My son recently turned 6 and instead of throwing him a birthday party we took off for a night and spent the day (on his actual birthday) at Story Land.
You guys, this was one of the best decisions we've ever made. We've been throwing huge extravagant birthday parties since the age of one. Totally my fault. I am the type of person who has the mind set of; all or nothing, go big or go home etc. Year after year the parties got bigger and bigger and more and more expensive. Don't get me wrong, I love a great party, but it was coming to the point that I would spend the entire time running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Never mind the weeks leading up to the party. I would spend way too much time and money trying to make detailed decorations that I still don't even know if anyone noticed. Then after the party I would find myself feeling guilty. Guilty that I didn't have the opportunity to sit back and observe the birthday boy and really take in all his excitement. Guilty that I didn't spend enough time socializing with all the guests. And so on and so forth.
So this year we decided to change things up in a big way and put the quality back in our birthday celebration! He absolutely loves staying in hotels and going away. So talking with him about the plan for a little get away was super easy. And luckily, he was super excited about the idea! So we packed up the old mini van and got ready to hit the road!
We arrived just in time to check into our hotel. Which was a total score because the kids were beyond ready to get out of the car and they had a lot of energy to expel. I found the Nordic Village Resort via the Story Land website under their Plan A Visit tab. What a real treat this place was. As soon as we got there we learned that they had 3 pools. Two of the pools were outdoor. One of which was on the smaller size for kids and was only about 3 feet deep, which was great for my 1 and 3 year old. The other was larger and had a shallow end a deep end and was heated. They also had an indoor pool and 2 hot tubs.
My boys opted to swim in both the large outdoor one as well as the indoor one. They had a blast and swam off all of the built up road trip energy. We also learned that some of the Story Land characters were planning a visit to the resort as well. My kids were ecstatic. After the visit with the characters we trekked around the beautiful grounds that included waterfalls, row boats, a little farm, and a play ground. We were super happy with our stay and it had everything we needed and more. Plus it was only a few minutes away from Story Land. SCORE!
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We all went to bed early to get ready for our big adventure at Story Land the next day. I fell asleep nice and early but ended up waking up out of a dead sleep at about 12:45 with a stomach ache. This is about the exact time that I went into labor 6 years ago!! I couldn't fall back asleep until just after 2 a.m. which is about the time I delivered my sweet boy. Weird right?! Has this ever happened to anyone?
We arrived at Story Land at about 10:30. And boy oh boy, the kids were EXCITED! My oldest lead the way straight to the water rides. First stop was Dr. Geyser's Remarkable Raft Ride. Can you tell he's excited?! After the raft we went straight to Bamboo Chutes which quickly became their favorite ride.
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I haven't visited Story Land since I was a young child. So coming on this trip was kind of like a whole new experience for me. Countless rides and little surprises around every corner. There was truly something for everyone in our family. We brought along our 1 and 3 year old as well. I was pleasantly surprised that my 3 year old was able to go on pretty much every single ride. And my one year old was having the time of her life. I was impressed by how many things there were for her to do while we waited for her big brothers on the rides. Between little caves and play structures, sand boxes, characters walking around, and singing artifacts everywhere, she was having a blast! We were all having a blast!
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We continued to bebop around hitting up as many rides as possible before the Daniel Tiger Show. My kids love Daniel Tiger and were super excited to learn that he was going to be at Story Land. They have daily shows at 11, 1 and 3. After every show, you will have the opportunity to meet Daniel and Katerina for pictures and hugs.
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We continued to make our way through the park and decided it was time to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy. We saw a sign for Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae and went right in. After we sang, the birthday boy really wanted to be transformed into a leopard. So we went for a fantastic extravagant face painting session.
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We were excited to learn that Story Land has a new roller coaster called the Roar-O-Saurus. It is the only wooden roller coaster of its kind in northern New England. The coaster has a lift height of 40 feet (providing a spectacular view of the surrounding area), sends riders soaring down a first drop of 38.5 feet, features 1,242 feet of track length, and provides riders 12 unique airtime moments. This happened to be the only ride that my 3 year old wasn't big enough to go on. My oldest didn't want to go on without his little bro so unfortunately we had to skip this one this time around. But he should be big enough next year so it's on!
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Next stop was Cinderella's castle. And of course we took the pumpkin coach up to the castle. Story Land even offers you the opportunity to have a Tea Party and Story Time with a real Princess. Put on your glass slippers and join Cinderella for tea time. $9.99+ tax per Tea Party participant. Book ahead HERE
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All throughout the day my oldest exclaimed that he was having the best day of his life. These words were like music to my ears. The time we got to spend here as a family was absolutely incredible and something we will always cherish. We ended up staying all day until the park closed. We left feeling very fulfilled. Thank you Story Land. It truly is the Land Where Fairy Tales Come to Life!
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If you haven't had the opportunity to visit yet, have no fear, Story Land is open until Monday October 8th. Check out their Calendar for park hours.
