Coaster King!

Should a two-year-old be having this much fun?  As you can see from the video he really enjoyed the “Pounce and Bounce”; a Sylvester and Tweety Pie themed vertical drop ride albeit downsized for smaller riders. Typical for Z, he was lucky enough to grab a seat between a gaggle of young girls, who enjoyed the ride nearly as much as he did.

Admittedly we were dubious about taking someone under 48″ to Six Flags Magic Mountain since its pretty much a theme park full of massive adrenaline filled roller coasters – but we were assured there was enough small stuff to keep us and Z busy for a day.

Just an hour and a half drive from home, it didn’t take long to get to park – which was a blessing  as Z had zero patience. His lack of patience was probably my fault as I told him we were going to ride a train, so he was expecting a 10 minute drive to the train we regularly ride here in Bakersfield; the California Children’s Railroad.  Instead he got stuck in his car-seat and hauled up the grapevine. Luckily since the park didn’t open till 10:30am we were able to get a leisurely start and accommodate Z’s frustration.

Z spotted the coasters from I-5, and without knowing where we were heading, informed us that we needed to take him to the roller coasters.

We actually got to the park shortly after 11, and we’re expecting it to be totally packed – which it wasn’t.  In fact, its the off-season for Six Flags; which means its only open weekends and school holidays. We’d got our tickets online and were able head right into the park.

Once in the park we followed the map to the “Thrill Seekers in Training” selection of rides – all located in a Looney Toons themed area.  Within minutes we we’re on the first ride of the day. It was obvious we’d have no problem with Z being scared of any of the rides as he begged to go higher and faster.

For the record I’ll call the Canyon Blaster (pictured right)  Z’s first ever roller coaster. Although he rode the Matterhorn in Disneyland back in May 2011  he didn’t enjoy due to the fact that a big scary-hairy monster jumped out at him halfway through the ride – I’m sure he’d rather forget that roller coaster ride ever happened.

All in all there were about 13 rides Z was able to ride ranging from a slow steady train ride to a fully fledged roller coaster.  A couple of rides he had to ride by himself as the ride was truly made for kids only. Mrs Almost American and I were a little apprehensive about him riding alone. Of course it wasn’t a problem, Z loved it and told us in no small terms he didn’t want to ride with us anymore – as fussy parents we were cramping his style.

The longest line we had to wait in all day was the line for food.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better experience. After six hours of riding carousels and coaster, however, we called it a day dragging Z from the park under the guise that the roller coasters had run out of batteries.

I’m not sure who enjoyed our visit to Six Flags more… Z, Mrs Almost American or I.  It was probably Z since he is still talking about the roller coasters three days later and running around throwing his arms high in the air and screaming.  I loved watching Z enjoy the rides, but have to admit the pirate ship made me a little green!

As we get them downloaded I’ll post a couple more videos, until then enjoy the small gallery of Six Flags photos below: