park to eat for lunch. At the park we headed straight to the Mamba rollercoaster. It is the longest in the park and has some big drops. Almost everybody that went to the park rode it. I was surprised that the younger kids were not scared. My youngest son was not a huge fan, but was a trooper.
After that the group split a little bit. The older kids, my wife and I went to ride the Boomerang. It drops you, does loops and twists until it reaches the other side. Then it goes in reverse and does the same thing backwards. You can see the whole ride the whole time you are in line. There was lots of screaming. Two of the younger kids started getting shaky feet as we got closer to the ride.
We convinced them to ride it anyway. My older son really didn't want to ride it but decided to give it a go anyway after a little nudging. As soon as they strapped him in he started panicking. It was too late. The ride was starting. It was a quick ride to the other side. Then a stall and a quick ride back. When the ride stopped my son was all but hyperventilating. We got him off the ride and tried to get him talking about everything else.
It took us walking and talking all the way to the next ride before he settled down. Amazingly before we left the park, he was wanting to do it again. We said no way. Maybe next time.
We went on a whitewater ride after that and then went to find the rest of the pack. We located the rest of the pack and split again, leaving the younger kids at planet snoopy and taking the older kids to the steel hawk. Giant swings that take you up 301 feet in the air and spins you around at a 45 degree angle. It was a nice view, but a long way down.
We met up after that and then went to go eat lunch at the car. The afternoon plan was to go to Ocean's of Fun. We went straight to the kid area that had a tangle of slides, bridges, water guns and tons of water splashing down everywhere. We played around there for a while, then a group of us left to go ride the big kid tubes.
My oldest son and I decided to wait in line for the single tubes, that drop the floor out from underneath you and send you sailing at high speed through twists and curves until you come screaming out of the tubes at the bottom shooting a spray of water ahead of you.
The wait was long. The park had a fast pass that you could purchase and skip ahead to the front of the line. There were so many people that had them that the regular line practically stood still, as the people that had them, went down the slides again and again. I counted 1 person going 5 times while I moved about 10 feet in line. We couldn't justify paying 50.00 more a piece for 18 people to have fast passes, so we suffered through the long slow moving line.
Finally we got to the top. I was worried the whole time that my son would chicken out. I never thought of what I would think. It was our turn to be shot down the tubes. My son willingly got into 1 chamber and I reluctantly stepped into the other tube. A glass door closed us in. We crossed our arms and were locked and loaded. The younger, high school age boys on the stairs, must have seen the fear in my eyes and starting waiving bye to me. Holy crap! My heart was racing and my breaths were heavy as the count down started. 3 - 2 - 1. Boom! It actually made a loud noise as the floor disappeared beneath my feet and I was dropped into the tunnel. Rush, whoosh, swish, I went sailing. Up on the sides of the tube, almost upside down? I couldn't tell where I was or what was going on. Water was driving up my nose. The legs of my shorts were slapping me on the shoulders. Then all of a sudden there was light. I skidded right through the puddle of water at the bottom. Was I going to stop in time?
I knew I had to get out of the water so the next person could go, but I was discombobulated. My contacts had slid up under my eyelids so I could not see. My nose was filled with water, as well as my ears. I crawled over the side on my knees and stood up all shaky. My son on the other hand was already out and coming my way. I was alive!
My son wanted to try going down a slide on an inner tube, but we were supposed to meet up with everybody, so we went back to the check in point. Nobody else showed up, so we went to the wave pool to find some of them. We played around there a bit but did not see anybody so back to the check in point. Still nobody.
A few of them finally stopped by and I sent my son with them while I lounged around for the next couple of hours letting everybody check in with me.
Around 7:00, after being at the park for 9 hours, I was ready to head back to the hotel. We gathered everybody up and made a plan for my brother in law and I to take the younger kids back to the hotel while my wife and her sister stayed with the older kids to ride a few more rides. One of my nephew's ran off to play a game real quick and was going to meet us at the entrance. We thought we heard my wife's sister say if he was still at the game she would have him stay with them. She thought she told us that she would send him right out. I'm sure we didn't hear her correctly. Needless to say we got to the car and headed back to the hotel. A couple hours later I get a call asking if we forgot somebody.
He had been out in the parking lot for nearly 2 hours, trying to get somebody to let him use their phone or get back in the park. Nobody would help him out. The stamp they had put on his arm earlier must have worn off so he was not able to get back into the park to get to the others.
Finally somebody let him use their phone, and right after that, the park decided it was o.k. for him to come in to find his Mom.
We ordered pizza for the kids when we got back to the hotel and the adults went out to eat. When we got back I was ready for a shower. While I was soaping up, I heard a snap under the tub and the tub shift a little downward. It was just like the water ride earlier, maybe a little less scary, as I would only crash down 1 floor level if the tub fell through the floor. There was a crack around the tub on the wall where it settled about an inch. I slowly but quickly stepped out of the tub without rinsing the rest of the way off. The edges of tile around the tub were facing upwards. That thing was about to go.
Safely on dry ground again, I went to bed. The next morning we loaded up and headed towards home. On the way we went school shopping. We hit 2 stores. My wife was wearing her fitbit. It was crazy, but we walked more miles shopping than we did walking around the amusement park by about 4 miles. We made up for the calorie burn of the last 2 days with a trip to the Royal Buffet.
We made it home safely Sunday night ready for some rest and relaxation. Too bad, it's off to work the next day.
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