Dubbers and I had the afternoon to ourselves a few weekends ago, so I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to an old favorite, Central Park. In the back of my mind I was hoping to stumble upon an amusement park previously unknown to me (I had been told about by a few friends). Interestingly, I had been in Central Park many times over the years and never knew that this existed.
We entered on 59th street across from the Plaza Hotel and followed the path west. After about 5-7 minutes of walking, low and behold there it was! Sunken down in a perfectly carved out space was all we needed for a couple hours of fun. Its official name is Victorian Gardens and officially opened in the summer of 2003. This adorable amusement park is seasonal and is only open June thru beginning of September, as otherwise the space is home to Wollman ice skating rink. We were lucky to have visited on its last operating weekend of 2017. However, I wish we had visited sooner as it would have been a nice “test-run” for our trip to Disney. Oh well!
Victorian Gardens’ rides are geared towards 2-12 year olds, which was perfect for Dubbers. There was a total of 13 rides and they were labeled by color according to height restrictions. Half of these rides had the minimum height restriction of 36″ so Dubbers was able to ride by himself if he wanted…which he did!! He wanted to go on every ride and did not hesitate a second, even when I told him he would be riding by himself. It was so gratifying seeing my little man enjoying himself and riding like a “big boy” all by himself. However, on his favorite ride, “Aeromax,” (which were airplanes that “flew” high above the rest of the park), he needed me to join him due to height restriction. We did this ride three times…
Unfortunately Victorian Gardens is now closed for the season, but you should definitely put this on your list of places to visit for summer 2018. This would be especially helpful if you want to gauge how your child will do at another carnival or even an amusement park such as Disney. Obviously the size is not comparable, but the concept, rides (on a smaller scale) and atmosphere are close enough. Its small size and convenient location also work as an advantage in case your child decides it is too stimulating. There is a cost to get in and amount is determined by whether you will be riding or not. I paid $37, which included a rider wristband for Dubbers but not for myself. The other really nice thing is that for rides in which Dubbers did not meet the height requirement, I was able to ride with him for no extra charge. Regardless, the money spent was well worth it. In my book, the two hours Dubbers spent going from the mini mouse coaster to the Grand Prix race cars, all the while beaming with excitement, is worth gold.
