May 27th, 2008 larry
I probably haven’t been to Great America since Accenture used to rent it out for the whole company each May before the park opened. That was probably 1994. If you are like me, and haven’t been there in more than a decade, you’ll see that all of your favorite rides are still there: American Eagle, Demon, Roaring Rapids, Yankee Clipper, and Batman. You’ll also find that these are now the wimpiest rides at the park. The park has done some excellent enhancements to their amusement rides and thrill seekers will not be disappointed.
But first, the particulars. Great America, though only in Gurnee, is not a trip to take lightly. A family of four would be hard pressed to spend less than $300 for the day. If you go on-line, tickets for people over 48″ are $39.99 ($15 better than buying them at the park). Tickets for people under 48″ are $25.99. Parking is either $15 for value lot and $25 to park a little closer. Definitely go the $15 route as you don’t get $10 closer for the other lot. Then, they charge you $3 to print your tickets on-line (or you can have the sent UPS for more). Of course, once in the park, arcade games, food and souvenirs will tap you for more. So, make the most of your day and get your money’s worth. If your kids like Great America and you think you’ll go 2 or more times, definitely get the season pass. The season pass is only $89 which is quite a steal given what a day pass cost.
So once you have emotionally gotten past the price tag, the park is really fantastic. If your kid is over 42″ they can go on about 90% of the rides and anybody over 54″ inches can go on anything. The park still caters to the thrill seeker and that typically means roller coasters. Vertical Velocity, Superman, Batman, and The Dark Knight (supporting the new movie this summer) along with the classics like the Demon are whirlwinds of excitement, loops, upside down (or upside over as my kids says), and speed. Then there are the non-roller coaster thrill rides like the Yankee Clipper, Giant Drop, and Ragin’ Cajun. These rides go up, down, all around and so will your stomach so be careful with your in-take of corn dogs.
When I was a kid, I could spend the entire day at Great America, from 10 in the morning until 10 at night. But now, they also have a full blown outdoor water park with over 12 water slides and slews of other water park activities. The water park, called Hurricane Harbor, (which deserves its own newsletter all its own) not only gives you more stuff to do, but we think it thins out the crowd at the amusement park and shortens the lines. For $19.99 you can get a “come back the next day ticket” which you might need if you don’t think you can get everything done in 12 hours.
There are three areas for smaller kids: Wiggles World, Camp Cartoon, and Bugs Bunny National Park. Wiggles has a live show and the featured rides are the Big Red Car and the Big Red Plane (push a button and it goes up and down). Camp Cartoon has the Scooby Doo van ride and the Spacely Sprockets roller coaster. Bugs Bunny National Park has a great climbing and slide area as well as a fun indoor playground called Looney Tune Lounge which has foam balls you can shoot through American Gladiator Style cannons. All of these rides are great and there are other rides scattered throughout the park which younger kids can go on like carousels, bumper cars, go carts, or tea cups. We took our 3 year old on the Rapids ride which he thought was fun until he went under a waterfall and got soaked. He was just confused why he was wet without a bathing suit.
The bottom line is that if you have kids over 5 and most definitely 9 or over, Great America is as great of time as ever and worth every penny. Block out the day, pack your bathing suit, and get there first thing in the morning before it is too crowded and the family will have a phenomenal day. The decision is not so clear for kids under 5. You can enjoy these same type of rides at more affordable amusement parks around the city (most notably Kiddieland). For kids under 5, Great America may not make as much sense.
Review Great America here
Larry and Donna
Mom Says: If your child is a daredevil, and a minimum of 42″ tall, there are a lot of rides they can go on with an adult, yet our child was not ready for those kinds of thrills. I can’t imagine taking a 4 year old on the Dark Knight or Demon (42″ can ride that one alone)!!! For us the kiddie rides are the only real option and that makes Great America a bit limited. But that said, we had a fun day. The staff was super friendly and park was very clean.
Dad Says: I really have to swallow my pride that my favorite ride, the Demon, is now considered a “moderate” thrill ride. Great America elicits all of the same feelings it used to — do you have the guts to go on the scary rides or are you going to go on the water rides all day? Man up and go on Vertical Velocity.
Posted in Venues | 76 Comments »
May 18th, 2008 larry
As gas prices near $5 (Chicago has consistently been in the top 3 most expensive gas prices in the country) we thought we would come up with a couple of activities that are free of charge and proven good fun. Many companies are very kid friendly in order to lure you into their place to shop. We frequently visit these places and sooner or later they do wind up with some of our money. But these places are great, “instant fun”, last minute, no preparation venues, that act as backup entertainment that doesn’t lighten your wallet. There are many of these types of places, not the least of which is the Lincoln Park Zoo, but we review three this week that we use all of the time: Timeless Toys, McDonald’s Playland, and Barnes and Noble bookstore.
Timeless Toys is our favorite toy store in the city. It’s an independently owned store, with an impressive selection of well chosen toys, books and crafts. The employees really know the merchandise and help shoppers pick age appropriate gifts for children of all ages. The best part of the store is that they have lots of toys available for the children to play with. It’s great to go there and just let the kids explore the aisles and try new toys. It’s fun for the children and helpful to parents who can see which toys are engaging their children. There are also a few train tables available for the kids to use. Browsing and playing are encouraged here, so I love to stop by often.
McDonalds was, of course, a staple of all of our childhoods, but we went there for food. Especially, if Mom left us alone with Dad. But McDonalds has really up-scaled itself beyond the Big Mac into complete entertainment. If you see a McDonalds with the Playland sign you should expect to find a pretty great climbing maze and video games. At busy times like lunch and dinner, the climbing maze is an absolute zoo. The kids play “Catch Me” and “Tag” as they climb up ladders, race through the maze, and fling themselves down twisty slides. Our kid always makes a new friend or two to chase. Right now, you get a Speed Racer car with a happy meal. Kids take the cars through the maze with them and zoom them down the slide to add just a little more fun to the trip. There are comfortable chairs for parents and (at least at the Diversey and Ashland location) plays pretty good music.
And guess what, a Happy Meal doesn’t have to be the monstrosity that you might have seen in Supersize Me. This can be a healthy meal of chicken, fruit, and milk. In fact, in general, McDonalds can provide a pretty healthy meal. One of our kid’s favorites is the fruit yogurt which is healthy, tasty, and fast. Of course, it is up to Mom and Dad not order the french fries themselves.
Finally, there are the video games. Most McDonalds keep them pretty operational. They have all of the favorites like Mario Brothers and next generation Frogger. Even though new video games come with about 20 buttons now, our 3.5 year old seems to be able to navigate Frogger. Of course, he finds it funnier when the frog drowns in the river than actually making it through the game safely.
Barnes and Noble is a great book store but is also a great place for kids to learn how to read and get engrossed in books. We frequent the Barnes and Noble at Webster and Clybourn, but many provide the same types of environment: a Thomas the Train table with plenty of trains, several tables and chairs to read, and typically a small stage where Barnes and Noble does story time for the kids. During the winter, the train table can get pretty crowded but is just another good opportunity to teach the kids about sharing and playing together.
The best part of the book store is that the store encourages children and parents to pretty much pick whatever book they want off the shelf, plop down on the floor, and then sit, lay, and lounge while they (or their parents) read books. We can easily spend over an hour at the store (be careful because validation for parking is good for only 1.5 hours) while reading Spiderman, Iron Man, Diego, Dora, Thomas, and anything else. Sometimes, we also go over the magazine section and open up the car and boat magazines to gawk at sports cars and speedboats. And the staff is great. Especially in the kids section, the staff is usually very helpful and knowledgeable. If you explain what you are looking for, they will typically be able to find you something.
These are great, no preparation, last minute types of places that are always different (there are always new books to read and toys to play with) and tons of fun. Though they are free, you will part with some cash sooner or later. We may not buy a toy or book every time, but it happens a decent percentage of the time.
Larry and Donna
Mom Says: Each of these places are great “sanity savers.” I have times when I just NEED an activity, but I don’t want to go to (or have time for) a museum, zoo, or bounce house. These are great little spots for last minute play, where you are guaranteed to be around other parents and kids for a little while.
Dad Says: Who would have thought I would be hanging out at McDonalds on the weekend. The kid can run and play and I can usually get some reading done while keeping an eye on him. You have to resist buying a Happy Meal just to get the toy, but if you are having lunch anyway, it is worth it.
Posted in Venues | 72 Comments »
May 11th, 2008 larry
This week we launch the new Crazy Kids Chicago web site. We will continue to write this blog every week to feature something specific, but the web site has what you have been waiting for: a more complete listing of books, toys, events, and venues with descriptions and reviews by your fellow parents. If you have visited these places, read these books, or played with these toys, please add your reviews and ratings to the list. If we are missing anything (we don’t claim to have everything just yet), please add your favorites to the list. Together, we will create a complete guide to children’s entertainment in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few tips when using the web site:
The web site is divided into the following categories:
1. Toys - self explanatory.
2. Books - self explanatory.
3. Entertainment includes 4 sub categories: Parks (playgrounds, etc.), Venues (a specific destination like a museum), Water (beaches, pools, and water parks), and TV Shows. For now, Movies are also included into TV shows.
4. Events is something that is going on for a specific time period like a play, special promotion at a venue, or special activity at a park district.
Each category has items that can be reviewed. For instance, within Venues you may find the Chicago Children’s Museum or Kohls Children Museuem. The reviews are the key ways that you can find out what people think about something or can express your opinion. There are two parts to every review:
1. Textual Review. This is a textual explanation of what you thought about specific place, toy, or book.
2. Ratings. 5 stars is the best rating and 1 star is the worst. We have three different kinds of rating for each item. Overall rating is the general impression you had about something. We display the average overall rating for all of the items on Crazy Kids. Education Rating is how you felt it helped your child learn something. Education Rating may not make sense for everything like Parks. Paret Fun Rating is how much fun you had for this item. What could be better if your child liked it and you actually had fun, too?
When trying to find something to do, buy, or read, you may want search for an item. There are two search boxes, one in the upper right hand corner and one for each category that typically displays in the middle to the left. The one in the upper right hand corner searches the whole sight while the category search only searchs that specific category, like Toys. Currently the search works on whole words so you need to spell the word (or words) correctly to find what you are looking for.
If you don’t find what you are looking for, you may want to add your own item. Each category has its own custom set of fields. So Books has an Author field and Parks has an age range. Only the name and the description are required so you can skip the rest if you want. If you don’t know the web site or don’t have a picture for a new item, we will find it for you. Just send us a message at this email about the item you want us to find something for and we’ll get it for you.
You can also modify your profile in the My Settings link. You can add a picture (avatar) for yourself that will be placed by all reviews and items that you create. You can also document how many children you have, their ages, and their school placement. This information will become more helpful in the future as we make it easier for you to search for things.
Thank you again for participating in Crazy Kids. In the month of May, we will be enhancing the searching and sorting features of the site and adding a coupon section where you can get special deals as a Crazy Kids member. In June, will be launching a full marketing strategy within the Chicagoland area by sponsoring different events and web sites. More to come.
In the meantime, if you have kids 8 or above, we recommend you go see Iron Man as soon as possible. Overall Rating 4 and Parent Fun Rating at least a 4. A bunch of cartoon action mixed with Robert Downey Jr’s sarcasm and deadpan humor makes this an enjoyable couple of hours.
Please log on as soon as you can and let us know if you have any questions or issues.
www.crazykidschicago.com
Larry and Donna
Posted in Crazy Kids Updates | 326 Comments »
May 4th, 2008 larry
We have to admit it, we are suckers for a good water park. So this weekend we went to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee which is absolutely a good water park. Unlike Coco Key at Arlington Race Track, you have to stay at the hotel to be able to go this water park. This weekend the least expensive room was $219 per night and prices get lower during the week, sometimes to $179 per night (prices include water park access). They offer other packages that include arcade tokens with multiple night stays.
Key Lime Cove is more than a hotel or water park, it is truly an entire resort. We were extremely surprised how well done, how friendly, how clean, and how much fun this place is. Of course, the main attraction is the water park. Key Lime has all of the necessities of a first rate, first class water park including:
- 250 gallon tank of water in the shape of a pineapple that dumps itself out every 10 minutes or so.
- Small slides for really small kids, and medium slides for kids maybe 3-9. These medium slides twist and turn and dump you out in about 6 inches of water. They were fast enough to even get the parents excited and elicited the excited “Again, Again, Again” from our kid. This entire area is very shallow, so it is extremely safe for all ages.
- Five large water slides. There were two body slides that were mostly in the dark which is pretty exciting since you don’t know which way you are going to go the first couple of times. Then there were three tube slides that were extremely fast. One of the slides goes almost completely vertical and dumps you into a toilet bowl that keeps you circling until you fall into the pool. One of the nice things is that they will let you take smaller kids down the tube ride with an adult.
- A tubing river and wave pool that takes you around the water park.
- A hot tub to hang out in.
- A 3 foot pool with basketball hoops.
- A dedicated tot pool for the very young kids with two really small slides.
Unique to Key Lime Cove is the massive amount of water cannons, spray guns, dumping buckets, and other assorted water weapons. Our kid could not stop pulling ropes, dumping water, cranking water cannons, and twisting sprouts. And it is an all out war zone of water slinging. Older kids set themselves up on the higher levels and wait for people to pass underneath to dump and spray water. Adults are not immune. In fact, it seems that the older you are, the worse you get dumped on. The only unfortunate part of the park is that there is no place to just swim, especially for those under 48″.
But Key Lime does go farther than just the water park. The whole island theme is backed by several restaurants, a pretty robust arcade, a bakery, ice cream stores, stuffed animal making boutique, and an arts and crafts area. They have little activities throughout the day as well. There was a small parade at night, a Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana tribute singer (she was really talented and the young girls were totally into it), and several arts and crafts activities during the day. Our kid participated in an airplane making activity which was great. There is a full service spa. The salon offers mother and daughter manicure/pedicures and tween pampering as well. In general, we found the staff energetic, fun, helpful, and patient from the lifeguards, to the arcade area, to the arts and crafts store. You always saw the staff playing ad-hoc games with kids outside the arts and crafts area.
It is obviously a bit of an investment being a hotel stay, but we would highly recommend Key Lime Cove. Key Lime will be a great place to go before the weather is good enough for outdoor water fun and maybe a nice alternative during the summer where you don’t have to constantly be lathering everyone up with sun screen. If you were planning on going to the Dells (which is really the Super Bowl of water parks), you would have to think twice before traveling 2 extra hours. We saw kids as old as teenagers having a great time, and, with the other activities, there are good breaks from the water activities. The food is just OK, but not inedible, and there are healthy choices. The chocolate chip cookie was $2.75 (they must be comparing their prices to Great America which is next door) and the pizza was good right out of the oven, but be wary if it has been sitting a while.
Review this blog or Key Lime Cove
Larry and Donna
Mom says: Key Lime Cove was great, it exceeded all expectations. So cheerful, fun, clean, bright, the staff was OUTSTANDING. There are plenty of activities to break up all the water park play. I especially liked the arts and craft area. One special feature is that your wristband for the water park is also your room key and charge card. For moms that means not having to keep track of any valuables while you’re out and about during your stay. You can start playing at the water park at 1pm the day you arrive and can play the whole next day as well. After checkout (11am) the resort will hold your bags, and lockers are available as well.
Dad says: We arrived at 1:00 the day of our hotel stay and my 3.5 year old pretty much played through until 7:30 at night. And we were the first ones on the slide at 9:00 a.m. the next day. An exhausting, fun couple of days and found that I was strangely addicted to the Deal or No Deal video game — you can win up to 200 tickets.
Posted in Water | 788 Comments »