More Flags. More Fun. Six Flags!

Hector and I took the kids to Six Flags yesterday. We have not been out there in over 1o years, since before Samuel was born. We've somehow managed to avoid taking the kids out there all these years. But last year in school, Samuel and Avery both read several books and earned free passes to Six Flags. That saved us $62 right there! Yes, it's that expensive!!! Needless to say, we all had an awesome time! Samuel and Avery rode their first roller coaster, and then proceeded to ride it 6 more times. And then begged me to ride it one more time as we were leaving. Avery insisted we take pictures with every single character we saw. And I do mean every character. You'll see... Samuel met Batman and Robin, which was the highlight of his day! His eyes got so big when he saw them. The smile on his face said it all! He also met The Riddler and The Green Lantern, but he wouldn't let me take his picture with them. Isaac loved it too, although he hit his limit about an hour before the big kids were ready to leave. He was tired and ready to go, so Hector took him out to the car and waited while Samuel, Avery and I finished up with a few more rides.

And just in case any of you are planning on venturing out to Six Flags, here are some really great money-saving and time-saving tips that I'd like to pass along to you all.

Money & Time Saving Tips
* Wait until Six Flags offers a special promotion. We went when they were having a special where adults get in for a child's admission fee. Normally, it would have cost Hector and I $100 for admission, but instead we paid $62.

* Purchase your tickets online (even your parking voucher can be bought online). No waiting in the long line to buy your tickets at the admission desks. You simply walk straight up to the check-in gates and bypass everyone else.

* Take empty water bottles, plastic cups with lids, or sports bottles with you into the park. As long as they are empty at the entrance gates, you can take them in. Every restaurant and food vendor inside the park will fill them up with ice water for free.

* Go on a week day. We had NO waiting in long lines. It was great!

* Take a cooler full of food. You can't take it into the park, but you can leave it inside your car and eat lunch either in your car or at the picnic tables outside the park. I mean, when a kid's meal that comes with 2 chicken strips and some french fries cost $10, and a plain hot dog is $8, I think packing the cooler and sitting in your air conditioned car for 30 minutes and saving $60 on cheap, greasy food is the way to go, personally.

* Six Flags sells refillable cups for $13 each. Which personally speaking, is a lot of money for one day's worth of drinks, even if refills on any flavored drink in those cups are only $2.99, and the cups are big. I was going to borrow a friend's cup, but then simply forgot to get it from her before we went. So, the tip still is for you to see if you can borrow a friend's big orange refillable Six Flags cup if you plan on buying sodas. :-)

* Six Flags has a policy on all of their games that states that children get to keep playing until they win the game. At first, Hector and I were inclined to play the games for the kids, thinking that we'd have a better shot of winning. But if we played the game 1 time and lost, that was it... game over. But if the kids played the game, they paid $3 and got to play and play and play until they won. The kids won some really great prizes this way, for just $3. They really were great prizes (a large Super Man figure, a teddy bear dressed like Super Woman, a Curious George stuffed animal, super hero capes, etc)... Awesome, right?!?!

* Okay, and my final tip would probably best fit into the same category as carrying a really large purse with you into the movie theater, full of snacks from home. I called before we went, and told the man on the phone that my youngest child has allergies and that I would need to bring in a few snacks for him. I asked him how I could do that, when their policy is, "No outside food." He told me that as long as the snack food items were obviously for my child, that I would be allowed to bring it inside the park. So, I filled Isaac's diaper bag full of crackers, Granola bars, and fruit, and we all snacked on them inside the park. Hey, what can I say... I learned from the best! :-)

We stayed out there for 10 hours and didn't even come close to riding all the rides. But, there were no lines on any of the rides, and it was overcast most of the day. I just don't think we could have ordered up a more perfect day! Here are tons and tons of pictures...