So we are back from our birthday trip to Oregon's very own Enchanted Forest amusement park.
I'd been here once before, when Kathy visited some time last year (or the year prior?) but it was Dash's first time and felt like William's first too since he has pretty much no recollection of that prior trip :D
I was really insistent that we get there as early as possible (after church) so when we ended up leaving closer to 2pm than 11:30am I was pretty livid~! But I think I need to work on updating my idea of what an "outing" with the kids should be. From what I remember of my childhood, an outing to a place like an amusement park was an all-day affair where you milked every last bit of the place from dawn until dusk. But I suppose I should cut us some slack since the kids are still so little, so that even a couple of hours can be enough time for them to enjoy themselves at any given event. Granted, when I'm in charge of myself, I definitely opt for the "first to arrive, last to leave" model ;)
Anyway, yesterday the weather was perfect, especially in as a lovely environment as you'll find at Enchanted Forest.
No matter how "hot" it may have gotten, the abundance of rich foliage and trees constantly protected us from the sun's rays, and its location on a hill of sorts added a gentle breeze. I really can't imagine a more beautiful day to have gone :)
The first part of the park is themed with children's classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales, with animatronic figures in their little plaster houses and such. I'm going to be honest: it's a little disturbing. Just because it really doesn't feel like they've updated this part of the part since it originally opened and the audio's really decrepit and the figurines a little dead in the eyes @_@
Ella was unfazed but William felt the spookiness with me and refused to go in most of those first attractions. I didn't take any photos at this point. Sorry!
Moving on, the park enters a Wild West theme which had a shooting gallery, and a slide William went down at least a dozen times. It then morphs into a Medieval Village theme, where William and I went on the "Challenge of Mondor" ride. It involved shooting at spooky animatronic creatures in a deep dark tunnel as we rode in a little boat of sorts. William was definitely on edge but nothing terrible. No photos there because of the sheer darkness of the ride.
There was also "Pinnochio's Playhouse" where the kids experienced their first wacky mirror, so that was interesting:
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| Love me a good wacky mirror! |
I'd say that the kids' favorite area was the Kiddy Rides area which had things like bumper cars and a child-sized ferris wheel like you'd find at most any carnival.
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| William likes to feel like he's in control so these Bumper Boats were right up his alley |
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| They loved this slow-moving train~ |
So yeah, no exciting roller coasters or log rides, but I guess that's still okay for a 7- and 4-year-old.
Oh! It was super neato that we ran into a fellow family from Waldorf whose son is in Ella's class!! :)
He has a few inches on Ella which made a world of difference in terms of which rides he could go on, and it reminded me that it won't be long before our kids, too, can pretty much go on any ride at a park...some day!
For all my earlier insistence of getting there early, we actually ended up leaving before the park closed anyway, had TRB at home and an episode of GBBO, and called it a day. :)
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| Topped it off with a classic amusement park novelty lollipop! |
I would highly recommend this park to folks with kids of any age, because there's something for everyone~! The fairy tale area (despite what I said about the animatronics) is sweet in its own outdated way, and I like how the park has retained a lot of its old-school charm rather than updating every little thing like other parks might.
Anyway, if you are looking for something to do with your family some weekend, consider Enchanted Forest! And tell me what you thought! :D
Well, until next time~!
Take care and Happy Enchanted Forest!!
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