<p>Every summer my family went to three Adirondack theme parks: Storyland, Santa’s Workshop and whatever the Wild West village theme park featuring the noontime shootout with the stagecoach robbers was called. Later in the summer, we’d go to the Catskill Game Farm.</p>
<p>Oldfort, our kids loved Land of Make Believe. It was such a low-key, almost cheesy place. My daughter loved the big orange Cinderella coach.</p>
<p>It was a cheesy place. Every time I pass it on highway 80, I always have a smile.</p>
<p>We went on one family vacation to Disneyland and our kids still say it was their favorite trip. It was a surprise gift from Santa and their plane tickets were in their stockings. We left the following morning.</p>
<p>We also went to New Hampshire and took or kids to StoryLand, Santas Village, and Six Gun City. Real home town fun!</p>
<p>For years we went to the Goshen and Harwinton Fairs. Both were lots of fun. And yes…we went on the rides and ate the junk food. It was an outing!</p>
<p>Jym, do you mean across the street from Disneyland? Maybe in the past, but I haven’t seen it in my last gajillion trips. </p>
<p>I never went to Freedomland, but the link mentioned Rockaway Playland, which I remember well. And of course, Coney Island. Your link also said</p>
<p>The freedomland jingle went like this-
“Hey mommy and daddy take my hand
take me out to freedomland
lots of fun for everyone
only 2.95”</p>
<p>Jym, DH and his parents were among the first settlers of Co-op City!</p>
<p>WOW! I did some political campaigning there. Was pretty esy to go up and down the halls ringing doorbells, given the shape of the buildings.</p>
<p>Engineer, who knows how your kids will react now or in the future. There is no answer to what is a big deal. Even individual wise. Some things some of my siblings can NOT LET go, I do not care about or just LET IT GO. Your kids may be very resentful of the time dad wouldn’t let them ride the ferris wheel in the state fair, instead he dragged us to see quilts and pigs or exhibit whatever you are showing . Seriously, they might stay up hours and hours thinking of this for YEARS. Or they might forget it the next day… I am 100% serious with this. Some people do not forget any slight or anything at all and consider everything with some sort of agenda meant to hurt them. I dunno if this is comming across the way I mean it. It all depends on what is a pattern, the things you do for fun are they things they want to do or just you and they tag along?, their own personalities etc.</p>
<p>^ I totally get it. When I was 5 or so my parents took us to NYC … I think this was our first trip to somewhere other than to visit relatives. We went to the Empire State building, Times Square, etc. When we got home I drew a picture of my favorite part of the trip … what did I draw … the subway … apparently I thought riding on the subway was the only thing worth talking about. Who could have guessed in advance.</p>
<p>PS - A few years ago I took a couple of my kids to London for a few days. At my kids request we spent 1 afternoon on a quest … to ride on all the tube lines … not exactly on my London to-see list but the kids liked it … and still talk about it.</p>
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<p>There’s a big official brown attractions sign on westbound Route 80 for “Land of Make Believe, Exit ##” that always makes us laugh. I’d certainly rather go there than to Easton, PA or any other destination I can think of.</p>
<p>Have any of you guys ever taken your kids to Holiday World? I went this summer and was pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>Since the thread has a bunch of NYC area natives how about these oldies: Bertrand’s Island in Lake Hopatcong, Fairy Tale Forest in Oak Ridge and Olympic Park in Irvington? And yes, I went to Land of Make Believe and Palisades Park.</p>
<p>OP: I’m glad you found a compromise. When my kiddos were little, we’d often spontaneously put them in the car & drive to Point Pleasant NJ to go to the Boardwalk. I liked to do it on Tuesday because they had a wristband promotion that day, but sometimes it wasn’t an option. We never had an problem saying “you only have x tickets; which rides are your super favorites & lets see how many of those X tickets will let you go on.” Really, you’re giving them a rudimentary economics & budgeting lesson. </p>
<p>My parents used to torture me with a 2 week vacation to Cape May. The boardwalk in Cape May consisted of one arcade. I’d ask over and over again “please can we go to Wildwood for the day?” and they’d finally capitulate only to huff & puff & leave after 2 hours. Since I’m an only child & was never allowed to bring a friend, that didn’t create warm family memories. DH & I made sure that we built in lots of kid-friendly fun during the times when our kiddos were growing up, including 4 trips to Disney. There’s nothing like watching your 17 year old’s face light up when they return someplace and have a fond childhood memory come rushing back. You can’t put a pricetag on that.</p>
<p>We went to Land of Make Believe and Bertraum’s Island! Such fun places.</p>
<p>I have almost no happy memories from my childhood. I’m the much younger child with four older siblings. They did all the fun things, but by the time I came along the siblings were not interested in kid things and my parents were old, tired and unwell.</p>
<p>RobD–my kids grew up adoring the arcade in Cape May (skeeball!), along with the beach and miniature golf, etc. But we always went once or twice to WW also–usually a day trip to the waterpark and a night trip to the rides.</p>
<p>I mentioned Bertrands’ Island upthread–very nostalgic memories. </p>
<p>We did indeed take our kids to Land of Make Believe once. The Santa Barn creeped us all out, and my D was terrified by the Halloween scarey house. Wouldn’t have gone at all if we hadn’t won some free passes. Was not one of our better trips.</p>
<p>The title of this thread led me to believe it was another one of those “overindulging your kids” threads, but I see that it was meant literally.</p>
<p>^^^See you went to the beach. Not an option in my childhood home as mi madre was “allergic” to the sun. I do have fond memories of skeeball, the Taylor Pork Roll stand & Morrow’s nuts. </p>
<p>I seem to remember a Sherwood Forest in NY State too. and a piece of a TV theme song: Sherwood Forest, for just five dollars, you can do anything at all? Or am I mixing jingles up?</p>
<p>You went to Cape May but not the beach? Okay, that’s grounds for child abuse charges!</p>
<p>Yup, pretty much. We’d go to Sunset Beach once to find Cape May Diamonds (for an hour or two max.) And Dad would have 1 day where he’d sit on the jetty for an hour or two with his binoculars and chat with the fisherman. But a beach day where you’d go with the blanket & spend the whole day going back & forth in the water? Nope. </p>
<p>That’s why I made the most of daytrips to the beach with friends starting at about age 15, and I stopped vacationing with my parents after 16. I got LOTS of beach time in then.</p>
<p>I grew up going to Cape May. My parents and grandparents “summered” in Cape May all their lives. My mother was one of the early Queens of the Baby Parade (teenage years???). I guess it was a big deal. I loved the Arcade and the candy shops and the dress-up dances on the boardwalk. Ahhh-those were the days. I created some family lore by throwing a tantrum because I couldn’t swim at the “black” beach with our lovely housekeeper!</p>
<p>Okay, Rob–I can beat you for strange parent beach habits. I grew up in Middletown, which borders the Sandy Hook /Raritan Bay area and is minutes from SH, Sea Bright ,etc.</p>
<p>We NEVER went to the Jersey beaches when I was a kid. Never. I didn’t even know we were that close. ONce a year, we’d spend a week with family in NYC and go to Jones Beach. That was it. Mom was a New Yorker and looked down her nose at Jersey beaches.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to the REAL shore until, like you, I started going as a teen with friends. Never went to CM until an adult, with my H’s family.</p>
<p>Love my parents–but they were a touch strange. We never went to fireworks, either, or bought ice cream at ice cream stands (“well, we have some in the freezer”)!</p>