Dollywood

August 24, 2011

Liam's first time on River Rampage - he got drenched but loved every minute of it! Doesn't he look so small!

We wanted to do one last fun summer trip for the boys before school starts this Thursday. We took a day trip to Dollywood. We got there a little after the park opened and it was not very crowded at all. We walked on almost every ride and if we had to wait it wasn't longer than a few minutes. Last time we were there in May Adley was just shy of being able to ride all the big rides. We learned about a place where they will measure you and give you an armband that has the appropriate color that corresponds with your height category. This way you are measured once and simply just have to show your armband to get on the ride. Adley was thrilled that he was tall enough this time to ride any ride in the park. Eli and Liam also got moved up to the next category. Thank goodness for Eli because this kid has been dying to ride more rides. He and Adley are not afraid of anything.
Adley ended up riding all the big rides with either Jared or myself. It was nice to have a buddy to ride the big rides with while one of us stayed with the other kids. Aidan isn't one to ride anything that might be the littlest bit scary. Hopefully in time he will learn they are a lot of fun. So Adley tackled Tennessee Tornado (3 loops), Mystery Mine (vertical lift and drop & corkscrew), Thunderhead (this roller coaster is hard for me to ride) and Barnstormer (he did twice, once with me, once with Jared - this ride is a kind of swing ride that you go 81 ft in the air - insane really!) He's a real trooper. Here are the little guys getting wet while we waited for Jared & Adley.

Eli rode 2 new rides for him and got to go on Adventure Mountain for the first time. This is a ropes course. He is usually stuck waiting on the big boys playing on the 'baby' ropes course as he calls it. Well Jared took the boys up and then 5 min later he brought Eli down hysterically crying because they wouldn't let him on it. What? he had an orange bracelet, he was measured, why won't they let him on....turns out they measured him again at their station for some crazy reason and he was barely too short. This of course made me very mad. What was the point of the dang bracelet and Eli had been looking forward to this ALL day! I asked to speak to whoever was in charge. They apologized and said they had to abide by the safety regulations. I said 'don't tell me sorry, tell my 4yr sorry. He's been looking forward to this all day, he has a bracelet!' Eli of course didn't understand and frankly I didn't either. So I told them all the other new rides he had been on. We even walked back down to one with one of the ropes guides and measured him there, sure enough he was tall enough. We went back to Adventure Mountain and they agreed to let him on - FINALLY!!!! They did have someone come and inspect their measuring station. It was accurate, however the ground that it was on sloped down, just enough that it affected Eli's height. They did also inspect the other ride and the official measuring station for accuracy. All in all Eli was happy and that was what mattered to me. I knew he was tall enough and would be safe to go on it. He loved every minute and felt like such a big boy! Aidan really surprised me and took harder obstacles than he ever has before and Adley even tried a few new ones.