In Virginia, we have a theme park called Kings Dominion. Kings Dominion is a mix of roller coasters and water park. Upon PCS'ing to VA our in-laws got us season passes as a PCS gift. We went a few times over the summer to enjoy the water park and roller coasters. Our boys are 6 (Noah) and 9 (Hudson) which is that age where the 9-year-old can do some of the bigger roller coasters while the 6-year-old stays in the kiddie area. More often than not we divide and conquer, and one parent goes with one kid and the other goes with the other. Since the kids have gone back to school Kings Dominion is closed during the week and only open on the weekends.
Every so often Noah will come home from school and ask, "Is Kings Dominion open or closed?" It's a little heartbreaking to tell him that its closed. Last Sunday, Noah asked if Kings Dominion was open or closed. We haven't been in a while, so we decided to go. The plan was that I take Noah during the day then the wife would come up with Hudson for the Halloween events at night.
Upon driving up Noah was super excited, "Dad, we going to Kings Dominion", "Dad, I want to ride the blue roller coaster", "Dad, we almost at Kings Dominion" This went on for the entire 45 min trip. We hit a little traffic near the park, and he started to flip out. "Come on cars.... Dad's driving", "Ahhh man we going to be late."
We park, and Noah's favorite thing is to watch the roller coasters, however instead of just standing still and watching he runs up to the fence, jumps up and down when the coaster travels down the track he follows it. This went on for a few of the rides. He would be perfectly content just watching and running with the coaster. We get in the park, and he sprints to the kid zone. Mind you, he is pretty fast for a six-year-old, so I have to put in some effort to catch him and tell him to slow down. Making it down to the kid zone he has a plan, blue roller coaster, then purple coaster, then plane ride, then boat. In that order. This kid doesn't deviate from his plan. I tried to urge him to go to the shortest line, but his mind was made up. Waiting in line Noah would jump up and down, flap his arms until it was his turn. Also, he rides each coaster only once. I would ask if he wanted to ride it again-nope. "Dad, I already did that one."
After completing all the kids rides, he walked to the bigger rides to watch. That made him almost as happy as riding on the rides. He would play commentator each ride too, "Hey, dad, they are going up the hill", "Hey dad they are going upside down", "Hey, dad they are going sideways."
Walking around the park (did I mention that this kid walked the entire park?) We were there for five hours and he walked...well.... walk/run the entire way. Did he eat? nope. Did I try to get him to snack yes. Did he flip out when I asked him? Yep. Kid was all gas-no brakes. Food was not in his plan and in his mind, food was cutting into his Kings Dominion time.
Upon riding all the rides (and watching them!) Noah wanted to go home....as in he wanted to go home right then. He grabbed my hand, "Dad, we go home now" Ok in a minute Noah. "Dad! I want to go home" (first kid in the history of theme parks to voluntary wanted to come home). We get to the parking lot and of course we have to watch roller coasters for a bit before getting into the car. Then once we got in the car, we had to roll down our window to watch them a few more times.
As you can imagine the car ride home was very quiet (better for me as I could listen to a podcast). Noah didn't fall asleep-just soaking in the fact that he had a great day at Kings Dominion. Before we made our exit for home Noah told me, "Dad, I had fun at Kings Dominion"
My heart melted.
There is great satisfaction in the fact that he is special needs and can enjoy a normal (relatively) day at the park and that he can communicate that.
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