Ferrari World opened soon after we moved here. We had in on our bucket list to try on some scorching hot day. Well 2 1/2 years in, we still had never found the time to do it (plus, it really doesn't get good reviews so we didn't prioritize it very high). So giving it a whirl during our "stay home, local adventures" Christmas break, seemed like a good idea.
So on New Year's Eve morning, we hit the road so that we can arrive when it opens (to beat the crowds!). We park about 10 feet from the parking garage entrance in row 1 on the ground floor, so we clearly beat the crowds to the parking garage (when we finally left, we saw that we still could have parked in row 3 so parking is obviously not a problem at Ferrari World).
We planned to meet some friends but one of their little ones woke up sick so it ended up just being our family for the day. I must admit that we went with pretty low expectations - Jake and I thought we would be there for 3-4 hours and feel like we had seen and done everything.
I am happy to say that Ferrari World exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. We ended up staying for more than seven hours (and the kids had energy to stay a little longer). We rode lots of rides, saw three shows, ate a quite good lunch at a sit-down restaurant and let the kids run off some energy in an indoor playground. The indoor playground had a giant rotating tire (horizontal) and they literally broke a sweat running around like a hamster inside that wheel.
I think overall this amusement park would be really tough for a family with young kids who really wanted fun, extreme rides. They are very strict on height requirements and a lot of the rides for the young one are very, very tame. Our girls were fine with tame. Meredith and I rode the flume ride (which takes you inside a giant car engine). She wasn't tall enough for either of the roller coasters but the flume ride seemed to satiate her desire for adrenalin. Poor Anna - we finally talked her into trying the little drive cars (we knew she was tall enough because another ride had the same height requirement - she went in with us but got scared so we took her out). After doing the old Ferrari convertible tour through Italy with me, she decided she was ready to drive her own little car. Well, the worker there said she wasn't tall enough (it *was* a close call) - this was really too bad as she does not often agree to try things like this.
We also saw three shows - their flagship, circus-like show called Red, a magic show and an old-fashioned rock and roll dance show. None of them were Disney (or even Silver Dollar City) quality but all were well done and very enjoyable.
So we can check that box but we've also put it on our list of things to do again - hopefully when Meredith is tall enough to tackle the Fastest Roller Coaster in the World!
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I must say that Jane and Regan look quite fetching in this
"antique Ferrari" they took for a stroll through Italy! |
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| Anna was my Sunday stroll buddy |
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| Meredith and Jake above an Italian village |
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| Mere at the wheel |
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| Getting ready to go in. |
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Anna getting the hang of driving a remote
controlled Ferrari |
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| Jane loved driving the remote controlled cars. |
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The Ferrari World version of the teacup ride - Tyre Twist
(yes, note the British spelling) |
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| The big girls getting ready for the Tyre Twist |
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| Vroom, vroom. Regan puttering along in a very slow Ferrari |
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| Mere at the wheel and having fun |
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| Jane "whizzing" by (not really, hers was as slow as the others) |
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Oops - Meredith couldn't decide where to go left or right and got
stuck at the curb. She's about to get rescued! |
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Horrible, dark photo - but this is the inside
of the hamster wheel tire at the playground.
They loved this (and made a new friend
who was visiting from Singapore) |
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What trip to an amusement park is complete
without some kind of sugar-laden treat? |
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Anna chose ice cream - you can tell her face really
liked it! |
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These were the little cars, we finally convinced Anna to drive but
she was rejected at the entrance for being too small. |
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| All our girls nicely driving on the correct side of the road! |
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| 7+ hours later, put a fork in us, we're done! |
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On the drive home, Anna, Meredith, Jane *and*
Jake fell asleep. Regan and I were the last ones standing! |
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View of Ferrari World from the outside while it was being built (the
tents on the right are where the Formula 1 race track is). |
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