Halloweekend fun
Oct. 16th, 2005 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charliesmumYesterday morning we got a call from my husband's brother, Joel, asking if we wanted to go with them (them being his wife, Nikki and their 9-year old daughter Julie, who by the way is also Autistic) to Dorney Park's Halloweekend Naturally we said yes.
Whatever Marketing genius came up with the idea of opening amusement parks in October for Halloween deserves a medal. It was such fun. The fact the weather was (finally) absolutely gorgeous helped, and we got there around 3, and it was not terribly crowded, which meant there were no long lines on any of the rides. We did quite a few thrill rides, except for the two big roller coasters because Charlie and Julie were just a tad too small for them. But there were many other fast and furious rides the kids were able to go on, and we all even went on the Dominator. Charlie - loved it. Me, not so much. The whole hanging there in the sky for 30 seconds was just not fun for me. We laughed a lot though.
The Halloween stuff was really worth the price of admission. The kids got this little certificate thing that allowed them to go trick-or-treating at 'Trick-or-Treat Street', where little wooden houses were set up from nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The kid knocks on the door, and is given candy by the likes of one of the three little pigs,
Cinderella, Rapunzel, The Old Lady in the Shoe, and so forth.*
There were other 'scare free' Halloween things, including The Magical House on Boo Hill, which is is a family funhouse that is more likely to produce smiles than screams. A scare-free walk-through experience surprises guests with optical illusions around every corner..
After dark the Halloween stuff really begins in ernest. There were a few 'Haunted Houses' we didn't do, one, because the lines were too long and two, we didn't think the kids would like it. Although, as later events showed, I don't know that it would have phased Charlie too much.
The one 'scary' think we did do was The Fright Zone. The kids really wanted to, and we grown ups were curious. Basically it's a fog-machine shrouded walk where people in costumes jump out at you. And yes, I screamed a couple of times, especially when some guy with some kind of roller skate thing on his knees came zooming out of the fog right at me. And some people had these rattle-y cans that was eerie. It was fun.
I told Charlie that people were going to try to scare us, and if someone scares him, he ought to say 'boo' back at them.
So he did.
At first he was a bit nervous, so when someone leapt out at us, so I'd remind him to say 'boo'. By the end he was looking for people to say boo at. Julie was a bit more frightened, but when she saw Charlie doing the 'boo' thing, she wanted to do it too. At the end of the walk they both wanted to go in again.
We did a couple more rides, then did the walk again. This time Charlie was totally ready to say boo, leading to the moment that made me laugh really hard.
When microphone guy came up to scare the kids, Charlie yelled 'boo!'. Microphone Guy took this as a challenge, and a couple of seconds later darted up through the fog:
Microphone guy: *darts out of nowhere and gabbles something right in Charlie's face*
Charlie: *didn't see him coming* AAAAAAHHHHHH...BOO!
A few minutes later he said 'boo' to some creepy costume - dude had hatchets coming out his shoulders or something, so the guy followed Charlie for several minutes, just standing by his side glaring down at him.
Hatchet guy: *Scary glare of Doom*
Charlie: *Cautious glance* Boo!
Hatchet guy: *More glare of doom*
Charlie: *What the f* are you still doing here glance* Boo?
Hatchet guy: *glare glare glare*
Charlie: *giggles* Boo!
The last person we came upon was crouched on the ground, a truly frightful masked and shrouded creature. Charlie ran right up to, er, it, and said "BOO!" The costumed person pretended to cry. Charlie looked bemused.
So much for being frightened of the creatures that go bump in the night.**
Nikki and I wondered, if we'd gone in a third time, if they'd recognized Charlie as a really hard sell and gang up on him. At any rate, the kids had a great time scaring the scary people, and we laughed so hard we could barely walk.
It was an expensive day, but totally worth it. There is no sight quite so joyous to me as watching Charlie when he is having a 100% good time.
"Did you have fun? " I'd ask him after each ride.
He'd turn to me, eyes dancing, and spell, "Y. E. S.!"
*The characters were being portrayed by elderly people, so it was more like Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tale Retirement Village, but that didn't seem to matter.
**As long as they don't throw styrofoam packing peanuts at him, that is.
Whatever Marketing genius came up with the idea of opening amusement parks in October for Halloween deserves a medal. It was such fun. The fact the weather was (finally) absolutely gorgeous helped, and we got there around 3, and it was not terribly crowded, which meant there were no long lines on any of the rides. We did quite a few thrill rides, except for the two big roller coasters because Charlie and Julie were just a tad too small for them. But there were many other fast and furious rides the kids were able to go on, and we all even went on the Dominator. Charlie - loved it. Me, not so much. The whole hanging there in the sky for 30 seconds was just not fun for me. We laughed a lot though.
The Halloween stuff was really worth the price of admission. The kids got this little certificate thing that allowed them to go trick-or-treating at 'Trick-or-Treat Street', where little wooden houses were set up from nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The kid knocks on the door, and is given candy by the likes of one of the three little pigs,
Cinderella, Rapunzel, The Old Lady in the Shoe, and so forth.*
There were other 'scare free' Halloween things, including The Magical House on Boo Hill, which is is a family funhouse that is more likely to produce smiles than screams. A scare-free walk-through experience surprises guests with optical illusions around every corner..
After dark the Halloween stuff really begins in ernest. There were a few 'Haunted Houses' we didn't do, one, because the lines were too long and two, we didn't think the kids would like it. Although, as later events showed, I don't know that it would have phased Charlie too much.
The one 'scary' think we did do was The Fright Zone. The kids really wanted to, and we grown ups were curious. Basically it's a fog-machine shrouded walk where people in costumes jump out at you. And yes, I screamed a couple of times, especially when some guy with some kind of roller skate thing on his knees came zooming out of the fog right at me. And some people had these rattle-y cans that was eerie. It was fun.
I told Charlie that people were going to try to scare us, and if someone scares him, he ought to say 'boo' back at them.
So he did.
At first he was a bit nervous, so when someone leapt out at us, so I'd remind him to say 'boo'. By the end he was looking for people to say boo at. Julie was a bit more frightened, but when she saw Charlie doing the 'boo' thing, she wanted to do it too. At the end of the walk they both wanted to go in again.
We did a couple more rides, then did the walk again. This time Charlie was totally ready to say boo, leading to the moment that made me laugh really hard.
When microphone guy came up to scare the kids, Charlie yelled 'boo!'. Microphone Guy took this as a challenge, and a couple of seconds later darted up through the fog:
Microphone guy: *darts out of nowhere and gabbles something right in Charlie's face*
Charlie: *didn't see him coming* AAAAAAHHHHHH...BOO!
A few minutes later he said 'boo' to some creepy costume - dude had hatchets coming out his shoulders or something, so the guy followed Charlie for several minutes, just standing by his side glaring down at him.
Hatchet guy: *Scary glare of Doom*
Charlie: *Cautious glance* Boo!
Hatchet guy: *More glare of doom*
Charlie: *What the f* are you still doing here glance* Boo?
Hatchet guy: *glare glare glare*
Charlie: *giggles* Boo!
The last person we came upon was crouched on the ground, a truly frightful masked and shrouded creature. Charlie ran right up to, er, it, and said "BOO!" The costumed person pretended to cry. Charlie looked bemused.
So much for being frightened of the creatures that go bump in the night.**
Nikki and I wondered, if we'd gone in a third time, if they'd recognized Charlie as a really hard sell and gang up on him. At any rate, the kids had a great time scaring the scary people, and we laughed so hard we could barely walk.
It was an expensive day, but totally worth it. There is no sight quite so joyous to me as watching Charlie when he is having a 100% good time.
"Did you have fun? " I'd ask him after each ride.
He'd turn to me, eyes dancing, and spell, "Y. E. S.!"
*The characters were being portrayed by elderly people, so it was more like Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tale Retirement Village, but that didn't seem to matter.
**As long as they don't throw styrofoam packing peanuts at him, that is.
