The Theme Park Mom: An In Depth interview
Karen of Are Three Nearly There Yet absolutely took me by surprise with her Instagram account and interview. In a good way! Despite living in Great Britain she has been to more states than I have and definitely more American theme parks! I love her perspective on traveling in the US as a foreigner!
Theme park Mom Karen By The Numbers
Karen lives in Lancashire, GB where she works as a marketing manager and mom to five year old, Franklin, whose first vacation was a transatlantic flight to Florida. I loved it when Karen said she started as she meant to go on (big obviously!!). Karen has been to 4 continents, 21 countries, 21 states, and has been on over 50 flights with her husband.
Have You Always Loved Traveling?
We used to go on family holidays to Spanish islands when I was younger (the Balearics & Canaries are popular holiday destinations for many Brits) and I always enjoyed them. However, it wasn’t until my friend moved to Toronto that I took my first solo flight, at age 23, to visit her. I had such a good time that I booked to return the following year and spent 10 weeks there – even taking solo trips to New York and Los Angeles, with Toronto as my base. From then on, there’s been no stopping me and I haven’t looked back since – although I have two travel buddies these days!
How Do You Find Time For Travel?
Now that Franklin is at school we’re restricted to school holidays for travelling which unfortunately pushes costs up too. We break up the six week summer break with a two-week long haul trip and then try and fit in smaller breaks throughout the year either during shorter school breaks or making the most of national holidays.
I do all the planning in the evenings – some people like to binge Netflix, I prefer to spend time on Instagram, Skyscanner & Google planning our next adventure!
What Advice Can You Give To Families Who Want To Start Traveling But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Approach planning in a way that works best for you and your own comfort levels. I love planning an itinerary and researching places to go so, for me, organizing everything is part of the fun. If that sounds like your worst nightmare, consider enlisting the help of a travel agent or even booking with a tour company – you can have as little, or as much say in the planning process as you like.
Favorite Travel Destination And Why?
For us it has to be the USA – and I know Americans are sometimes a little surprised to hear this! The grass is always greener, right?! It’s such a vast country that we feel like we can have a different holiday every time – national parks, theme parks, beaches, deserts, wilderness, cities. Our favorite holiday style is without doubt the Great American Road Trip – it allows us to cover off a few states at a time (usually 3-4), gives me a chance to plan something to suit everyone and we love the freedom of having a car too. We also love the whole vibe – for us country music, BBQ food and regular Target trips are synonymous with a great vacation!
What Is One Travel Mistake You Have Made?
The year we got married, we travelled to the USA & Mexico a week later for our honeymoon and then, much later in the year, found a good deal on flights to squeeze in another trip to Florida. Being regular visitors to the States, we always have valid ESTAs so I was surprised upon checking in at our local airport, to be told that the system didn’t recognise me as having a valid ESTA. It turned out, I’d updated my passport to my married name – after our honeymoon – but I’d never thought of the impact this would have on my ESTA, which was now void. Panic-stricken, we retreated to a seating area & filed a new application on my mobile phone literally metres away from the check-in desk. We were so fortunate that the application was successful and completed soon after – certainly not always the case! We could have blown an entire trip because of taking our visa status for granted. It might sound pretty niche but the moral of the story? Check and triple check all your travel documentation – I think we just got lucky that day, thank goodness!
BONUS SECTION: THEME PARKS
How many different theme parks have you been to?
I’ve been to 22 theme parks so far, in the UK, Europe & the USA. Most of them the three of us have been to together, but there are a handful that Franklin needs to catch up on!
What is your top amusement park and why? What ages would you recommend it for?
For us Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in Orlando, is a standout park. It helps that we’re Star Wars fans (Galaxy’s Edge is incredible), but there’s also Toy Story Land, which is a little smaller but equally well done, and some really strong standalone attractions like Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster & the more recent addition of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The park wouldn’t top any lists for thrills, but the ride quality is just excellent. There’s also the character meet ‘n greets for big Disney fans, and some great shows, including the legendary Fantasmic evening show.
I’d personally recommend it for primary school aged kids (4-11) – we went when Franklin was four and there was only one ride he was too small for (Rock n Roller Coaster). Younger kids might prefer Magic Kingdom, and I’ve found older kids tend to prefer the thrills on offer in the Universal parks.
what is your favorite ride or event at an amusement park?
It’s so hard to choose! Being married to a huge Star Wars fan, Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios is a different class ride experience. It’s fully immersive and uses so many different ride elements – there’s really nothing else quite like it.
When it comes to coasters, I find it really hard to choose – there’s a particular type of coaster, often referred to as an RMC (made by Rocky Mountain Construction), which we love. It’s essentially a hybrid coaster with a wooden build but a steel track, for a smoother ride. Zadra, at Energylandia in Poland and Wildcat’s Revenge, at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, are both excellent examples, which we loved. But I do enjoy the smooth ride and classic thrills of Icon at our nearest theme park (Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK) and Candymonium, at Hersheypark.
For something a little tamer, Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood is a fantastic family coaster. A height requirement of 39 inches meant our fearless five year old could ride it in the summer and I’m pretty confident he’d say it was the highlight of the whole two week road trip! The triple launch and fun soundtrack make it an entertaining ride for bigger coaster fans too!
What are your top 3 tips for families visiting amusement parks with young kids?
- Theme park visits can be expensive – especially for larger families. Look out for added value perks, or money-saving deals. For example, at Dollywood, check out the Pre-K pass which offers a free season pass for younger kids, take advantage of the preview plan at Hersheypark, which lets you enter the park for a couple of hours the day before your planned visit and, in the UK, there’s always on-pack deals to be had for Merlin attractions, which include Alton Towers, Legoland & Thorpe Park.
- Have a plan. Although it might not sound leisurely, I plan a theme park day with as much precision as a road trip! Work out your priorities (must-do rides/shows – make sure everyone has a say!) and plan to hit the most popular first, before the queue lines start to get too long. Lots of theme parks have apps these days which are great planning tools – most let you add your ‘favorites’ to a list so you can check them off as you do them. This is also handy for quickly comparing wait times and seeing which attraction to head to next.
- Don’t skip on single rider/child swap options – these are a lifeline if you’re traveling without any other adults and both want to check off some of the bigger rides that your kids may be too small for. As you’re riding solo anyway, single rider lets you join an often shorter queue to fill in any seats where there are parties with odd numbers. With child swap, you join the usual queue but you only have to queue once – when you get to the front, one of you rides while the other watches the kids then, when they return, you swap and they can get straight on the ride.
I loved hearing how enthusiastic Karen is about visiting the United States and how seriously she takes her theme parks. I don’t know about you but she convinced me I need to go to Holly Studios ASAP! If you want to get to know another UK mom, read Dann’s interview.
