Dallas For Kids - Part One

I was in Dallas last weekend for a surprise birthday party for my sister, but it was also one of the regular trips I make there to see my nieces, who just turned 10. I usually try to do some fun things with them and on this trip the list included:

• Amazing Jake's (a family entertainment mega-complex)
  
• Want To Be A Rock Star? (a singing competition they were entered in)
  
• Riding scooters
  
• Dallas World Aquarium
  
• Museum of Nature and Science

Overall it was an action-packed weekend but I outlasted the twin terrors, which is not an easy thing to do. But it was a lot of fun, and here's a recap of the activities:

Amazing Jake's Food & Fun in Plano, TX
Amazing Jake's is a gigantic 90,000 sq. ft. entertainment complex in the Collin Creek Mall in Plano, TX, in the northern suburbs of Dallas. It looks like they gutted a department store anchor and filled it with a go-cart track, miniature golf course, climbing wall, laser tag, kiddie rides, and video games.




The $10 buffet is mandatory but we got the passes ($22/adult, $19/kids) which include the buffet and unlimited rides. While this isn't cheap, it was worth it.

We arrived late and only spent 3 hours there before they closed, but one advantage is that the long lines started to thin out toward the end of the evening. Since we were starving we ate at the buffet first (the food was better than I expected) and then stood in line for 30 minutes to go up the climbing wall.




I had never gone up a climbing wall and I didn't make it. About two-thirds the way up the hardest wall I was struggling to hold on with my fingers and I fell back. It's a lot harder than it looks and I was also tired after running to keep up with my niece on her bike that afternoon.

We next went to the laser tag attraction -- and never left. My nieces were having so much fun that we just kept cycling to the end of the line after each 5-minute game. We never had to sit out more than one or two games, and the larger crowd was actually good because it meant we always had full 6-on-6 teams.


The vests had reflective patches that would glow red or green (depending on your team), or go dark if you were shot. The guns had a red targeting light.

After a slow start I actually got fairly decent at the game, at least compared to everyone else (who were usually first-timers). I found that I seemed to have much better results when I pumped the trigger, as it seemed to increase the rate of fire. In one game I scored over half of my team's 9,000 points.

Amazing Jake's is just one of at least 4 or 5 such complexes in the North Dallas suburbs (I've also been to Adventure Landing and thought about going to The Main Event), while I only know of one such facility in Maryland, Adventure Park USA in New Market, MD (near Frederick).

Singing Competition
One of my nieces is taking singing lessons and both of them were entered in a local singing competition that aired on local cable TV. Neither of my nieces made it into the finals, though I think one of them sang well but picked a song that was too hard for her (it had a really wide range), while the other undercut herself because she decided to sing over the vocal track.


I used my new Pano ($2.99) iPhone app to take a panoramic time lapse picture of one of the finalists:


The picture shows the same girl as she performs on camera, exits off-stage, and then poses for the glamour shots. My sister said she's the daughter of a local newscaster.

Both of my nieces had fun and didn't seem to mind not making the finals. What they actually seemed to enjoy the most was going through the fire department's exhibit. The Dallas fire department set up a trailer to simulate a bedroom on fire.


My niece knew all of the answers when the fireman quizzed her: If a fire starts while you're sleeping, roll to the floor to avoid inhaling the smoke, crawl to the door, check it with the back of your hand to see if there is fire on the other side, and if it's hot escape via another route such as a window.

Then he had her lie down on the bed while he started the fake smoke generator. As "smoke" filled the room and the alarm sounded, my niece jumped up, ran straight to the window, and jumped out onto the mat outside.

I guess there's a difference between theory and practice.

Riding Scooters
On Saturday I went scooter riding with one of the twins. This was also a lot of fun though it can be a lot of work, as you balance on one leg and use the other to propel yourself.


We roamed around the neighborhood and my niece claimed that she was trying to get lost but was somehow unable to. Of course, every time we came to an intersection she would stop and consider which way to go.

Next: Dallas World Aquarium (Dallas For Kids Part 2)
Also: Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas For Kids Part 3)