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Park Hoppin In association with Park Hoppin’with Susan Storey S
ix hours, 141 middle schoolers, and more than 50 rides and attractions. What could be better? For Park Hoppin’ I love to share
thoughts from my visits to amusement parks. I typically make these trips with friends and family, but I recently chaperoned my son’s middle school field trip to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. In case you haven’t thought about middle school in a while, the kids are ages 11-13. So, this was a first. The day started off with several hiccups –
some kids arrived late to school, a charter bus broke down while we were en route, and a ticket snafu at the front gate impacted our day. (Thank you to the incredible marketing team who immediately assisted to get everyone in!) Each chaperone was assigned a group of 10, however the students had
other plans, and the groups swapped around throughout the day. No magical sorting hat was needed as they fluidly shifted from all girls and all boys to groups of thrill riders, shoppers, and animal lovers. There were also the “Oooh, they have crushes on each other” groups. It was a lot to keep track of, but also made Busch Gardens the perfect place for such diverse interests. My son was happy I was there. As he told everyone, I know the park, so no
map was needed. However, he was not willing to sit with me on rides or next to me at lunch. Luckily though, there were a few students who asked me to ride beside them. I also leaned into a new role as bag, phone, and miscellaneous stuff holder. Who needs a locker when you have a stand-in parent? Student favourites were Iron Gwazi, Cheetah Hunt, Tigris, and Congo River
Rapids. When the music teacher said she would ride kiddie attractions with everyone, a group spin on the carousel was both sweet and filled with laughter. There were several other student groups enjoying their day, too. I chatted
with their chaperones, comparing notes about which rides everyone loved, how long we travelled to get there, and if the kids were behaving. The consensus among everyone was always about how perfect the day was. At some point my group shifted again, and we added two girls, because:
“They want to ride Iron Gwazi with us.” I later overheard that one of the girls had a crush on my son, and that he felt the same. He’s been old enough and tall enough for the big rides for quite some time, but when did he become old enough to develop a crush? As soon as we got to Iron Gwazi,
it was evident I was not welcome to ride with the crew. I was loaded up with backpacks and asked to wait at the exit. A few minutes later they all came back smiling and shouting, ready to go around again. My son was grinning from ear to ear. By 5pm, texts reminded us we had
30 minutes left. I went into ‘Mom Mode’, letting everyone know it was time to head to the restrooms and to buy snacks before the ride home. My group quickly launched into theme park math, calculating how they could best use the remaining time. Final runs on Cheetah Hunt and Cobra’s Curse completed their day before we dashed to the awaiting bus. Everyone left with an incredible
middle school memory, and it got me thinking. Theme parks are universal. They offer something for everyone, at all ages and stages of life and are
MARCH 2023 5
the perfect places to celebrate milestones. But let’s discuss preteens developing crushes; this mom asks that we raise that age limit.
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