In an attempt to make this summer fun & eventful without traveling across the country we've been trying to choose activities that don't break the bank & that we will all enjoy. I had intended to take the kids to LaRonde because we haven't been there in a few years but at the very last minute decided that waiting in lines with Sofie would REALLY suck... so I decided that Parc Safari would be a better alternative. Animals, water park & rides all in one.
We set out from my mother's... kids, Grama & I... and after Google Maps took us right through downtown Valleyfield & getting lost in farmland we eventually made it to the Parc. We decided to have lunch and wait for my sister to arrive before piling into the van to drive through the safari.
You're allowed to drive with the van doors open and so I thought it would be the most fun if we all just sat on the van floor. What a lame safari. Now it would have been REAL interesting prior to 1986 when ALL the animals were a part of the safari... lions, giraffe's, elephants, & monkey's included. Nothing like a little "lion on the hood of the car" action to get the party started. Or a monkey ripping off your windshield. But now in 2012 for "safety reasons" all that's left are a bunch of geriatric members of the bovine family who have absolutely no interest in the disgusting food pellets they've been fed by visitors for years. Although you're not supposed to feed them anything other than those pellets... some visitors had carrots and were slightly more successful in luring some animals to their cars for a snack. Us... not so much. The Elephants, giraffe's & zebras are in their own enclosure so you can only see them from afar. Boo. I remember the days when the giraffe's were at least a part of the safari and if you were lucky enough they would stick their head in the car and drool or barf all over the seat. The ostriches, all 2 of them, stood in a field and might as well have been cemented to the ground for the amount of movement we got out of them. Bo-ring. And then... when one of the animals comes remotely close to your vehicle for what you misinterpret as interest in food, they barely even look at you and walk right by. This nevertheless causes HUGE traffic jams as visitors try desperately to feed an animal that, if you're lucky, stops for a minute to look at you as if to say "do you honestly think I'm going to eat THAT?"
Perhaps the staff might consider breeding the animals so that A) There are more of them... and B) They aren't so frickin' old and lame. Sam managed to feed a llama and Juliet an elk or something... but other than that it was just blank stares. Now that I say that... perhaps they should stop the whole thing and let the bloody animals go free.
After the safari we headed over to the lion & tiger enclosures for feeding time. Even they weren't very interested in their meaty snacks. But they did climb up onto the top of the glass tunnels so that was cool. The monkeys were even boring and the bears were so hot they could barely lie down let alone move. Geez... writing this is making me feel really bad about supporting this whole animals in captivity for human enjoyment thing. Perhaps I should expand my boycott of aquariums that use whales & dolphins for entertainment to include zoos. Where do you draw the line??
After we were done sweating over the animals we headed over to the water park area for some MUCH needed refreshment. Sam was DESPERATE to float down the "lazy" river so we jumped in some tubes & headed down stream.... slowly. Sam LOVED it so we did it twice.
Then we headed over to the water slides for a few runs before the storm hit. Ah yes.. the storm. When thunder struck they closed the water area so we headed over to the rides in hopes that we might get in a few before it all shut down. The dark clouds looming overhead looked like they were swirling around in a blender as I tried to recall where I'd seen that before. Ah yes... in the movies. Right before the formation of a funnel. The kids ran over to the one remaining ride that was open and as the wind picked up, sand blew through the air & branches fell from the trees I thought it might be a good idea to head back to the car. Although the kids had to cover their faces to shield them from the blowing sand it wasn't until my mom mentioned "tornado" that they were scared enough to call it a day & run to the car. Of course there was no tornado but it was honestly the first time in my life I thought there very well could be. The clouds were very threatening.
So that was that. It's a pretty good spot for families... you can bring a cooler full of goodies & find a nice shady spot no problem. The water area is great for kids, not too big & not too small, and the rides are probably satisfying enough for a fix without the long line ups of LaRonde. I'm sure if we had made it to the continental farm area & petting zoo it would have made the animal aspect of it a lot better but we didn't. We were running out of time and it was soooo hot we needed the water. Was it fun? Yes. Would I go back? I dunno. It might be just as exciting to feed the geese at the beach and play on the slip 'n slide.
We set out from my mother's... kids, Grama & I... and after Google Maps took us right through downtown Valleyfield & getting lost in farmland we eventually made it to the Parc. We decided to have lunch and wait for my sister to arrive before piling into the van to drive through the safari.
You're allowed to drive with the van doors open and so I thought it would be the most fun if we all just sat on the van floor. What a lame safari. Now it would have been REAL interesting prior to 1986 when ALL the animals were a part of the safari... lions, giraffe's, elephants, & monkey's included. Nothing like a little "lion on the hood of the car" action to get the party started. Or a monkey ripping off your windshield. But now in 2012 for "safety reasons" all that's left are a bunch of geriatric members of the bovine family who have absolutely no interest in the disgusting food pellets they've been fed by visitors for years. Although you're not supposed to feed them anything other than those pellets... some visitors had carrots and were slightly more successful in luring some animals to their cars for a snack. Us... not so much. The Elephants, giraffe's & zebras are in their own enclosure so you can only see them from afar. Boo. I remember the days when the giraffe's were at least a part of the safari and if you were lucky enough they would stick their head in the car and drool or barf all over the seat. The ostriches, all 2 of them, stood in a field and might as well have been cemented to the ground for the amount of movement we got out of them. Bo-ring. And then... when one of the animals comes remotely close to your vehicle for what you misinterpret as interest in food, they barely even look at you and walk right by. This nevertheless causes HUGE traffic jams as visitors try desperately to feed an animal that, if you're lucky, stops for a minute to look at you as if to say "do you honestly think I'm going to eat THAT?"
Perhaps the staff might consider breeding the animals so that A) There are more of them... and B) They aren't so frickin' old and lame. Sam managed to feed a llama and Juliet an elk or something... but other than that it was just blank stares. Now that I say that... perhaps they should stop the whole thing and let the bloody animals go free.
After the safari we headed over to the lion & tiger enclosures for feeding time. Even they weren't very interested in their meaty snacks. But they did climb up onto the top of the glass tunnels so that was cool. The monkeys were even boring and the bears were so hot they could barely lie down let alone move. Geez... writing this is making me feel really bad about supporting this whole animals in captivity for human enjoyment thing. Perhaps I should expand my boycott of aquariums that use whales & dolphins for entertainment to include zoos. Where do you draw the line??
After we were done sweating over the animals we headed over to the water park area for some MUCH needed refreshment. Sam was DESPERATE to float down the "lazy" river so we jumped in some tubes & headed down stream.... slowly. Sam LOVED it so we did it twice.
Then we headed over to the water slides for a few runs before the storm hit. Ah yes.. the storm. When thunder struck they closed the water area so we headed over to the rides in hopes that we might get in a few before it all shut down. The dark clouds looming overhead looked like they were swirling around in a blender as I tried to recall where I'd seen that before. Ah yes... in the movies. Right before the formation of a funnel. The kids ran over to the one remaining ride that was open and as the wind picked up, sand blew through the air & branches fell from the trees I thought it might be a good idea to head back to the car. Although the kids had to cover their faces to shield them from the blowing sand it wasn't until my mom mentioned "tornado" that they were scared enough to call it a day & run to the car. Of course there was no tornado but it was honestly the first time in my life I thought there very well could be. The clouds were very threatening.
So that was that. It's a pretty good spot for families... you can bring a cooler full of goodies & find a nice shady spot no problem. The water area is great for kids, not too big & not too small, and the rides are probably satisfying enough for a fix without the long line ups of LaRonde. I'm sure if we had made it to the continental farm area & petting zoo it would have made the animal aspect of it a lot better but we didn't. We were running out of time and it was soooo hot we needed the water. Was it fun? Yes. Would I go back? I dunno. It might be just as exciting to feed the geese at the beach and play on the slip 'n slide.
Yeah, you'll go again because we're going to try to spend a week at my cottage next summer.
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