Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

The day after school let out we took Timo and Cameron to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, about 40mins north of SF.  Last year Six Flags has a reading campaign with SF public school, if you read so many hours (I can't remember how many), then you got a free ticket to Six Flags.  We finally cashed in on our free tickets one day before they expired!  I thought the park would be too big and maybe not enough little rides but it turned out to be the perfect size and the perfect amount of entertainment for our day.

A few years ago the park used to be Animal Kingdom and focused on animal preservation, shows and education.  Then Six Flags bought it out but kept a small part of the animal aspect which the kids loved.  Almost as soon as we got there we headed for the Tiger show which Cameron LOVED!  She has a soft spot for cheetahs but any wild cat will do when you're this close.  We even got to see new baby tiger cubs in the nursery.

But, of course, the biggest hit were the rides!  I had heard that there weren't that many rides that the kids were tall enough for but we didn't find that at all.  They were still mall enough for the kiddie rides and just tall enough for the intermediate rides...Cameron was just the magical 42" tall!

It was hot too!  Our SF city kids just aren't used to the dry California heat, especially Cameron...as they say, she just can't take the heat.  Luckily we found ways to cool down.  The giants slurpy...yeah, I had a coupon for it but it's one of those things where just because you save $2 doesn't mean you need a drink that big!  But the kids loved it and we got to keep the cool cups!

We got to pose with all our fave WB characters...the sad thing is our kids didn't really know who all the cartoon characters were.  We need to search Netflix for some Silvester/Tweety and Bugs Bunny to show them some real cartoons.

A few more rides, finish up the park, waiting until the Dolphin show...

We had waited all day to see the Cirque Dolphin show which actually turned out to be more Cirque du Soile than dolphin but it was still fascinating to watch.  The pre-show was almost as fun as the show...the fish stayed in our area and got the kids into the show.

Young really wanted to take the kids on a more advanced roller-coaster but I was skeptical, thinking they might get scared once they were on it.  But Young kept pushing and got the kids excited about it so on we went...and they had a blast.  Thank goodness for their Daddy!  We balance each other out, I tend to be more protective and he helps push them out of their comfort zone.  If you ask them, the roller coaster was their favorite part of the day.  That and playing the games at the end, winning their prizes.  The whole day was fun and we ended up staying way past when I had planned on leaving, we closed the park down at 9pm!

We were all starving by the time we left because we got caught up in riding rides and playing the games, time got away with us.  We stopped at the Denny's just up from the park to get dinner, which apparently is THE spot to go after Six Flags closes.  We were some of the first there but it soon filled up and had people waiting for tables.  As a consequence, it took a long time to get our food and check, the kids were so tired and we were tired, but thank goodness Timo and Cameron won some new friends to keep them busy.  They were out as soon as we were on our way home, which is a sign of a good time had by all.  I hope they have the reading program again this year so we get to go again next summer!