Gardaland is like Worlds of Fun (for the KS people) or Great America (for the IN people) mixed in with a little bit of Disneyworld. It’s about a 45 min. drive in Wingo to the coast of Lake Garda, the largest of the northern Italy lakes that borders the Veneto region (where we are).
We were excited to get the kids out for something similar to what they’d get back in the states. Lots of fun rides, bright colors, crazy characters, etc. Well we got that and then some:
Everything in this area of the park was all about the under-10 crowd and extreme sensory overload. VP’s eyes were huge and set on the gigantic tree in front of us:
It looked like a tree house that just went on forever. Little kids were running up and down the walkways that snaked around the trunk and there was a bit of a line to get in. We figured it would be worth the wait and joined in.
Once the entrance at the base finally opened up we were corralled into an elevator. The lights go out and the ceiling lights up with this humongous wizard face. We direct the kids’ gazes up to the ceiling and are all, “Look, the wizard’s telling us a story about the tree house!” We obviously have no idea what the wizard is saying because it’s all in Italian, but we figure that had to be the gist of it.
As we’re listening to the wizard we’re slowly being lowered down, not up. I’m a little confused because I thought we would end up in the “tree house,” but the doors finally open and we walk into a dark basement-looking area. Another wizard lights up and starts talking in Italian again. This voice is a little darker and extremely loud, so Sarah and I are starting to look back and forth at each other wondering what type of “ride” this actually is.
Finally we’re led into a larger room with stadium seating on each side. It kind of resembles a barn, with a sparkly bed and wizard-looking stuff on a small stage in the middle. We all sit down, and Sarah and I are trying to encourage the kids that this will be fun…”Look we’re going to have a show!” “It looks like Mickey’s wizard hat!”…and so on.
Suddenly restraining bars whip around in front of us and the lights go out. The wizard’s voice comes on, this time louder than ever, and it’s that Mwaahhahahahahah type of laughter. The room starts swaying back and forth like one of those pirate ship rides. Only it keeps going higher…and higher until we are literally facing the ground on the highest tilt. To make matters worse, the ceiling is spinning to make it look like we’re flipping all the way around. There are lights flashing, loud cracks of thunder…it was like an evil fun house. All five of us are trying to keep our food down, and the two boys are screaming.
After what seems to be ten years, the ride finally stops and Sarah and I are tag teaming the boys trying to calm them down. GP (the 9 yr old) looks at us and goes, “We are never going on this ride EVER AGAIN!!” as these big crocodile tears run down his cheeks. All of us stumble out of the ride and immediately leave the kids section of the park…seriously?! That’s the type of “kid rides” they have in Italy?!
For those of you who know this (I’m thinking of Tracy, Allison and Melissa right now) I love roller coasters. There was a huge blue one I saw from the air while we were on this panoramic ride:
It’s called the Blue Tornado, and I begged Keaton to ride it with me. It took ten minutes and a promise of gelato afterwards, but I finally convinced her. As we get up to the ride we see this:
Keaton almost takes the exit, but she ends up staying on. We get on the ride and drop the first hill and I’m screaming my head off. Keaton’s loving it - turns out she’s more of a thrill-junkie than she thought :).
Here are some more pictures I took from on top of the panoramic ride. It was gorgeous that day:
And this is for Dad. They had some serious landscaping:
The kids found the American section of the park. It was all Wild West-themed, obviously. Here’s the country church:
Near the end of the day we decide to try this big pirate ship the boys had their eyes on. From the outside it looks as if you get to tour a life-size pirate ship, because we see kids running up and down the top deck. Judging by our experience at the beginning of the day, we should have known better, but we decide to jump in line once again.
As we follow the line of people we start walking down a huge flight of stairs. This should have been our first clue. We are led onto these tour boats, similar to the ones you ride on “It’s a Small World” in Disneyworld. We put the boys in the middle of the boat just in case we get ambushed again.
The first part of the ride is just like Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyworld. Lots of animated pirates, a little town with pirates playing cards, etc…then the ride gradually becomes more and more adult. We round the corner at one point and we are in the middle of two pirate ships in battle. Shots are being fired and the water is literally spraying over us like its been hit with bullets. We’re all ducking and dodging fire and screaming as the dummy pirates slide across ropes above our heads.
The final turn brings us to three pirates hanging by their necks as a result of getting caught by the townspeople. A cat is clawing its way up the leg of one of the dead pirates. I look back at Sarah, who has her hands over VP’s eyes, and she mouths, “We are DONE with Gardaland.”
The kids are exhausted at this point from all of the excitement/terror, so we load them up in the car and head home. All in all an entertaining day, just not exactly what we thought it would be. I guess the moral of this story is: know enough Italian to read the warning signs at a theme park before bringing the kids.
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