I'm generally a fan of only having authentic experiences specific to the area we visit but sometimes you gotta pivot. In this particular case we had some non beach weather. I love a good putt putt (the kitschier the better). The rest of the jazz can be done in many places near home though. Despite my personal opinion while on vacation, my kids go ga ga over these types of family fun zones anywhere they are. Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park in Wilmington, North Carolina has so much to offer. They have ten different activities (check out the website for full list). There are also deal bundles. We opted for the Triple Play for $25.99 per person since we had a day to kill. This included a $10 arcade card and two dry activities of our choice. They have a water park which I assume and hope is the wet activity but it was closed. We picked laser tag and putt putt. We went for the arcade first. They had lots of games to choose from. The kids like to assess which games give the most tickets. I like to find Skee Ball, basket ball, and they money pit of all money pits, the coin nudger machine. Jon is sweet and usually gives his $ to the kids except for a couple of B-ball matches with me. In the past few years these kind of arcades have switched from tokens to swipe cards. These are much more convenient for the facility and technically for the players. They are 100% less convenient for young or not so bright children. I have a couple of the latter. Many a child can be put into the over swiper category. This means that when they don't get instant gratification that the game has started they keep swiping until their card is empty. That's why my husband is a keeper, he always shares his card. Meanwhile I'm like Gollum with my precious. On this occasion I did spend an embarrassing amount of time trying to swipe my hotel key but we don't need to dwell on that. After clearing out all of our cards we lined up for laser tag. My kids love this game! It reminds me of how out of shape I am because I sweat like a pig and suck wind the whole game. We worked as one team vs. two other families. I like to find the highest point and just chill with my gun and snipe. This is the lazy mom's way to play laser tag. Despite this I have to crouch a lot and end up with some lactic acid thighs. Schooling kids and strong thighs is a win win in my book. After killin' it in laser tag we went outside to cool off and putt putt. The course was fairly generic in the natural setting with a river and waterfall running through at some point. Personally, I like the old school courses with a windmill and giant animals. I used to work at Pirate's Cove Putt Putt in Petoskey, Michigan so I always feel like a mini golf snob. Despite this, Jon almost always beats me. I try not to be bitter but often fail. It's not a friendly match in my family without a sore loser. Today, it was my littlest. I have only so much sympathy to give and then the child is ignored. Overall we had a good time. Next on to what I call hell on earth, the prize redemption table. If you have ever been to one you feel the universal pain. Today is no exception. It feels like hours of math and dum dums. By the end, Jon and I feel like we have been through the ringer. The kids, on the other hand, are oblivious to time and are thrilled to walk away with a bag of extremely overpriced candy. But! When they are happy we are all happy. I can't say that Jungle Rapids is particularly unique but I can say that your kids will walk out of there happy (as long as you can stomach the prices). See below for all our pros and cons.
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| Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park |
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Ticket station at Jungle Rapids (Note the Jungle Rapids Vanna White)
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I get it, cards are convenient, but kids just love to keep swiping and before you know it, no $ left.
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Oops, wrong key. I can't even tell you how many times I swiped this before I figured that out.
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Ready to blast some other people's kids.
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Hole in one water hole. Not a fan of fishing my ball out of there.
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Really tried to get him milking the cow.
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Pouty face. Somebody has to lose kid.
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Hell on Earth
Pros and Cons By Us |
Jon (Oldest)
Pros: There is a lot of variety of games.
Cons: Two large of a variable on game pricing with a card system for children that might not be aware.
Beth (Old)
Pros: So much to do! Everyone is happy at these places (except when they are not because I have a couple of sore losers, buck up boys). Skee Ball and kicking butt at basketball.
Cons: Dollar Bills! And flashing lights. And noise. And, oh dear Lord, the prize redemption area.
Ted (11)
Pros: There is lots to do there.
Cons: There are too many things and you don't get to try all of them.
Lou (9)
Pros: We got to play putt putt and laser tag and we won in laser tag.
Cons: I didn't win putt putt.
Gus (12)
Pros: They had the arcade, go karting, laser tag, putt putt, and lots of other stuff.
Cons: The weather makes it not fun to do some of the cool stuff.
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