Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

The kids had 2 weeks off for Spring Break, and Dave was able to get a few days off work for a little trip. Last year Spencer went to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz with his eighth grade class, and he told us we should go there as a family. So we did!

The Boardwalk is a long, skinny amusement park right on the beach. It has carnival-type rides as well as a few roller coasters. It was a beautiful day!

Dave took the 3 oldest kids on a couple of the big rides, while I took the younger kids to some kiddie rides. Brennan was not amused! Poor kid was just 1" too short for several rides.  Next time, buddy!

 One of the big rides: Fireball

He was so happy when we met back up with the big kids and did some real rides. 



Fun little underground train ride with animatronics (reminded me of Disneyland). This was Chloe's favorite ride! 

Bumper cars - a huge hit. We did this one twice. 

Levi was just barely tall enough for this ride!

It's the kind that goes up and drops down randomly a few times.  There was also a bigger version of it that the big kids loved. Not my thing!

Cute little roller coaster. Brennan and Levi loved it, but Chloe wasn't so sure.



The Carrousel was the first ride at the Boardwalk - it was built in 1911.

From the top of the ferris wheel with Brennan. 



One thing I loved about this place was that it had rides for every age, so it really was a great family place. Plus everything was close together, so it was easy to split up and not be too far away from each other. There weren't nearly as many thrill rides as, say, Magic Mountain, but I loved that it had something for everyone.


And since it was right next to the beach, it didn't get too hot.

The Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster was Dave's favorite ride there. We went on it several times - no line! It was built in 1924 by the son of the guy who built the carousel. Both are national historic landmarks! It's the country's 5th oldest roller coaster, and it was built in just 47 days for $50,000. 

Why buy the pictures when they let you take a picture of your picture? 


We got a really great deal on our tickets. I found 2-for-1 tickets from Costco, so we paid just $20 each for the wristbands. It's free to get into the park - there's no gate or anything. So the wristbands get you on all the rides. Our deal also included cards with about $13 each to spend on games and extra activities. They played a lazer game as well as a throwing game to win these pickles. We never pay extra for that kind of thing, so that was fun!

The lines weren't bad at all! We were able to go on all our favorite rides twice. Everyone really loved the log ride. We got a little wet, but it was warm enough to feel good.

It was a really fun day. Great idea, Spencer! The kids have decided we should go there every Spring Break!

1 comment:

Mrs Abbott said...

Looks like so much fun! I haven't been commenting, because I've been reading blog posts through the blog lovin app but I'm still reading! :)