Hellobee

Earlier in July — actually over the Fourth of July weekend which was fun for us Canadians! — we travelled south to Darien Lake, a water park and theme park in New York, not too far from Buffalo. There’s no way that the Mac and Cheese family would’ve ventured there on our own, but my mom set it up as part of our visit to Orangeville, so it was only about two and a half hours to drive there!

Mom got a crazy good WagJag deal, which meant that she, her partner, my 7-year-old niece, 3-year-old M, 7-month-old A, and Mac Daddy and myself spent two nights and three days at the park, housed in an RV that was already there waiting for us. With that she also got daily breakfast buffet comps, some in-park credit, and a coupon book with a few deals, so we were really set up to have a good time.

While I used to head to Disney with my family once a year as a kid, and Mac Daddy was a Canada’s Wonderland enthusiast during his southern Ontario days, we haven’t been to anything larger than community fall fairs since having kids. Needless to say, M was thrilled at the idea of going to an amusement park! I didn’t really know what to expect from it all, but now that we’re on the other side of a good time, I have a few suggestions for others who are considering a non-Orlando theme park visit with similarly aged kids, and those who are considering a trip to Darien Lake specifically.

Theme Park Tips:

Measure your kid before you go to avoid any height-related meltdowns ahead of time. Darien Lake’s website explains the height restrictions for every ride so I measured M in advance and showed her all the cool stuff she could go on — there’s a little kid’s section which was perfect for her age, and a somewhat more advanced kid’s section where she could ride probably 75% of the attractions with a companion. Apparently there’s actually a measuring station where you can get your child a colour-coded wristband indicating that they’re tall enough for whichever height limit they hit, but I didn’t know about it ’till we got back!

Similarly, check the restrictions for handheld infants. A was allowed in very few places — the carousel if we were on a stationary bench, the wave pool in the shallow end, and the kids’ water section. Of course, he didn’t really care, but for the rest of the group it meant that one person had to be with him. Luckily neither my mom nor I really care about rides all that much, so between the two of us we kept him happy.

Use the art of persuasion to hit the rides with kids of different ages. M wanted to go on the little kid rides; my niece was not exactly thrilled about it, but young and short enough that she couldn’t beg off for being too big. My mom reminded her that if she rode on the rides with M, others would ride with her on the more thrilling attractions where she needed an adult companion, and after that she was game to be M’s accompaniment, albeit begrudgingly. It also worked to let M find a similarly-aged buddy (because she’s outgoing enough that EVERYONE is her friend) to ride with, to let my niece have a bit more fun on the kiddie bumper cars, teacups, etc. where she could get more speed without having to worry about a younger kid.

Tips for Darien Lake:

If you’re doing the breakfast buffet, it seemed to us like you could head in close to the very end of the operating hours and bypass the lines while still getting hot food. Everyone else cleared out early, and we thought we’d made a mistake by running so late, but it turned out that there was nobody else wanting food.

At the water park, you can rent a cabana, or a shade umbrella that is cheaper. The cabana comes with tubes and more space and a service where you can send a staff member out to get you food and drinks from the park outlets, and the umbrella comes with a lock box. My mom wasn’t going to do either but it was scorching on our big water park day, so we went for the umbrella. The next day, we did amusement rides first and then went to the park — and it was a disaster. There was no shade in the free seats. Ultimately she stood by a shady area long enough that when two people left she immediately threw our stuff down, and it actually worked out perfectly because we were right in the quietest part of the kid’s pool area so we could put A in the water without worrying about him being knocked around. If we did it again, we decided, we’d send someone out as soon as the park opened, to put towels down in a shady area like that one and bypass the paid areas.

Having a wagon, carrier, or stroller for a baby is very useful. There are wagon rentals at the park, which was good for us because we couldn’t fit a stroller in our car and though I used the carrier a few times, it was HOT. The wagon is also useful for bringing in your own refreshments, because park prices are ridic.

You can fit a lot of people in the RV but know that the older kids may stare at you creepily if you try to stay up around the fire after their supposed bedtimes. We had my mom and her partner in the separate bedroom, A and I on the foldout couch, and Mac Daddy and the two girls in bunk beds — and when we tried to stay up and eat wings and drink beer, we had one girl with her face pressed up against the window, and another glaring at us through the screen door. If you have light sleepers you’re kind of at the whim of the kids.

Go to the firework and laser show! It was really neat, especially the extra Fourth of July show. They even do a tribute to Canada, which features a beaver and Tim Hortons.

Don’t go on Moose on the Loose unless a) your kid really wants to and b) you can both handle a very long line for a not very thrilling ride. Mom reminded me of when I made my own parents stand in line for an hour to go on Disney’s Dumbo ride so I guess it’s payback, but the moose ride can only handle four riders/riders and companions at time, and it’s a popular ride, so prepare to be waiting for a long time. That being said, it was probably the only ride where we experienced a big wait!

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Overall, we had a good time — all of us, at all of our different age levels! Mac Daddy and Grampy even rode on one of those terrifying slingshot-bungee contraptions and lived to tell the tale. While I’m not sure we could handle it without the grandparent backup, with A still being a lap baby, it was good practice for if we ever venture out to a park on our own.

Please feel free to share your own amusement park tips!