A couple of weeks ago N, A and I went with my sister, her husband and their 4 kids to Kings Dominion.
We have a tradition of going on a yearly trip with them in the summer. The tradition started many years ago before my sister was remarried. At that time it was just my sister, her son and me. We went to several different places over the years including Disney World, Niagara Falls and Colonial Williamsburg. After she got remarried, and the next year I got married too, the trips changed. Instead of a week long vacation we now do a day trip to an amusement park.
This year, our destination was Kings Dominion, which is around a two hour drive from where we live. N and I rode the carousal and the ferris wheel before my sister arrived. We met my sister and her family and headed over to the kids section of the park, Snoopy World.
I was very disappointed with the lack of rides that A could go on. We are really used to Disney World, where there are tons of rides in each park that A can go on and could do so since she was able to sit up. At Kings Dominion they have an odd rule that children who do not have shoes and walk for the ride operator cannot go on rides like the teacups. Why? The ride operator stated that it was in case of emergency. In case the ride needed to be evacuated, the child needs to be able to walk and be wearing shoes. I find this ridiculous. In an emergency the parents, who will be on the ride with the child, will carry the child off the ride. These are kiddy rides. The children can’t ride in them unattended anyway. So A could only ride on two rides, the swings and a little train.
The best part of the children’s section of the park is the excellent Child Care Center. It rivals the Baby Care Centers in Disney World. There is a staff member right at the entrance to assist and ensure that the space is used appropriately. There is a big area for eating, two nice small areas blocked off with curtains each containing a rocking chair for nursing. There is a section for changing with two changing tables and a diaper pail. There is a private bathroom and a great air conditioner. There is also a section with kid sized chairs and tables that contains blocks, puzzles books and more toys for children. There is also a large TV playing Charlie Brown the movie. A had a really fun time walking on the carpet, playing with the blocks and puzzles and cooling down from the super hot day outside.
After lunch we headed to the water section of Kings Dominion called Soak City. Here, we had fun. It was a very hot day and Soak City has a few sections with water toys and fountains and spraying water. They were super fun and A had a blast! They also had a section where there was a really large pool with lots of toys and a little play gym and the whole thing was six inches of water.
Overall we had a nice time but I don’t think I will return to Kings Dominion until the kids are at least 5 years old. The park just didn’t seem that child friendly to me.
