they care about me, they don't care about me

this summer i've had the joy of going to two theme parks...here are my thoughts:

• one of them cares about me and makes me feel like they want me there
• one of them doesn't
• one of them closes every day and night with a party and a huge finale
• one of them doesn't
• one of them dresses their employees in uniforms that are fun and appropriate to the ride/show
• one of them dress their employees in shirts that say, 'help keep your/our park beautiful MY FAMILY comes here too" - suggesting that it's really not about the guest, it's about "their family"
• one of them cleans the gum off the sidewalks and handrails because first impressions last
• one of them waits until the end of the year
• one of them has employees that actually serve as though they want to be there
• one of them has employees that are there to collect a check
• one of them lets me pay one fee to enter the park and have a blast
• one of them nickels and dimes (or, $5's and $10's me) at every chance

nonetheless, we had a blast at six flags thursday...the greatest joy comes in watching your children, experiencing thrills together and spending time with family. we also had some friends with us and that made it a lot of fun as well.

my son won a huge taz (literally twice his size at least) and we had to put him in my daughter's stroller because he was too big to carry - i had decided secretly that we would love to sell him and not bring him home - just as we were about to leave, a guy in the line at the sky buckets offered us double what we paid for him (we paid $10, he offered $20) - my son, at the prompting of someone else in line, said "give me $30" - he countered with $25 - DEAL!
way to go my son, great way to close the deal! plus, i didn't have to try to fit him into the sky bucket or the mini-van!

bottom line, the best place theme park hand's down is...disney in orlando - every child (regardless of age) needs to go!