Best Summer Ever {2013}: Wet 'N Wild

Just when JAM thought all the fun was over now that we returned from our Cali trip, I was given complimentary media passes to check out Las Vegas' new water park, Wet 'N Wild. It seemed like a no-brainer to bring a water park back to the desert so JAM and I were ecstatic to check the place out. We went as soon as the park opened in the morning to avoid the rumored afternoon rush. Since we were visiting as media, they provided us with complimentary parking and Xpress Bands for each of us.

The park was actually a littler smaller than I expected. There are about 11 different attractions to visit with about 5 of those being slides that were fully accessible to the little kids (over 42" tall). Considering there were only 5 slides, it wasn't a surprise that the lines started to get a little long when the rush of people came in around noon. Some of the more popular slides had about an hour or more wait time.

 
This where the Xpress Bands came into play. Xpress Bands are an innovative wristband  that allows guests to wait in line for slides virtually. These bands are definitely worth the price in my opinion. The ones given to us looked like orange wrist watches. There are kiosks around the park used to reserve you spot in line with the bands. You scan your band, choose your slide of choice and then the wait time is synced with your band. You can group up to 8 reservations at one time which is pretty neat. Once the band clocks out at 0:00, you head to a special Xpress Bands line at the coordinating slide and away you go. JAM and I would hang out in the lazy river (AKA the Colorado Cooler) or grab a bite to eat while we waited. When it was time to head to our reserved slide we were usually the only ones in the special line so it was perfect. No one hour wait times burning in the Las Vegas heat for us!

Let me tell you though, it's been YEARS since I've visited a water park and this was my first time going as a mom. Whoo! If there was a time I wished Mahal came along on a trip, this would be the one just for his muscle power to carry the inner tubes haha. I definitely got a work out when visiting Wet 'N Wild and riding all of the slides. Most of the slides require an inner tube of some sort so when you're next in line, the person just getting off the slide hands off their inner tube to you so you can ride next. However, depending on the slide, these inner tubes can get fairly heavy. It also doesn't help that you have to carry that thing up like 7 flights of stairs each and every time. One of the most popular slides (The Rattler) had a raft-like inner tube and that thing was HEAVY! I'm only 5'2 and that thing was definitely bigger that me. There was no way I was lifting that off the ground to carry it. I felt bad for some of the kids that didn't have an adult to help them. Two little kids would make it up about 5 steps and give up. If I was struggling, I couldn't imagine how the kids felt. I was definitely hyperventilating by the time I reached the top step with my out of shape self haha. 

That circular lime green raft is the HEAVY tube for the Rattler. Eek!

Another complimentary feature provided to us was a locker. The technology set up for Wet 'N Wild's lockers were pretty neat. You naturally pay at a neighboring kiosk for you chosen locker (there are 3 sizes to choose from), and you receive a wrist band once you make your payment. You head to your section with your chosen locker size and you use your keyless access wristband to pop a locker open. No need to search for a locker key or trying to remember which locker is yours. That wristband allows unlimited access to your locker and all you need to do is scan your wristband in the coordinating locker section and the door pops right open. Neat! The largest sized locker was big enough to fit my fully packed beach bag and my purse. A little side note, WEAR YOUR SHOES! Don't leave them in the locker. Most of the water park is cement so the floors get super hot during the summer months. Worst case scenario, if you're wearing flip flops instead of water shoes just put the flip flops around your wrists when riding the slides. Many kids even left their flip flops at the side of the entrance or exit of the slide for convenience.

One thing that definitely surprised me about Wet 'N Wild was how affordable the food was. I assumed the food would be a total rip off just like any other amusement park I've attended. When we visited Legoland and Disneyland we easily paid $20 for a slice of pizza and a water. Not at Wet 'N Wild. Glancing at their menu most of the food was around $8 and some of those were combo meals. They offered a souvenir mug for about $12 that offered free refills and was totally worth the money in this Vegas heat. Plus, you can bring the mug back when you visit during the rest of the season and pay only 99 cents for a refill. JAM approved all the food he tried during our visit. This mommy opted for yummy goodness like Dippin' Dots and funnel cake instead of "real food" and I was just as satisfied.

It was all in all a great day at Wet 'N Wild Las Vegas. The lockers and Xpress Bands make our visit that much more enjoyable. All the staff was very helpful and friendly when needed, and all the attractions were a blast. We finished off our day hanging out in the wave pool (AKA Red Rock Bay), the Kiddie Cove, and Paradise Falls where JAM and I got drenched by a bucket filled with 300 gallons of water! We can't wait for the 2014 season to visit again, and hopefully with Mahal this time around.

What's your favorite slide at Wet 'N Wild Las Vegas?

Best Summer Ever {2013}: Legoland California

If I didn't win the mom of the year award by taking JAM to Disneyland this summer, I definitely put the cherry on top by treating him to Legoland California too! I have never been to Legoland either so I was actually really excited to go as well. Having a little boy, it takes little to no brain cells to know that this is definitely a place to take your little man. I honestly didn't know what to expect when arriving at Legoland, but JAM made it clear that the number one thing on his to-do list today was to get his "driver's license". So, we packed up our huge brood of a family and away all 14 of us went!

A little tip for any of you heading to Legoland, they didn't check our backpacks so we were able to bring in little snacks for the kids to give them a little energy boost throughout the day. It especially helped for my baby cousin to keep her occupied while we waited in line for all the rides. The park wasn't as packed as I expected it to be and the weather was perfect. All the kids were full of energy so we picked out JAM's first EVER roller coaster and headed to wait in line. I'm definitely one who loves roller coasters so I was so excited that JAM was as ecstatic as I was to try out his first roller coaster. Project X was the winner of this awesome "first" and JAM has an absolute blast. We ended up riding it twice that day.

For the littles who weren't quite ready to ride a roller coaster, the family decided to ride the Legoland boat tour. That ride was actually pretty neat. There were so many fun sculptures and figures laid out throughout the tour which were fully made out of legos. It was pretty amazing to see the details of it all. That's one thing I actually appreciated about Legoland, 90% of their rides were accessible to the little ones. Like I said in my Disneyland post, there were 8 kids under the age of 10 in our crew. All of the kids were able to ride most of the rides together and the youngest cousin was four years old (aside from the baby of course).

Legoland has a water park section, but we decided to just explore the amusement park portion. That's ok though because there's a section of the park where it was a whole water section! That was more than enough "water park" action for all the kids. We spent a majority of our time in this area of the park since it was summertime. It was even more fun that the water rides had some variation of being able to shoot other riders with water or shoot the bystanders. We all absolutely loved getting drenched each and every time.

We rode a few more rides and stopped to take some photos of the awesome lego displays throughout the park. We decided to grab lunch at a restaurant that served pizza and pasta since it seemed like the perfect menu for the kids.

Then we were off to check off the number one thing on JAM's to-do list for the day, getting his "driver's license". That area is so cute because they have two tracks, one for the littles and one for the older kids, which I thought was so great. This was just another example of how I explained the park definitely catered to the kids and families of all ages. JAM had a blast driving through the course and learning how to obey the rules of the rode driving through the lego town. After he completed the course he took his picture for his driver's license and it was $5 to purchase the license if you wanted to take it home. Another successful first for JAM and an amazing way to end our Cali trip with the family. All of us had a blast, including the adults and we can't wait to visit again.

What's your favorite part about Legoland?

Best Summer Ever {2013}: First Time to Disneyland

We've finally made it to "The Happiest Place on Earth". I haven't been here since I was a kid, and all I remember was having to wait HOURS in line for rides and I wasn't a happy camper. Now that I'm coming back as a parent, I honestly wasn't too thrilled to take on this beast of a theme park but I was excited to have JAM experience another first in his life. We made it a huge family trip with 8 kids in tow under the age of 10. Lucky for us, there were more adults than kids so everyone buddied up and away we went to start this magical journey.

Like I said, it's been a long time since I've been to Disneyland. JAM and I saw a lot of fun attractions on the Disney channel prior to our trip so we were super excited to check some of them out. Come to find out, a lot of those attractions featured on TV were actually a part of Disney California Adventure NOT Disneyland haha. Whoops. Regardless, I knew that Disneyland was definitely a place I wanted JAM to experience as a kid. Looking at the map as we entered, there was no way we'd be able to cover it all in one day so the adults huddled together to decide on the major areas we wanted the kids to check out. I honestly can't recollect the different "villages" since there were so many, but all the themes in each area were so fun to experience. We saw Goofy up ahead so we stopped at the first store to buy an autograph book for all the kids. Sadly though, once we approached the line there was an associate telling people the line was cut off so Goofy could grab some lunch. Bummer.

To keep the momentum going we decided to choose our first ride. The cool thing about Disney rides is that they have these fast pass machines. Every ride has one. If you don't want to wait in line, you use your Disneyland ticket stub to grab 1 fast pass per ticket stub and the fast pass will have a time stamped on it to let you know when to return. When you do come back at the said time there's a special fast pass line to basically walk to the front of the line! So if you time it correctly, you can grab a fast pass for a ride that has a long line and ride another ride while you wait. For example, It was 11:30am and Space Mountain's line was super long so we grabbed 8 fast passes to come back later. The fast passes said to return at 1:30pm.While we waited we grabbed a bite to eat and rode a ride nearby. It took about 45 minutes to go on the nearby ride so by the time we finished the ride and grabbed a bite to eat it was time to head to Space Mountain. We walked up the special fast pass line and waited only 10 minutes to be seated on the ride! Awesome!

What movie is this from? hehe

Like I said, this was JAM's first time to Disneyland so his first ride here had to be epic. My little cousins recommended the Star Wars ride (AKA Star Tours) first. Along the way we passed many storm troopers. To my surprise, they never wanted to stop to take pictures or interact with the kids. JAM was kind of bummed about that so I just told him to stand near one of them while we were in a traffic jam and snapped a quick photo. The attentiveness of the Disney characters who walked around the premises were pretty crappy throughout the day. We learned really quickly that the only way to snap a pic or get an autograph from the characters was to visit the themed villages were the popular characters "resided". Anyways, back to the Star Tours ride. The line wasn't too long and JAM was so excited to see familiar characters from the movie as we walked through the line. Once we arrived at the boarding area, JAM was thrilled to find out 3-D glasses were required because everyone knows how much this kid loves 3-D anything. There was an "A" and "B" section and once the doors opened we walked to the end of our designated row and buckled up. We were inside a Star Wars aircraft to complete a mission! According to my uncle, the scenario is different in the "A" section from the "B" section we were in. This Star Wars ride was actually super fun! The whole thing moves around as you fly through space and other different areas and it rattles as our enemies try to shoot at our aircraft. The graphics were amazing, which wasn't a surprise since we're working with Disney standards here.

We visited a few other places such as this building where JAM got to virtually transform into Iron Man, and rode other rides like going underwater in a submarine to see Nemo. P.S. I'm you're claustrophobic, I suggest you don't ride this submarine. There's only one way in and one way out plus you're seated in a tight and confined area. One lady almost lost it because she was seated in the middle of the row and felt like she couldn't breathe. Luckily she made it through the whole ride without panicking.

Next stop was Toon Town so that JAM and the rest of the kids could get a few autographs. This place was so cute. There was a cul-de-sac filled with the homes of the Disney greats: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy. The stated wait times were definitely way longer than actual time. The sign in front of Mickey's house said a 60 minute wait but we only waited about 30 minutes, if that. It was so neat too because you get a chance to walk through Mickey's home. It was actually pretty big! You can sit in his chair and check out all the details. The sign said he was in the backyard barn filming a movie, so some people stayed behind to check out Mickey's house while some zoomed right through to the barn. The barn is where the actual line is. Everything was organized real well by the associates letting in two families at a time to Mickey's filming area so that you didn't feel rushed or crowded to snag a photo and autograph from Mickey. Once inside, the associate took photos with our cameras and camera phones then Mickey signed all of the kids' autograph books. By the way, props to "Mickey" for having such an awesome signature with those huge hands and provided tiny pen haha. We also got to have tea with Minnie and act goofy with Goofy. Pluto hung out by his doghouse, and Donald and Daisy weren't home but had pretty neat houses to check out.

While some of the kids rode a couple quick rides, JAM took a power nap (haha). Then it was off to Tarzan's treehouse and a visit to Merida. I told JAM that you can't visit Disneyland without riding "It's a Small World". He wasn't too enthused but it was a must on mommy's list. It ended up paying off because Tom Brady and Gisele were on our boat! We didn't make a scene and told the kids not to either so we politely said hello. They clearly were enjoying a day with their kids too and we didn't want to spoil it for them.

Oh hey Tom Brady! :)

The adults took turns riding a few rides too. My favorite ride definitely had to be the Indiana Jones ride. You swear you were in the movie. Anyways, the day was winding down so we all decided to grab some dinner. There were endless options, but we decided to eat at the Stage Door Cafe since they has simple and easy choices for the kids to eat. Mommy on the other hand didn't want chicken fingers so I walked a bit to grab a bowl of yummy goodness.

Steak Gumbo in a bread bowl. YUM!

The sun was setting and we grabbed a seat on the barricaded walkway to get ready for Fantasmic. This show is a definite MUST SEE when visiting Disneyland. Around 9pm, you find a spot surrounding the waterfront and they have this great show with Mickey and many familiar Disney characters. Especially if you have little ones, I suggest that you reserve your seat early so they can get a good view of the show. Nearing the start of the show they barricade off the section so passerby-ers can still navigate where to go. I don't want to spoil too much off the storyline, but just know, the closer you are the more wet you get. Don't worry, it's just a little mist but I noticed some little kids cried because they got wet in general so if your kiddo is one of those, back up a little hehe. Well, there you have it! JAM's first trip to Disney and we survived! We all had a blast and it was definitely one to remember. Maybe next time we'll make it a whole weekend trip so we can cover more ground.

What's your favorite attraction at Disneyland?