OT - anyone bring kids to Six Flags?

[spu]

Has anyone been to six flags with children? I saw on their website that it looks like they have plenty of rides / water attractions for kids that are mild, but are there enough? DDs just turned 6, and DS is 1.5 - but loves to splash...

tia!
susan

[veganf]

Oh we are dying to get over there, especially for the Thomas-themed area. But with the new baby it'll probably have to wait until next year. Sigh.

[yonit]

We were there this week - on Wednesday - and it was absolutely horrible. I NEVER want to go there ever again!! It was a complete and total disaster. The only good thing was that the kids all got in free - and I was discounted. We planned the trip because my daughters each earned a free ticket through a home school reading program (read x hours this month for a free ticket). I knew I would also have my 18 month old with us (free since under 2) and he wouldn't be able to go on a lot of the rides my girls wanted to go on, so we invited a 10yo friend of theirs to come too. I then saw a free ticket on a box of lunchables, so we bought the lunchables, threw the food away, but kept the ticket to get the friend in free also, and to take $10 off my ticket. Really good idea. If I had paid full price for all of us, I would be even less happy than I am. But I now know why they give away so many kids tickets - there isn't much there for them.

First it took us three hours to even get into the park! The parking situation is a complete disaster - totally disorganized (and they charged $15 for it). The park opened at 10:30 - we live an hour away so left at 9:30, but did not enter the park until 2:00 PM!! If you have ever sat in a car with 3 excited girls in full sight of an amusement park for 3 hours, but not able to go in, you can begin to see how frustrated I was before we even got in.

The Thomas themed area has 4 rides - that's it. They are made for little kids - which is fine. My daughters are small and had no problem going on all of them. Their friend was too tall and not allowed on them. Adults are NOT allowed on the rides with children (anyone over 53" tall I believe). So there was another woman there whose 2yo wanted to go on a ride, but they wouldn't let the mom on with him.

All of us were able to go on the carousel - which we went on twice, and also the little train that runs through the Thomas area ( 2min ride). That's it.

The rest of the park is really made for older kids. If you love roller coasters, you could probably have a lot of fun. There is almost no rides for elementary aged children at all. There are some arcade games, but they charge for them and they cost quite a bit.

You are not allowed to bring any food in and they charge a fortune. $4 for a bottle of water. I bought 4 small ice cream cones for almost $30! Highway robbery. Probably the best part of being stuck in the parking lot for 3 hours was the kids ate lunch in the car before we went in.

The worst part was through no fault of ours, 2 of the girls got lost. My 8yo and the 10yo went on the New England Skyway by themselves. It is an overhead cable car type ride that gives you a view of the park. The baby was too small, and my 7yo didn't want to go. So we waited at the entrance for the ride to reappear. When 15 mins had passed, I asked the operator how long the ride was and he said "Oh, it's only one way" They have no problem letting 2 children on the ride alone with absolutely no notice that they were being left alone at the other end of the park!! There was absolutely no sign up at the end we got on saying it was only one way. I grabbed the 2 kids and followed the ride overhead and found the other end. The girls were gone (although there was a sign there it was one way). Looked around no one has seen them. Thought they must have gotten back on so went back to the other end, watching for them above me. They weren't there either. I obviously started getting frantic. Tried to get an employee to help me and all he said was "I'm sure they'll turn up soon." I go to the Lost Parents Area and it is closed! So I am walking around the ride area frantically searching for them (dragging along a 7yo and an 18 month old), when finally another employee says "Are you looking for 2 girls?" and he describes them. Turns out he brought them to guest services when he saw them. So I ran there and Thank G-D they were OK. But truly they were missing for about an hour. The girls also told me that when they were left off at the other end and tried to get back on to go back to where I was waiting that the ride operator called them "stupid" and told them they would have to leave!

We left at 5 o'clock after only 3 hours there, and honestly I can't see where we would ever go back again.

[farmlife]

Wow! I am so sorry for your ordeal.

We are planning to go on Friday with a friend who has a season's pass. Kid's age range 2-6 and we are planning on mostly going in the water park. We will pack a lunch and leave the park to eat it, as above mentioned food is supposed to be way overpriced. I used to take a youth group there pretty regularly and the food was awful on top of expensive.

With hand stamped you can leave and reenter. My friend also regularly brings a backpack with water and protein bar or something and noone has ever asked her not to bring it in.

The website gives a breakdown of rides for each age.

[jdmcgee]

We took our 2 and 4 year olds on Saturday and we all had a blast. We lucked out because my sister-in-law has season passes so their guests get really great discounts. It is very expensive.

Anyway, we all had so much fun. We spent most of the day at the water park. THen we went on a bunch of rides with the kids. They, especially, had so much fun.

[Qestia]

I've been three times this year, DH got a season pass (and DH took DS once without me). I was incredibly reluctant to go but we've had a wonderful time. I've only been on weekends and Fridays. One day was bad, but more in terms of maybe an hour max wait to get in. I've always brought snacks and water in, no one's ever said anything about it. Not only do they have thomas town but there's also wiggles world and a looney toons section, and the water area. Lots of fun for DS, he really loves it.

[spu]

wow - an hour+ just to get in?!? yuck! I can't do that. that's insane. Not yet, anyways.

Though, the water park sounds like a blast - how is it for a 6 yo or a 2 yo?

[moonshoes]

We went once last summer. We went during the week so parking was not an issue and it was just a so-so day so it wasn't too crowded. My kids were 3 and 5 at the time and they LOVED it - we stayed for 9 hours. They were happy with the kids area. There is the Wiggles area that had all the rides they could want, there was the Thomas area (just so-so) and the Carousel. They also enjoyed walking around and looking at the "crazy" roller-coasters.

Things that I hated - the parking fee and the fact that you can't bring in food. The prices are RIDICULOUS so be prepared to spend A LOT of money on water if you go on a hot day. I think a water was $3.00

We didn't go this year because I thought it was too spendy and my DD is turning 7 and probably too old for a lot of kiddy rides but she's not ready for the bigger rides.

[spu]

that stinks about not being able to bring in food. Do they check? What about for a 22m old when I don't want to buy him concession foods? Can we bring in sippy cups?

[Golden]

I'd say Six Flags is for older kids, maybe at least 8 and up.

Have you been to canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH? Not far over the border.
It's smaller, has a smaller water park that is good for the younger crowd, it has a lot of shade. It's an old park, but well taken care of. A much better time for mixed ages of kids and especially the younger crowd.

[Qestia]

Like I said DS really likes Six Flags and no one's questioned our food--but the canobie lake mention reminds me--don't forget storyland in NH. I haven't been but have heard good things.

[fyrebloom]

We have season passes because we LOVE 6F but I don't know if I'd do it again. We were there yesterday and I was told to leave Wiggles World for nursing in the playground area. Needless to say I'm furious and have complained to the company. My 2 1/2 year old LOVES it there and I think as long as your kids are 36+inches, there is alot to do. We always bring snacks so food and drink is not usually a problem, and they do have bubblers if you want to refill your water bottle for free. Worse case you can always eat lunch at your car. If you approach from rt 91 you can cut through the back way and get parking for $10 a spot as a local business and the walk is 2 min instead of... well much further.

SO I guess in summary, if you don't plan on breastfeeding (or don't care if the staff harass you) then it's great fun.

[Sweetmilo]

we went this summer to the one in new jersey, and the kids had tons of fun at the water park, and the amusement park actually has this toddler area that we didn't find until it was time to go. My daughter (she's going to be 3 in oct) absolutely LOVED it! The wait for parking is pretty bad, you have to get there fairly early to miss the parking mess.

[omaraco87]

I'm with Golden, it's better to leave at home children's under 8 years because in those parks they have a lot of attractions that can be dangerous for them.

But if you take them to the parks you have to be extremely careful of them, they can even get lost.

Omar
Connecticut Drug Treatment (http://www.drugtreatments.com/connecticut)

[Indigo73]

We go to 6F once a year. But it's more for DH than it's for the rest of the family.

As a family, we much prefer Lake Compounce (http://www.lakecompounce.com) in Bristol CT. Smaller park, free drinks (soda and water), huge water area (including lake beach) and a decent mix of kids to adult rides. Parking is $5 but since fees aren't insane, I have no problem with that. They are also good about rainchecks and discount after 5.