Have Son, Will Travel: Adventure Park U.S.A

We have another trip to report on. This one is totally random. We had no plans this Sunday, so we hopped in the car in hopes that something would just spring upon us. As my mom flipped through one of our entertainment coupon books, she came across a colorful full page complete with pictures and multiple coupons for a place called Adventure Park U.S.A. I personally had never heard of this place but it billed itself as "Maryland's largest family entertainment center" so we figured we could do no wrong here. Adventure Park is located near Fredrick Md. From Harrisburg it was pretty much a straight shot down 11/15. It took us around an hour and 20 minutes to get there.

Before even entering the building, you already get the western theme from the look of the exterior. As soon as Javon saw the roller coaster he became extremely excited, as he had no idea where we were headed. We entered the building and approached the line to purchase wrist bands. The line seemed long but even with only 2 cashiers it moved very quickly. We approached the line and for 44$ with a buy one, get one 50% coupon, Javon and I were given all-day wristbands that included 4 Go-Kart rides, Laser Tag, Ropes Course, Mini Golf, Bumper Boats and rides on the 8 amusement rides. Sounds like a pretty good deal right? That's not how I felt when we left there 4 hours later.

After we received our wristbands, we skipped the indoor attractions and headed outside. The first thing Javon wanted to do was ride the scrambler. There was no line, we boarded the ride after the current one was finished. We had to sidestep around massive puddles to get into a car. We sat and waited a good 5-10 minutes as the attendant let more and more people board. When the ride finally started, I honestly wished we would of never gotten on. It creaked and rocked like a ride from a road side carnival. I held on to Javon as if the car may break free and fly off at any moment. I hope that all the ride needs is a bit of oil, but needless to say we would not be riding that again. From there we skipped the neighboring tilt-a-whirl and decided to mini golf. There was 2 side by side courses available to play. One redeeming factor of this trip was, even though my mom had not purchased an all day band, she still wanted to golf with us. We approached the outdoor golf desk and asked if we could purchase a round of golf, the kid behind the desk just scanned Javon's band, then scanned mine twice, handed the 3 of us clubs and sent us on our way. Even though he was more then likely not allowed to do that, I say thank you to him!

MiMi and Javon enjoying a few rounds of mini golf!

We played a round on the 1st course, then my mom and Javon played on the second course while I retreated to the car to find a bag to carry my camera and wallet. That camera gets pretty heavy after awhile! Being able to play unlimited rounds of mini golf was nice, since Javon is so obsessed. He would of played all day if we would have let him! After they finished the second course, Javon and I headed next door to the bumper boats. Again no line, we just waited till the current riders were finished. We watched as the soaked parents and kids emerged from the boats and I immediately began having second thoughts, but riding bumper boats was on Javon's bucket list so I knew I had to take one for the team! As we boarded we were informed that once we were done, we would not be able to ride the go karts or go back inside till we were completely dry. We had no change of clothes but I figured, it was warm out so we could dry rather quickly.

The bumper boats were a lot of fun. We did get wet but we managed to stay more dry then the riders before us, because we avoided the waterfall. Javon enjoyed squirting other riders while I steered the boat. After the boats, Javon rode the helicopter kiddie ride. Sadly, he was too short for the roller coaster, the teacup ride was not running and he passed on the carousel. So that makes 2 out of 8 rides that he rode. We were fairly dry after he was done on the helicopters so we attempted to ride the go-karts. The go-karts must be one of the main drawls, the line was huge so we passed on the go-karts and retreated inside. I tired to talk Javon into doing laser tag with me, but he said it was too spooky. As he played on the indoor play structure, I attempted to go play a round of laser tag myself, but found that they were handing out return times of over an hour later, so another skipped attraction.

As he ran around in the play area, I purchased a 20$ arcade card. Once I was able to persuade him out of the 3 story jungle gym, we headed to the arcade area. 20$ lasted both of us more then a half hour. It did seem as though many games only accepted tokens, and there was many out of order games as well. Once done in the arcade, we went to the Spin Zone bumper cars. We have some of these locally at The Meadows, and we have rode them before. They did not have the seats for younger rides available here like the do at the meadows, so we had to tell a little fib and say Javon was 5 in order to drive a car, but he has driven them at The Meadows before, so I didn't feel so bad. After the bumper cars we headed over to the ticket eater machines to cash out our tickets. On a busy Sunday afternoon, it was pretty disappointing to find that out of 4 ticket eaters, only one was functioning and we waited 15 minutes before it was finally our turn. 379 tickets later, Javon walked away with a cheap cup that you could of found at the dollar store and 3 dum dum lollipops.

Was this worth 64$? No way! We missed out on most of the major attractions. Did Javon have fun? Of course he did! He loved it, and has already asked to go back again. Will that be happening anytime soon? I'm pretty sure that is a no. There is a lot more fun that can be found closer to home but it was nice to try something new!