DinoBoy Reviews Gulliver's Kingdom

Whilst Mummy was in Chicago at her BlogHer09 conference Daddy took us to Gulliver's Kingdom for a day out. We don't usually do things without Mum - so that was a bit odd but we had a really good time.

The best ride was the Junior Drop Tower which is a ride that takes you up really high and then just drops you down.

When we first got on it I was really excited then it dropped about 5ft and my tummy went funny inside - urghhhhh.....

It was just ModelGirl and me at first, FunnyGirl was scared but came on when she saw us having such good fun. She screamed loads and daddy told her to stop!!

We had a go on the fire engines which I really liked. I was playing with the hose and when I lifted it up the water ran straight down my sleeve into my top and left me with a big cold wet patch on my side! We did manage to put out a big fire though.

I really wanted to go on the Log Flume - but no one else did. I talked the girls into it but dad said NO WAY! But we begged and begged and begged and finally gave in (I think that he only did that so we would shut up!).

I sat at the front, then ModelGirl, FunnyGirl and Daddy at the back. FunnyGirl and Daddy got soaked - we thought that was hilarious - but Daddy didn't! He wouldn't take us on a second time because he was too wet.

Then we went over to the Princess Play area where the girls dressed up like princesses - they really liked doing that, Dad and I hung around taking pictures of them.

For lunch we had kids meals - we all had chips and sausage. The meals were big, but I ate all mine - if you know me, you know that isn't a surprise. (I did feel a bit sick afterwards but I didn't tell Dad. Good job we didn't go on anything swirly or there might have been trouble!)

After lunch we went on the Big Wheel. At the top you could see the entire park - it was a really good view. Then we went into the Mini Maze, I was obviously the first one to make it to the middle - the girls got a bit lost because they went the wrong way. I had to be a hero brother and rescue them. I was being totally nice and got them back out again - I could have left them but I that would have been mean.

We went on the Jungle River Boat three times. That was so much fun. The ModelGirl went on a big carousel swing all by herself, she said it was not scary at all.

I really wanted to go on the Bumper Cars but i wasn't tall enough to go on my own unfortunately and Dad had to look after the girls. Next time when Mum is with us I'll be able to do it with her, or maybe I will have grown that extra millimeter by then!

We had a really good day at Gulliver's, but we had to leave to get home to let our dog out. There are lots of other fun things that we didn't make it to like the Dinosaur Eco Farm park. I would really like to go back so that we can visit them. After all I am DinoBoy!

We visited Gulliver's Kingdom Milton Keynes.

Walking with Dinosaurs rocks!

Last night for the first in a selection of school holiday treats. We took the little ones to see the stage show of Walking With Dinosaurs. As you have probably worked out by now - DinoBoy, is mad on dinosaurs (and has been since he was old enough to hold his very very large dinosaur encyclopedia at about 14 months).

It has been eagerly anticipated by all of us for months - so excitement was running high! But before we could get into the dino spirit FunnyGirl and I had a whirl-wind visit to London for a casting. So quick was it that I was back at my desk in time for lunch!

The start time of the show was 7pm and we left early enough (or so we thought) to get something to eat before the show. Now eating out is limited with them as they are such bad eaters. I would feel totally dreadful about it but as I have managed to raise one child (No1) with normal eating habits I have to lay the blame with the series of nannies that led the childcare / feeding situation in their formative years (sorry Nat!).

So.... there we were in Pizza Hut (urghh). That particular establishment is seen as a compromise in our house - which means that I will actually eat there if forced.

Problem 1 - it was packed. I informed the guy (who had taken ages to even acknowledge our very existence) that we were on our way to a show that began at 7pm.

Time check 5.45pm. He told us that there was a longer than usual wait as they were busy but that we should have our food in about 30 mins.

Math check. 5.45pm + 30min = 6.15pm - perfect. That gave us enough time to eat and ten mins to walk to the venue and get seated.

6.30pm...... no food.

6.35pm...... no food + 3 hungry, fussy eaters + no food = disaster

At this point we decided to pay for our drinks and leave. Obviously the show wasn't going to start on time but we didn't want to chance missing the beginning.

6.50pm by the time we left bloody (excuse my language) Pizza Hut after signing my life away to say that I didn't want to accept their hospitality! What bloody hospitality is that then? Sorry I think that I blinked and missed it and whilst I am at it their toilets were awful too.

So.... now time is of the essence and we also have three grumpy hungry kids and one grumpy hungry mother (OK, so I know that you all know that one of me is totally worse than all 3 of them put together but this is why the whole thing = one really grumpy hubby!).

Bonus, chip shop on route... We dive in buy chips, that were if you are interested really greasy and not at all nice. Kids stuff faces, I moan a bit (lot) more whilst steeling chips and moaning about wanting a real meal.

Destination - the show.....

Now. Hubby had kindly got us some hospitality tickets and quite frankly we should have been behaving a whole lot better. The kids were fighting, I was moaning about them fighting, we were hungry, greecy and not a happy bunch. When we arrived the kids had their manky chips taken off them - as I knew they would (phew), that saved them having to not eat them and me going into moan overdrive. After all there is only so much moaning one mummy can do in one day. And we were shown to our box.

We sat down and our waitress came in and handed us a menu - a bloody Pizza menu......Urghhhh.

You get the picture. So we could have just saved ourselves all of that hassle and had a pizza in our beautiful box at the show........

I have been harping on about the problems for so long that I have failed to mention the actual show.

Well... tension was high... Emotions were high.... DinoBoy was excited... ModelGirl was excited..... FunnyGirl was excited..... mummy was hungry... daddy was grumpy....

No sorry, there I go again!!!

The show was simply spectacular. We are huge dinosaur fans in this house. Have seen all of the Walking With series, have all of the books, DVD's etc - so we are total target market.

The dino models were totally exceptional and DinoBoy loved it. I would have loved to have seen Nigel Marvin in the role of the narrator though, it would have really made it. The dinosaurs were to scale and that did make it pretty impressive though to be honest we were all totally in awe of the inflatable palm trees that got bigger as the show went on!

I have had lots of questions about the show being suitable for young children and I would say, that yes it is. But go for a matinee show. The evening performance wasn't overly long - we were back on our way home by 9pm but the kids were wiped out.

Must say have just been watching Rick Stein's show on TV - very impressed at seeing how rice noodles are made.A staple of the adult diet in our house! Not the kids (obviously) being half chinese - there is no way they would eat that...

I would like to take this opportunity to thank @that_kat for helping me out with the old spelling problem of mine!