Going to Knott's tomorrow with DD's 6th Grade. Doesn't this make sense?

[Dizneydaz]

Okay so here's the deal. My DD11's 6th grade class is going to Knott's tomorrow. I'm one of the chaperones. Luckily the chaperones don't have to ride on the bus (YEAH!) so I can take my own car. Also we can sign our kids out at Knott's so that they can ride home with their parents. Thing is Knott's is open until 6 tomorrow and the buses are leaving at 3:30. I figure they are leaving the park around 3-3:15.

I'm not stupid, as long as we are already there I plan on staying until Knott's is closed. The park should be pretty empty tomorrow since it's a Wed. and only open 10-6 to begin with. I've asked several moms if they want to ride with us and stay later and not one mom does. I was hoping to get one or two to car pool and share the gas and parking expense but no go.

The way I look at it:

1. We are already there. Why not take advantage of the whole day?

2. I love most of Knott's coasters and can't wait to ride them over and over.

3. It's already costing me $25 to go along so what's another $32 ($18 gas, $14 parking).

4. Is it just that I asked them to pitch in? I used to always be the mom who drove everywhere-field trips, girl scouts functions, etc. And only one time did a mom give me a little towards gas. Once! Due to the rising cost of gas and the fact that my car is a gas hog (about 14 mpg. 30 cents a mile ) I have had to stop offering to drive. It just really bugs me when you drive and no one offers to pitch in.

5. Is it just because I'm a fun mom and they are all sticks in the mud? I want to maximize my play time with my DD11. She's growing up so fast and before you know it she might rather hang out with her BFFs than her mom.

No big deal, if no one wants to drive with us I'm actually thinking of stopping off at DLR on the way home. Wed. is AP preview day for Star Tours and from what I read about how it went yesterday, it looks like all AP may get a chance to ride with a small wait. It would make up for the 3.5 hours we waited on Friday for the "Special Sneak Preview"

BTW, I'm looking forward to Mrs. Knott's Chicken to go! Even if the kids in my group don't want to eat there, too bad...we are!

 

[cyclenut]

Kids have done the Knott's thing as an 8th grade trip and we opted not to go and we further opted to have them ride the bus with their friends both to and from, including not staying the "extra" time. For us, it was more about letting them have THAT experience with their friends rather than having us hanging out with them. We can hang out another time.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My son's middle school band went to our local Cedar Fair park a few weeks ago. It was on a Saturday when the park was open until 8:00 p.m. and the bus was scheduled to leave at 7:00. My son rode the bus to the park since the band stopped off to perform at a competition first. They got to the park around opening time and my husband, older son and I met them at the gate. My son mostly wanted to hang out with his friends which was fine. His group's chaperone was a friend of ours. He left the group for a few hours and hung out with us, but joined them again later. When it was time to board the buses, our son stayed with us. He rode one last roller coaster with my husband and we took our time browsing in the stores. We just had to tell the teacher he was riding home with us. We ended up leaving around 7:30 and the bus was gone by then. I couldn't see putting him on the bus and then following it to the school parking lot to pick him up. It made more sense for him to ride with us, plus we stopped off for dinner. Most parents who drove to the park kept their kids with them.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Kids have done the Knott's thing as an 8th grade trip and we opted not to go and we further opted to have them ride the bus with their friends both to and from, including not staying the "extra" time. For us, it was more about letting them have THAT experience with their friends rather than having us hanging out with them. We can hang out another time.

Wow, really? Not sure what you mean by this. Perhaps you failed to notice where I said I am a chaperone? So I will be "hanging out" with my DD and about 5 others from her class, and a few of their moms as well. My DD11 will have a great time with her friends and after they leave we will have some wonderful time together. But then my DD loves to spend time with me. We go many places just the 2 of us, inc. DLR. Then there are also times when we invite along a friend. As an only child I believe we have a special bond.

Maybe it's the difference between a 6th grader and an 8th grader? At this age my DD still loves to hang with her mom. In 2 years, who knows. Oh, wasn't that my point #5

My post was really about the other moms, who are already going anyway, not wanting to stay a little longer. It wasn't about crowding in on my DD's day.

Gotta go, time to get ready to spend the whole day with my DD.

 

[LavenderPeach]

I think your idea of staying later sounds great, and probably what I would do in the same situation, but I can see other moms not wanting to do that. It seems like a lot of adults feel that theme parks are just for kids so I can see them not wanting to stay longer than what is "required", lol. Also some of them might have to go pick up other kids from school or may have appointments so they can't stay later, even if they wanted to. Or maybe they wouldn't mind staying later but want to be able to leave when they want to and not rely on someone else to take them home. DH and I have learned it's better to drive ourselves to places so we can decide when we want to leave since our schedule doesn't always match up with what others want to do. Just some thoughts on why the other moms didn't want to carpool.

Hope you have a fun day! Let us know how it went!

 

[Dizneydaz]

We had a great day! Most of the kids left at 3-3:15 and we stayed until almost 6. DD11 rode Xcelerarator and Supreme Scream for the first time. She loved both of them! We rode Xcelerator again, later, just the 2 of us. There were 2 other moms in my group who went back in the park. We didn't see them again since one girl wasn't a coaster ride and we didn't head right back in since I moved the car.

We ended up with a group of 11 girls and 4 adults. I basically became in charge of the "thrill seekers group" It was a small group of 3-4 girls, and me. DD11 did great on the new (for her) rides. She only backed out on one-La Revalucion. I don't blame her-that ride is intense.

I was so glad we stayed later since doing anything with a large group slows you down. Since some girls didn't want to ride the thrill rides there was a lot of time spent waiting for them to get off the rides. I mentioned splitting up into 2 groups and going our different ways but it seemed like everyone was fine hanging out together. There was one girl who didn't want to ride much but the girls got her to ride a few rides. And there was another who was fine on coasters, unless they went upside down.

We got a lot of rides in. There were a lot of school groups there. 5th, 6th, and 8th graders. Once the kids starting clearing out the lines got shorter, though only Silver Bullet and Excelerator had long lines. And Excelerator was about 20-25 minutes.

What was interesting to me was how much the girls loved the Log Ride. They rode 2 or 3 times. Sometimes the old favorites still are fun!

We rode, mostly as a group:
Ghostrider ( I skipped this-too rough. One of the few coaster I won't ride)
Jaguar (this area didn't open until 11 a.m.-strange)
Montezuma's Revenge (love it!)
La Revalucion
Log Ride (twice)
Break for lunch-Mrs. Knott's Fried Chicken to go A few ate at Pinks
Calico Mine Train
Wipeout
Xcelerator
Log Ride, again

At this point most of the class left. I moved our car and on the way stopped for a nice cold Diet Coke for me and Sweet Tea for DD at McD's.

I then parked in the 3 hour free lot since it was closer and by now it was 3:30 and I knew we would leave before 6:30. Plus I had leftover chicken to put in the car. Which I threw out when we got home since it was unrefrigerated for too long.

DD and I then rode:
Montezuma's again.
Jaguar again
Big Swings
Supreme Scream
Xcelerator
Riptide (just me)
Wipeout (wiped me out!)

We then got in line for Silver Bullet but the line was all the way down the stairs and since DD wasn't going to ride it we decided to skip it. We left Knott's about 5:45.

We had a great day. No drama-which is pretty amazing since it was 11 6th grade girls! The girls all got along (moms too!). The girls wanted to ride Big Foot Rapids but it was closed and they were going to do Perilous Plunge after lunch but it broke down. It was up and running later but by then the girls had left. We had one girl who feel in line on Log Ride (skinned her knees) and Security came quickly. She went to First Aid and got her knees bandaged. She rejoined us at lunch and was limping a little but was a real trooper. Some of the girls even did a little quick shopping.

Interesting note-our school district's policy only allows a parent, who drives their own car, to check out their kid early. If a parent is a passenger, then they can't check out their kid at the park. While I may see the reason why (and I think it's lame) the reality is that every parent (mostly moms) drove their own car and had to pay for their own parking ($14 and NO re-entry!) and use (waste) a lot of gas. It's about a 70 mile round trip to Knott's from our area. I think there were at least 25-30 cars following the bus (or ahead, like me) with only one person in it. What a huge $$ waster.

DD11 did say the bus ride there was not great. 75 kids, plus teachers, on each bus. The sat 3 to a seat (and we are talking 6th graders here!). And of course my problem with the buses, are no seat belts. That's the main reason I will drive her myself, when given the chance.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Sounds like you had a great time!

 

[DisSarahK]

Glad you had a great time! That is crazy that parents have to drive their own car in order to check their child out from the field trip. Ridiculous!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Glad you had a great time! That is crazy that parents have to drive their own car in order to check their child out from the field trip. Ridiculous!

I agree-I thought we were all trying to be more green? And we each had to pay for parking as well. Unless I wanted to move the car every 3 hours.

I plan on sending an email to the district about this-it's just dumb.