It turns out that for the weighty sum of $10 per 24 hours, I can have a fairly high-speed link in my hotel room. Given the amount of work I'm trying to get submitted during this "vacation", I think I need the link. So things are good here so far…
We are currently at a motel very near Marine World, North of San Francisco. Indeed, we just spent the day there. I've uploaded some pictures to my phonecam gallery.
Surprisingly, the park is reasonably priced for admission, and the amount of merchandising push compared to, say, Sea World in San Diego is quite reasonable. The only really unreasonable thing is the food prices, which I would estimate at an average of 4x Portland prices. Ouch.
The marine and other animal shows were just fantastic. The rides were also a great deal of fun, although no one in our family wanted to ride the large collection of Giant Roller Coasters. (Marine World is a Six Flags property.)
Last week we went to Oaks Park in Portland for the small-town amusement park experience. Is Marine World better? In a lot of ways, yes. My boy has already had some unique experiences and a really good time. On the other hand, he had huge fun at Oaks Park also, and it was free admission, reasonably-priced food, and about $10 for a full ride pass. Then we drove home to our own beds.
Marine World better be better. (B)