While texting with a girlfriend of mine the other day, the topic of "things to do with a three year old in quarantine" came up. This topic has been one of great interest to me not only for ideas to share with my Macaroni Kid readers, but to also give me some sanity when spending what feels like 25 hours a day with my very active sons. Having filled our baby pool a thousand times and ridden around my neighborhood enough times to wear out my bike tires, I was thrilled to learn that Six Flags Great Adventure's Wild Safari was open for business! While not an animal love myself, I thought that my sons would be thrilled to watch the animals jump around our car as we drove through the "jungle." Boy, was I a bit off with that assumption
The day before going, I purchased tickets for myself, my husband and my son (my 1 year old could "see" for FREE). In addition to purchasing tickets, I also needed to choose a time window in which I would be arriving at the park. After hemming and hawing over what would be the most ideal time between lunch, dinner and naps, I landed on 1:15 and shared the news with my oldest son. A bit unamused (I should have taken that as a sign), my son smiled at me and ran back to his HESS truck and makeshift garbage can.
On the day of our adventure, I packed a handful of snacks to avoid the inevitable "I'm hungry!" scream and drove the 25 minutes from our house to Jackson, NJ. Getting there and getting in could not have been easier, but once "on safari" things got a bit rocky. As we approached the elephants, the skies turned gray. Hoping that the weather would quickly change back to sunny, we opened our windows to say "hello" to our first new friend. My youngest son couldnt see much from his carseat, but my older son enjoyed counting the number of elephants that he saw. While none of the elephants reached out for a "high five," each of us got a kick out of how close we were getting to these large animals.
From the elephants, we drove toward the village of giraffes. These guys were definitely my favorite, but it was at this point that the interest level in my older son turned. No longer content with counting or pointing, he immediately resorting to snacking as a way to quell his boredom. As if this was not bad enough only 20 minutes into a 90 minute drive, the gray skies turned black and a heavy rain storm came thundering through. The weather brought the cars to a standstill, the animals all running for cover and my family whining about getting out of the car. Thankful for technology, I turned the Ipads to Peppa Pig and laughed to myself that the only animal that my sons were excited to see was a cute, pink, cheeky pig wearing red rain boots!
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((While I do not want this article to be viewed as a "bash" on Six Flags Great Adventure's Wild Safari, I did want it to act as an honest overview of my experience. I would still recommend it as a great "socially distanced" escape for all local families, but I would encourage everyone to check the weather report carefully before purchasing tickets. If the weather is favorable, I do think that families would enjoy their experience, but if all else fails, there is always Peppa )
