Land Of Make Believe

I traveled nearly 2 hours to Land of Make Believe today to buy my favorite fudge and they refused to sell it to me because I didn't have an admission bracelet :( I was FURIOUS and sad :( In this economy, it makes no sense to turn down customers who are willing to spend money. Pros: free parking more

From my blog \r what you do not know because you are not me .blogspot com\r \r \r LOMB\r Yesterday, we took a short road trip. (After driving to Florida, anywhere in NJ is easy.) We wen to the Land of Make Believe in Hope NJ.\r \r First of all WE HAD A LOT OF FUN.\r \r Ok, I made sure I said that first.\r \r To try to figure out how to deal with the ""one adult/two 8 year olds"" thing at a water park I read some reviews by other parents. I looked at Epinions, Tripadvisor and Citysearsh and eviews were mixed.\r \r The positives (from the reviews and my opinion too).\r \r All the rides were just wright for my 8 year old twins. The rides were basically the same as the rides at Brooklyn's Nellie Bly or Astroland They had a ball, and since it was not crowded at all, they were able to jump back on the line and ride again! The wading poll as great and the water park rides were scary for me but fun for kids. We did each one once together and if it did not start the thunder I would have let the kids do it them selves for the next 3 hours.\r \r The negatives (from the reviews and not mine)\r \r 1. The staff was rude. No way, the kids that work there are human beings. I thought is was neat that they were all on some sort of foreign exchange program. Great for them that they were getting a real American experience. They controlled the rides fine and kept my kids safe. It was a relief from the programed ""cast"" at Disney.\r \r 2. The food was not so good. The food was fine, and there was no exploitive pricing.\r \r 3. The park and it's facilities were dirty. This was not true. The place was spotless\r \r 4. It is not a place for teens. That is why I went\r \r 5. It is expensive. Not, it is cheaper than Astroland's 6 hour Pay One Price plane and comes with a water park. (But Astroland comes with Coney Island.)\r \r We will be going back on another weekday, this year or next, but I will bring another adult! Pros: Got out of the City Cons: Got out of the City more

POSITIVES:\r This is one of the rare water parks that are truely kiddie friendly. Parents are allowed to ride/play side-by-side at all time (this is unlike Seame Place or Six Flags, where you kids will compete vs immature big kids in the same kiddie area; nor like Dorney Park, where height restriction is so strictly enforced that parents could only be in observation mode).\r \r NEGATIVES:\r 1) Why would a business takes only CASH or DISCOVER CARD (no Visa, no Mastercard, no AmEx) at admission? Take a wild guess. (wink wink wink...)\r \r 2) The admission is very expensive. The amusement rides are all kiddie style in basically your local 4-H quality on a gravel lot. Parking lot looks like a trailer park (not paved of course). The waterpark is very small (i.e., very crowded). No wave pool, lily pod, et al. 2 adults + 2 kids = $80. No corporate nor AAA discount et al. $15 more would get us to Dorney Park which is like 6-8 times the scale.\r \r 3) Operating hours are questionable. I mean, 10am-6pm already does not sound right when admission is expensive. But what ticked me off is that.....the waterpark actually closes at 5:30pm, not 6pm as advertised. To make it worst, the staff's mindset is that waterpark hours = amusement park hours. So most of the rides would shut-off after 5:30pm too. We got turned away at multiple rides from 5:35pm - 5:45pm, this is extremely absurd, almost a fraud. The staff was very rude when I complainted - it's like . they go home at 6pm is more important than everything else. This is unlike Dorney or Sesame, where the amusement side is still open for another few hours after the waterpark closes. (in fact, both places *clear* the lines even at closing time so nobody would get turned away)\r \r So, unless your family have kiddies that could not play independently, think twice before going there. I won't go back for sure.\r Pros: Truely kiddie friendly Cons: No visa/mastercard accepted; Small and dated facility; Rude and insensitive staff more