Amusement Park Ride Photos

Easter Bunny Zaira meets Easter Bunny Jelly Belly

When Zaira and I visited the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA a few weeks ago we were excited to learn that they would be hosting an easter brunch today.  Of course, we immediately bought tickets being huge fans of brunch (and all things breakfast).  The fact that not only would Mr. Jelly Belly himself be attending, but so would Easter Bunnies Wendy & Wendell Bunny had absolutely nothing to do with our decision   Okay, maybe it had everything to do with our decision, but I have mentioned that 2009 is a character hunting year for us, have I not?

As the opening photo shows, Jelly Belly doesn’t fool around for the holidays, going so far as to add bunny ears to the giant (3 story plus) inflatable Mr. Jelly Belly that rests outside the Jelly Belly Visitor Center.  Zaira (who provided her own ears courtesy of a carnival midway game at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) was egg-static.  But we were actually there for the brunch (and to meet and greet the “live” characters, of course) so we quickly headed inside.

Zaira snuggles with Wendell

Aahz Gets two thumbs up!

Brunch was excellent and the whole place was wonderfully decorated for Easter, but Zaira did feel a little out of place being the oldest “child” in the room (by about three years).  We were both very glad we attended, but also agreed that this was not our new Easter tradition.  If you’ve got children in the single digits, however, Easter at the Jelly Belly Factory is highly recommended.

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Jelly Belly Visitor Center - Fairfield, CA

Zaira and I found ourselves on a mini road trip today wandering along the small coastal towns of Northern California. When I asked where she wanted to go next her reply was: the Jelly Belly Factory. Well, we were down near Monterey, and Jelly Belly makes its home in Fairfield, so I told her I wasn’t sure we’d make it in time to take the tour.

She was, however, undeterred and we headed North just as quick as Rover would take us.  Alas, we arrived only moments after the final tour of the day had begun.  It turns out, however, that the factory itself doesn’t operate on weekends so even if we had made the tour we still would not have been able to see any Jelly Bellies actually being made.  Instead, we cruised the gift shop (adding two balls to our slowly growing souvenir golf ball collection),

Jelly Belly Souvenir Golf Balls

tried a few free samples, grabbed a couple of pressed pennies (aka elongated coins) for Z’s collection, and found a great photo booth to take the picture above.  Unlike most photo booths at amuesement parks, tourist traps, and entertainment centers, this one actually had a digital frame that applied to the location of the booth itself.  Hence the picture that opened this post.

But that wasn’t all we found.  We also discovered that Jelly Belly hosts an annual Easter Brunch that would be attended not only by Mr. Jelly Belly himself, but also by Wendell & Wendy Bunny – better known as The Easter Bunnies! And suddenly, we had holiday plans.

Last year we managed to collect literally hundreds of ride photos for our collection and to share with y’all via this website.  This year looks like it’s going to be more about character hunting and the “folx” we manage to meet and, of course, get photos with.

In addition to addicting my impressionable young daughter to roller coasters and ride photos I’ve also managed to get her hooked on going to the drive-in.  Last week as we pulled up to the box office we noticed a flier announcing that in honor of the opening of Steve Martin and Jean Reno’s Pink Panther 2, the Pink Panther himself would be visiting the Capital Drive-In.  Plans were instantly made.

We arrived a little late tonight, so quickly parked Rover and headed to the snack bar where we hoped to “catch” the most infamous cat burglar of all time.  Lo and behold, sitting on a bar stool, watching ESPN, was none other than the Pink Panther himself.  Although he was looking a little worse for wear (apparently he’s spent quite some time hanging out in the drive-in’s attic) he was still happy enough to pose with Zaira for a quick pic.

And thus, our new year was begun…

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After all of our amusement park adventures this year I’m happy to close out the year’s photo collection with several ride photos from Knott’s Berry Farm.

Timber Mountain Log Ride was completely rethemed into Elf Mountain Christmas during Knott’s Merry Farm and, as Knott’s so often does, it got a custom digital frame for the ride photo as well (pictured at left).  This is the epitome of a holiday frame as it not only reflects the season, but the re-themed ride as well and still perfectly frames the riders themselves.  Zaira decided this was her absolute favorite frame of the year.  Congratulations Knott’s!

Ghostrider wasn’t re-themed and didn’t receive a special holiday frame, but there was pretty big news… They installed on-ride video cameras supplied by CD R!de. We didn’t buy a video, of course, because we’ve seen them before and they’re absolute garbage. But we did buy this wonderful photo. It’s always great when the other folx in the pic are having a great time as well. And now it’s time to ask a favor…

If you’re a fan of amusement park ride and roller coaster photos and you see any booth like Ghostrider’s that has both video and still photos, buy the photo! In fact, even if they don’t have video, buy the photo! The video systems aren’t coming in because they’re better or more popular. They’re coming in because people aren’t buying enough photos. The videos are not only horrible, but the systems are far more expensive to install and maintain. But the odds of a park admitting its mistake and going back to photos are slim. So buy photos when they’re available and help ensure your kids will have the opportunity to buy them as well. </rant>

Despite the horrible experience Zaira and I had being the “first ever” riders on Pony Express, when we saw that they had a special holiday frame we knew we’d have to ride it again.  I actually really like the way the snow is depicted in this digital frame, and the ride wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it was back in May.  We also rode in the very front of the ‘car’ and actually managed to feel a little bit of the roller coaster forces affect us.  The ride-ops have definitely mellowed out on squeezing the restraints as tight as possible and I have a feeling they loosened up on the brakes as well.  Still not a quality coaster, but no longer an all-together negative experience.

Zaira and I mistakenly made our first pilgrimage down to Knott’s Merry Farm a few days after Christmas. It seems that, despite the event being advertised as running through the first week of January, the bulk of the Christmas activities actually ceased on Christmas Eve.  Live and learn.  We’ll go earlier next year.

We were still able to grab samples of their holiday digital frames, however, with my favorite being the one pictured at left. That’s our gate photo in front of the big Peanut’s Christmas display that replaced the Pony Express display near the front gate.

Zaira actually prefers the gift wrap border (pictured at right), though it still says Knott’s Berry Farm instead of Knott’s Merry Farm.  In fact, we could find almost no merchandise with the Knott’s Merry Farm name despite there still being a plethora of Knott’s Scary Farm merchandise available from as far back as six years ago.

We did manage to find Snoopy again!  Unfortunately, he had already sent his Santa outfit to the cleaners so only had this bizarre vest that Z and I assume some distant Aunt sent as a Christmas present.  We figured he was only wearing it during photo opps so he could send her “proof” of how much he loved it   Alas, although the other members of the Peanuts gang were performing in various shows and parades, none of them were available for photos in the two days we were there.

We also managed to catch sight of this holiday ornament ‘border’ while purchasing our pictures.  Although subtle I really like it and think it capures the holiday spirit very well while not overpowering the photo itself.

Zaira and I had never attended Gilroy Gardens (aka Bonfante Gardens) Holiday Lights celebration before this year, so decided to take the plunge despite their incredibly high prices for relatively little amusement value. What really put Gilroy Gardens over the top for me was the fact that the Peanuts Gang would be there for the holidays and I was looking forward to getting our pictures taken with them since we seem to have such difficulty locating them [...] Continue Reading…