Philadelphia Day 1

We had our second annual Philadelphia trip this week. With the kids not starting school until after Labor Day, it seemed like a good time to take advantage of a long weekend. I already had Friday off from work and took Thursday as well (nothing like asking for time off five weeks into a job, but we had planned this trip before I even had a start date and my boss was fine with it). We left just before 6am Thursday morning and drove straight to our first destination--Six Flags Great Adventure.

Unfortunately, our navigation took us on some weird route right through Downtown Baltimore. Not convenient at all at 730 on a weekday morning! But, we survived and were able to make up some time, thanks to light traffic, on the rest of the drive. We had hoped to arrive at 1000, to make it through security in order to be in line for passholder early admission at 1015. Instead, we managed to walk into the park right at 1030. Fortunately, the crowds were light and we were able to ride everything we wanted to ride. Unfortunately, Thomas had a terrible headache and wasn't able to ride anything until well into the evening .  There were two roller coasters I really wanted to try. Last time we were there, one was broken and the other had a really long line all day, so that was my wish list for the day.

Our first stop was the parachute ride. It lifts you 250 feet into the air and then slowly lowers you. Everyone but Thomas rode. The height requirement is only 36", and it is a pretty big thrill ride for a 3-year old, so Luke was very happy. Then, we moved on to our first coaster--El Toro. El Toro is a massive wooden roller coaster. Me, Jack and Anna decided to brave it. Anna was super nervous. In fact, as we started up the big hill, she started sobbing. I tried to reach out to hold her hand and she screamed (literally screamed) at me to get my hand off of her! She later told me it was because she wanted me to hold on so I didn't fall off the ride. But, after the first big drop, she was fine. In fact, since there was no line, we stayed on and rode a second time. It was pretty amazing. Definitely among the best roller coasters I've ever ridden.

Anna and El Toro

We did some little kid rides next and the log flume and had our lunch. Kara tried some of the smaller roller coasters and was happy to find she enjoyed them. We made our way to the other side of the park to try the next big coaster on my list--Nitro. This time, Anna opted to stay and ride the smaller rides with Luke, so it was just me and Jack. It was amazing! Probably my favorite of all time. It was smooth and fun and just awesome. We rode twice. Jack wanted to keep going, but I was ready to rejoin the family. Next we headed to their newest ride. I wasn't expecting a lot, but it was pretty awesome too! It was a shooting, virtual reality type ride, similar to Men in Black at Universal or Buzz Lightyear at Magic Kingdom. Honestly, it was on caliber with those rides, which surprised me.

If my camera didn't darken everything, this could have been a great shot.

In line for Escape from Metropolis

Me, Jack and Kara then tried the two dark rides. One was a mouse coaster, which I hated, but the kids liked. The second one, Skull Mountain is an indoor dark coaster, and it was pretty good, although the people behind us screamed hysterically the entire ride. Kara really liked it and got Anna to go back and ride with her a second time. She has become such a thrill seeker this year! Luke loved all the little kid rides. There was one he rode last year that terrified him. It is a tiny drop tower. When I say tiny, it is designed for little kids. It lifts them probably 15 feet up and drops them in little short bursts. Last year, he was fine when it lifted him, but started crying inconsolably when the drops started. They had to stop the ride and take him off. This year, he loved it! He put his hands in the air and smiled. It was such a great contrast.

Our brace little boy :)

We had dinner, then Thomas decided he was ready to try a couple of things. First, he did the shooting ride. He wasn't as impressed as I was, but enjoyed it. Since that didn't bother his head, he decided he needed to ride Kingda Ka, which is the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the United States (until recently, it was #1 in the world). I was definitely not interested in trying that! But, Jack decided he needed to go along. Me and the girls tried to talk them out of it, but they persisted. I was almost afraid to watch, fearing I would see someone fly right out of their seat. But, somehow they survived and, they even enjoyed it. We bought Jack a shirt to celebrate his ride on the country's tallest, fastest coaster, which, he intends to wear on the first day of school. Next time, they want to try the world's tallest drop tower. Yikes!

This picture doesn't do the 486 foot drop justice...

By now, it was after 7 and had been a very long day. We decided to call it good and head to our hotel. We had walked over 20,000 steps and 8+ miles. It was a very fun day.