Wizard World Fun Park with Young Kids

Over the weekend we visited Wizard World and  Little Monkey had such a blast! Wizard World is on at the Better Living Centre at the Exhibition Place until March 22nd and if you have kids between 2 and 10, it’s most definitely worth a visit to. Our visit on opening Sunday was nothing short of entertaining and if we can, we’re going to sneak in one more visit before they close for the season.

What I love most about the space is that there’s plenty of bouncy castles and rides with no line ups ( at least when we visited). We visited Wizard World when Little Monkey was a year and a half and knew that Baby Boy would have fun here too. There’s a dedicated toddler room with lots of toys, bouncy castles for the tots and ample benches for the parents to sit at with parked strollers. This is where we spent half our day at the last time and this year as well.

However this year Little Monkey at three and a half is now old enough to go on many of the mechanical rides. She had a friend join her at the fun park and so she had company on most of the rides. There were a couple they couldn’t go on and a few required an adult to join them. I’d say she got to about 22 of the 25 rides on offer. Her favourite of course was the bouncy castle section where many of them had huge slides. I’m pretty sure she went on the slides at least twenty times.

The thrilling part for me was watching  how she took to the rides and some slightly intimidating slides. The girl has fear because I can see it in her eyes the first time she tries things. However she doesn’t let the fear stop her from venturing out and that’s not something we would have been able to teach her. I’m glad she’s adventurous and that she took the chance to try out some new stuff. I joined her on the roller coaster and I knew it freaked her out but I continued to ‘wohooo’ and smile through it all (despite a slight hangover) which got her wanting to go on it a second time.

Adults can enter the place for $10 but I  highly recommend getting a ride bracelet for the kids. All day ride bracelets are $27 and you could buy a family pass for $67 which comes with 2 bracelets and 2 adult admissions. Kids two and under do not need tickets but if they want to go on the bouncy castle they will need a ticket. Individual ride tickets can be purchased on site so that’s what I’d recommend for the really tiny fellas. Little Monkey definitely needed a bracelet and we had the family pass with two ride bracelets which made it easy for me to go on some of the rides with her. Mind you I only went on three rides so I could have got three ride tickets which would have been cheaper. Either ways we think Wizard World is absolutely worth every penny because we spent 4 hours there and the sheer joy on both kids’ faces were priceless.

In addition to the rides and inflatable fun there are a couple stage shows and a large petting zoo area. You can get licked by camels, ride ponys and even butt noses with pigs and donkeys. Everyone has different opinions on animal farms and animals used for shows. You can avoid this area if you want, but know that they are around. We attended the Animal Show were we got to see a tiger, pet the baby lion and a python. All freaky but of course very fun for the kids. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing lions and tigers in the past but even I was a bit antsy when the friendliest tiger I’ve met to date, decided he didn’t want to leave the stage. He wanted to stay and play! We were at the front row with two strollers and four kids (four adults too) and at one point I decided that we should perhaps step away. I know I was being overprotective but we did get a bit alarmed when the two trainers were struggling to get the tiger off the stage. Would I do it again? I’m not too sure, there’s lots of stories about how these animals are looked after that has me a bit cautious about supporting these acts. In addition to the Animal Show there’s also a Magic show and a visit from a Clown.

If you’re looking for some fun and a way to burn some energy, definitely take a look at Wizard World. I truly wish they were here all year round because we’d be back on a monthly basis. It’s a place I’d like an annual pass to! I can see us returning year after year until the kids turn 10ish because I think the kiddy rides and bouncy castle phase may end at that age (though who knows… I may be wrong! After all, I did get excited about the bumper cars!).