Search Results for: blog get your wiggle on at six flags

Six Flags Minus the Scares

Bloody appendages, stabbed rats, decapitated creatures, knife-wielding, pig-faced butchers and intestine-covered caskets don’t make for sweet dreams, especially if you’re a six-year-old looking to meet Bugs Bunny for the first time. Thankfully, the folks at Six Flags Great America realize this. Hence the decision to keep certain portions of the theme park scare-free for its youngest guests during its annual Fright Fest extravaganza, which runs weekends throughout October. If the popular Gurnee, Illinois, attraction didn’t offer thrills without chills, then there would be no way that I could have spent last Saturday making magical memories with my daughter at Six … Continue reading →

Get Your Freak On at Fright Fest 2010

What do you get when you mix 200 pounds of blood-red dye with hundreds of rubber snakes, bats, rats, skulls and body parts, a gigantic mutated spider and armies of eye-gouging, flesh starved zombies? Seriously spooktacular fun at Six Flags Great America. Halloween is in the air and no place helps you get your creep on better than Great America’s annual Fright Fest extravaganza. The popular Midwest theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, is pulling out its most hair-raising haunts to celebrate the 20th season of Fright Fest. Then, it’s topping itself by unveiling spine-chilling new spooks to scare even … Continue reading →

Who is the Vacation Planner in Your Home?

Nine weeks and counting until school ends and summer vacation begins. I know this because my kindergartner recently commandeered my black Sharpie and is diligently drawing huge “Xs” on my calendar in anticipation of the end of the school year. My daughter has already created a long list of places she wants to visit this summer. Most of them are family favorites, including Six Flags Great America, the water park, the Children’s Museum, Summerfest, the State Fair and Chicago. I typically take her list and try to accommodate her wishes after I view our family calendar and budget. Apparently, I … Continue reading →

Get Ready to Visit Potter’s Playground

It’s being billed as the “most anticipated theme park attraction in history.” The “Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” is on track to open in the spring of 2010 at Universal Orlando Resort, and the buzz surrounding its debut is deafening. I blogged about the new theme park area a couple of years ago, but now the final pieces of the (estimated) $300 million Potter playground puzzle are finally coming together, and soon fans of the boy wizard will be able to board high tech rides, such as “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.” The futuristic ride was named by author … Continue reading →

Simple Ways to Make Summer Memories with Your Preschooler

It was a summer to remember for my preschooler. Not only did she score big during her soccer camp, she also conquered her fear of amusement parks and deep water. She’s now a self-proclaimed thrill ride-loving fish, who can’t wait to share her accomplishments with her new classmates this fall. However, before she heads back to school I have a couple of fun summer activities that we need to complete, including this one: SUMMER MEMORY GARDEN Materials: Large piece of mural paper Paint Markers or crayons Construction paper in a variety of colors Pom poms (various colors) Coffee filters Clothespins … Continue reading →

Inexpensive Summer Getaways

You know the travel industry is hurting when you can find roundtrip non-stop flights from Chicago to Honolulu for around $500. I paid more than double that amount for my ticket last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Bottom line: If you haven’t been able to score a sun-sational deal on a summer getaway, then you simply haven’t been looking—at all. Perhaps, you can’t afford to take an extended break from work. If that’s the case, then consider soaking up the summer sun during a long weekend away. So what if you can’t take two … Continue reading →

Ways to Stretch Your Travel Dollar

When it comes to saving money on travel expenses the key is flexibility. It also doesn’t hurt to be well informed and fast. With the economy still in the dumpster travel companies are offering more last-minute deals than ever before (hence your need to be flexible). Meanwhile, many airlines have now turned to micro-blogging sites, such as Twitter, to advertise hugely discounted fares, which usually get snatched up within seconds of being posted (hence the need to be fast). If you have yet to book your family’s annual summer jaunt, then you are in luck. There are plenty of ways … Continue reading →

Is Your Preschooler Overscheduled?

This summer I decided to give my car a break. Instead of pulling in and out of karate, basketball, swimming, piano, soccer, gymnastics, art, cooking, and ceramics class parking lots, our family vehicle has been cooling its wheels in a shady garage. Score one for the aging Nissan… and for the aging mom. The preschooler, well, she’s not sharing our joy. Not entirely anyway. After months (make that years) of juggling a less than relaxed routine of classes, activities, playgroups, and kiddie seminars, I figured I’d trade in the overscheduled routine for a more laid back summer schedule; one that … Continue reading →

Get Your Wiggle on at Six Flags

My preschool daughter has never been a huge Wiggles fan. What’s more, she screams like a banchee every time I try to put her on an amusement park ride. And I’m not talking about those baby roller coasters that travel on a flat track, or those crazy toddler swings that spin around with modified reckless abandon. For the past three years my child has unleashed glass shattering, ear splitting, high-pitched shrieks each time I’ve tried to place her on merry-go-round horses (the paralyzed ones that don’t move up and down), baby boats (that barely move in a pool no bigger … Continue reading →

Not-So Carefree Field Trip

My parents live 5,000 miles away from their only granddaughter. Despite the miles that separate them, my mom and dad are a huge part of my daughter’s life thanks to multiple daily phone calls and video chats. When my dad doesn’t hear from us each evening he gets nervous. He’s always been protective of his “girls,” but I didn’t realize the extent of his concern until late last week when we missed calling him due to my daughter’s final field trip of the school year. The entire school scored a trip to a medium-sized amusement park located about 40 miles … Continue reading →