Kings Island- Now With Dinosaurs Alive!

Where else can you go on one of ten roller coasters while your kids play on one of eighteen Peanuts themed attractions (ok, while mom takes the kids and dad rides the coasters, in our case)? King’s Island is one of those places that make you realize what an amusement park should be. It is clean, family friendly, the lines are manageable, and they have a waterpark that is included in the price of the theme park- what??? Yep- that is what makes Kings Island my favorite theme park of all time. Mark it down. I have been all over the world, to 29 countries, and all up and down the coast and to about half the 50 states- and if you have only 1 theme park to go to- I’d make it Kings Island, for sure. And it just got even better!

Right now there is also a really neat exhibit called Dinosaurs Alive!, only $5 with park admission, which is a recreation of a half dozen dinosaur scenes. These scenes vary from carnivores setting up a mud pit trap to long necked sauropods. These scenes are astoundingly accurate and kind of surreal when you get down to it. They are on motion sensors, so they move and roar as you walk by. Eerily, you can pass by a recreation flash flood scene from a dinosaur era. Then a second scene showing the deceased dinos and a third showing the fossilized remains of said dinos- sort of strange- not scary, though. Very interesting and mesmerizing. Not only for adults but also for kids. The dinosaurs are realistic but not overly scary for kids.

“Dinosaurs Alive! at Kings Island features more than 60 life-sized dinosaurs in a 12.5 acre Jurassic forest setting, including 56 animatronic models.
Highlights of Dinosaurs Alive! include the vicious-looking Irritator and its cousins the Baryonyx and the Spinosaurus, the lizard-like Stegosaurus, the meat-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex, the three-horned Triceratops and the flying Pteranodon.

Four [Read more…]

Top 10 Warren County Ohio Haunts you don’t want to miss! #tourism

This was on the Warren County Ohio’s tourism page- click to order your travel guide now! These are too good to pass up….and too good not to tell you about! So, I cross posted them here for you to see as well. This is NOT an original post from me- but I think you will love it, so I am passing it on 🙂

Top 10 Warren County Haunts You Don’t Want to Miss

As the home to Waynesville, “The Most Haunted Village in Ohio,” (according to Haunted Ohio,) and Kings Island’s famously-creepy Halloween HAUNT, Warren County’s mix of scary experiences range from historical-haunts to gruesome and gory.

Here are the top ten haunted events, tours and locations in Ohio’s Largest SCAREground:

 

1) Halloween HAUNT at Kings Island

According to park officials, Halloween HAUNT is the most immersive horror experience in the Midwest. The bloodcurdling horror, mind-bending terror and nightmarish madness of Halloween Haunt features more than 500 ghastly creatures lurking in the shadows searching for souls, 12 highly-intense and chilling haunted attractions and some of the most hair-raising rides on the planet including The Beast and Diamondback. Location: Kings Island, Kings Island Drive, Mason. Admission to Halloween Haunt is included free with park admission tickets and 2011 season passes. For more information click here.

2) Springboro Haunted Hayride and Black Bog

Evenings Fridays and Saturdays, September 23 – October 29
Providing more than 20 years of jaw-dropping scares, the Springboro Haunted Hayride and Black Bog are both award-winning attractions. The Haunted Hayride is more than one-mile of tractor-drawn, twisting terror and has been voted “Best Hayride” by Ohio Valley Haunts.
Location: 6070 Springboro Rd., Lebanon. Tickets are $12 for the Hayride, $10 for the Black Bog and $18 for a combo ticket. For more information click here.

3) HOWL-O-FEST at Kings Island

HOWL-O-FEST includes non-scary activities such as a Costume Contest, Twisted Tales Maze, Pumpkin Patch, Gigantic Hay Bale Maze, Dance Party, Foam Pit, Tractor Town, Mask Painting, Games, Food and much more.
Location: Kings Island, Kings Island Drive, Mason. This family-friendly event is included FREE with park admission tickets and 2011 season passes. For more information click here.

4) Morgan’s HAUNTED RIVER

7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays beginning October 7
Hike through the “Forest of Lost Souls” then embark on a guided raft trip down the “Haunted Little Miami River.” Recommended for children 10 and up (under 17 must be accompanied by an adult).
Location: Morgan’s Riverside Campground, 6262 Gilmour Road, Morrow. $15 for adults, $10 children 12 and under. Reservations highly recommended. Call 1-800-932-2663 or visit www.morganscanoe.com for more information.

5) Ghostly Walking Tours of Waynesville, “The Most Haunted Village in Ohio”

7:30 p.m. Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from October 12 – October 30
Experience Ohio’s most haunted village first-hand as you tour historic buildings along Main Street and throughout the Quaker Hill area of Waynesville while learning of ghostly encounters past and present. You begin at the Museum at the Friends Home, a restored boarding home which appears very much as it did when retired Quakers and single school teachers lived there around the turn of the 20th Century.
Location: Museum at the Friends Home, 115 South Fourth Street, Waynesville. Tickets [Read more…]

Hallo-Weekends @CedarPoint #Ohio @DiscoverOhio #Travel #tourism

Fun for Facebook Fans
as Cedar Point Climbs to a Million Likes

SANDUSKY, Ohio, – If you “like” Cedar Point on Facebook, the Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park/resort has some money-saving deals and lots of fun waiting for you on Sundays at the park through the end of October.

Beginning this Sunday, Oct. 9 and all Sundays through Oct. 30, Cedar Point will be hosting the Climbing to a Million contest when current and new Facebook fans of Cedar Point will be able to receive a $10 discount on admission to the park ($39.99 per person) by downloading and printing a special voucher from Facebook and redeeming it at Cedar Point on any Sunday in October.

There is even more fun and prizes to be had for Facebook fans on Sundays at the park. On all Sundays in October, all Facebook fans at Cedar Point will receive a specially designed Facebook sticker. If a Facebook fan is spotted by an official fan-finder (only on Sundays), those Facebook fans could win valuable prizes such as complimentary merchandise, food or front-of-the-line privileges on a favorite ride.

And when the park reaches one million fans (before or after the season), a special fan will win the Ultimate Opening Day Experience that includes complimentary tickets to the park on Opening Day 2012, the first ride of the season on your favorite ride, plus tours and more. Plus, all Facebook fans will be able to [Read more…]

Great Deal if you are traveling to the Mason, Ohio area!

Great Wolf Lodge

Receive 10% off a room at the Great Wolf Lodge Mason Location.
Use LM&M Railroad code LM&M450A when you book your room.
Reservations: 800.913.9653
Hotel Direct: 513.459.8885
Don’t forget to book a ride on the LM&M Railroad- we just took a train ride with Clifford the Big Red dog, and it was a great day to be a kid! Check [Read more…]

Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kalahari

Wheels of Thunder IV Returns to Cedar Point

SANDUSKY, Ohio – Trucks, cars, interactive displays and special appearances by drivers await race
fans as Wheels of Thunder returns to Cedar Point for the fourth consecutive year from Tuesday
through Thursday, Aug. 16-18 at the Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park/resort.

Different drivers will be visiting the park every day with public appearances planned for each day
of the three-day event. Guests may also be able to win a special ride with their favorite driver.
There will also be vehicles and exhibits on display all three days near the Dodgem bumper cars on
the park’s main midway.

The event opens with ThorSport Racing Day on Tuesday, Aug. 16 when drivers from the NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series will be at the park. Visiting the park that day will be Johnny Sauter,
who is in second place in Driver Championship Points, two-time winner Matt Crafton and another
recent winner, Dakoda Armstrong, who won the Winchester 200 in Winchester, Va., earlier this
In addition to the driver appearances, there will also be three ThorSport trucks and the Michigan
International Speedway’s (MIS) interactive racing-themed trailer that features simulators, race
video, helmets and driver suits.

On Wednesday, Aug. 17, NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya will be at the park to meet fans
and sign autographs. Afterward, 34 lucky contest-winners will be able to take a ride on the
Millennium Force roller coaster with him. Currently, he ranks 17th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series standings and [Read more…]

Have a Howling Good Time at @GreatWolfLodge

This was perhaps my favorite spot that we visited, and I will tell you why. Everything was in one place- you didn’t have to go anywhere else once you got to your hotel- because your hotel was also your waterpark, restaurant, activity center (even a computer area for kids) and and more. And all I had to do was park the car!
Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio(Ohio’s first Great Wolf Lodge) is a great place to spend time with family, and would be a fantastic spot for a family reunion. Their huge indoor waterpark is reserved for guests only, thus guaranteeing that you will never have to wait on a long line. There is also an outdoor pool and waterpark area, open seasonally.

Once you arrive, you are greeted and checked in by friendly staff, and you make your way to your room. We stayed in one of the “themed” rooms, the “Wolf Den”. My children loved it, and I have to say so did dad and myself. It was really adorable, with a sectioned off “kid cave”, complete with bunk beds inside. There is a video came console and TV set in there as well, which you can pay to have access to.
The kids loved to play in there, and that it made them feel like they had their “own room”. I loved that it gave me some privacy, and that I could have some small degree of separation from them, while not really being separate from them at all. (Come on, we have all been on family vacations- the kids go wild, and sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a little “grown up space”. How many times can one really hear Mom? Mom? Mom! Mom?) I can still see them and hear them- there is no door- but they can go into the “cave” and play, and I can re-pack a suitcase or find a missing toothbrush in relative peace, LOL. The room was very large, very clean, had an excellent view of the outdoor waterpark- and even a little balcony you can sit on, or dry your wet bathing suits 🙂

I love the whole “Lodge” look and feel of the hotel- like place in the woods, but modern and with technology and conveniences and comforts, LOL. There were multiple restaurants, as well as a little snack/dessert shop, where you can grab ice cream, fudge, pastries- you know, all the “good” vacation foods! 🙂
Little Man and I deserted daddy and Kamikaze one morning (we were awake, they were not! hehe) and went to Lumber Jack’s Cook Shanty, where they served a family style breakfast at our table. This means that they brought food to our table- pre-fix food, not food that we choose or order- and you can have as much as you’d like. The food was very good, I have to say! It was very pricey, though- for an adult? 12$ plus tax and if you order a beverage, that is additional as well. For Little Man, since he was only 3, I only had to pay $3.49 for his cup of chocolate milk. (Nope, that was not a typo!) I was kind of shocked at the bill. But, it is what it is. At least the food was good- and Little Man can really pack away his breakfast! (I’m sure you have seen my posts on his love of breakfast, LOL- the boy is addicted! No cereal for him, no sir!) He ate more then his body weight in bacon and french toast sticks, I think. I was allowed to have ONE french toast stick- it was better then the ones I make 🙁
Poor me! It was crunchy, but soft inside. I can never get mine crunchy, unless I burn it, LOL. Everything was very [Read more…]

PEANUTS Happiness Is… @CedarPoint

SANDUSKY, Ohio – With the help of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the other PEANUTS
characters, Cedar Point will be celebrating what individual happiness really means during
PEANUTS Happiness Is… Week.

For one full week, Monday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 7, the Sandusky, Ohio,
amusement park/resort will be holding special PEANUTS-themed events dedicated to
having fun.
Starting Monday, Camp Snoopy and Planet Snoopy will have tables filled with a variety
of fun activities for children to do as they take a break from all the rides and shows the
park has to offer.
Kids can partake in a PEANUTS-themed activity sheet that is filled with connect-the-dots,
tic-tac-toe, and much more. The sheets will also allow kids to gain early entry to the 4
p.m. performance of Everybody Loves Snoopy ice-skating show in the Good Time Theatre.
Along with the activity sheets, children will also be able to color their own Snoopy mask
to take home.

Guests will also have the opportunity to create a Chain of Happiness that will allow kids
to express themselves by writing on a strip of paper of what makes them happy. The
decorated strips of paper will then be linked together to form a giant chain that will be
put on display [Read more…]