Jessica
Yesterday Matt and I found ourselves with a free morning, so we decided to take the boys to Boomerang Bay, the water park connected to Kings Island. We have been to Kings Island several times, but never to Boomerang Bay, so we didn't know exactly what to expect.

One thing we did know was that, since we are Kings Island Gold Pass members, we could get in 30 minutes before the park opened. We'd been told this was important because the chairs near the wave pool fill up fast. I don't know about you, but I sure want a coveted chair by the wave pool! Problem: we weren't sure what time the park opened and we didn't know where the wave pool was inside the park.

We arrived just after 10 AM and there was a terrible line at the gate to get in. Matt and I both thought, "Those poor people don't have Gold Passes, so they have to wait while we enter early. Well, membership has it's privileges, right?" I jumped out of the car and walked right up to the gate while Matt gathered the children. It was then that I realized all of these people were also Gold Pass holders and I needed to get in line behind all of them. There went my privileges.

About 10:30 the line started moving and we realized the park opens at 11. We followed the herd through security and had our passes checked. Then we expected to follow them to the prized chairs by the wave pool, only to realize there are chairs all over the place and, at that time in the morning, there were plenty to be had. So we dashed from attractions, slides, and pools scoping out the best place for our young family to plant.

After choosing a great 0-entry pool with a little water slide, several geysers, and a raindrop fountain, we finished our sunscreen coverage and headed into the water. Matt and Patriot were soon off to the bigger water slides but Azlan and I were happy sitting in the shallow water letting the geysers randomly "surprise" us. We enjoyed a light lunch and then went to bob in the wave pool. Soon it was naptime and time to go.

We had a great morning and learned a lot for our next trip to the waterpark:
1. Arriving about 10:30 should be sufficient most days.
2. We can pack a lunch and save ourselves a ton of money and calories.
3. Even spray-on sunscreen needs to be rubbed into the edges of swimsuits and hairlines. We all have red sunburn outlines where our suits had been.
4. Azlan needs to wear a hat, no matter how much sunscreen he has. It's hard to see in this pic, but he has sunburn splotches where the sunscreen was lighter than in other places. (And yes, he has a mouthful of pretzels in this pic.)

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