Summer in the Park

"This is my new all-time favorite thing, ever!" Number One Son was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement as we walked out of the Monster Live Rock and Roll show. We'd fueled up with cheeseburgers and onion rings at Mel's (yes, you do sense a habit here) before going, and all that energy had found its outlet. Who knew eight-year-olds could appreciate Motley Crue (somewhat modified a-la-Monsters, but still)?! Good stuff. The singing and dancing were definitely aided by the on-stage pyro, too.

Little did we know how soon the all-time favorite thing would be updated. Our next stop was the Waterworld show. "Mom, did you SEE that?!" Followed closely by an ongoing interrogation best summed up as "How did they DO that?!" My boys may not be quite old enough to watch the original Waterworld movie just yet, but they definitely enjoyed the action.

Younger Son was not to be deterred or distracted from his favorite show either. It was a long walk past lots of other interesting-looking attractions, but he still managed to lead us to the Sesame Street 4D Movie Magic show without a wrong turn. There was hardly any wait before we were inside, soaking up the air-conditioning. This had to have been at least the third time the boys saw the Sesame Street show. But familiarity in this case just makes it all the more fun. "Here come the bubbles, Mom!" Even simulated cockroach invasions garner only giggles.

The hot afternoon took its toll, but after a short break in the simulated Central Park (which was mostly spent picking up pieces of that big confetti from the 10th Anniversary show--again), we managed to catch two more short performances.

The first was the What's Up street performance, with an actor somehow ("It's magic, Mom!") floating in mid-air with just one hand placed against a wall for support. Other guests took turns getting their photos taken while standing under the actor's legs. I'm sure we weren't the only ones wildly hypothesizing about how he did it, but in any case, it was a good trick.

Then, just around the corner, we came across a Hello Kitty music and dance performance just getting started. The songs weren't familiar, but the cheerful beat soon (predictably enough) had both boys dancing. Younger Son was especially impressed by how fast Hello Kitty and the other dancers managed to change costumes behind hand-held curtains. He even zipped around to the side of the little stage to see whether he could figure out how they did it. His only comment, though, was just an appreciative "They're so fast!"

So, various mysteries remained unsolved on this visit. But I suppose that just means we have a good reason to come back for more--and to see whether we can discover yet another "new all-time favorite thing, ever!"