Sunday 27 February 2011

Earlier Bird Gets the Truck Tour.

In December we saw an advertisement on the TV saying that the Ben10 truck tour was taking place in the UK. As you can imagine Jack was desperate to attend. We waited and we waited and tracked it on the website until the last Wednesday before Christmas only to find out that it was canceled due to bad weather. Jack took the news surprisingly well.

A few weeks later we received word that the canceled dates had been rescheduled for the middle of February, Jack immediately began counting down the hours.

We arrived 2 hours before it opened hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible, we had a busy day ahead of us. We'd skipped breakfast knowing that the parking lot was shared with a McDonalds. After having read the 'expect long queues' warning we'd planned to arrive 2 hours early, scout the situation and have a McDonalds breakfast while we waited. Don't judge us to wanting to arrive that early, as a parent you become very familiar with the concept of the earlier bird getting what is always a very limited number of worms before the early bird and subsequent later birds. It was a good thing we were that early too. When we got there there was already a queue, it didn't look particularly long so we went for breakfast first and just figured we'd monitor the queue and jump in if it started to get bigger. While in the queue we noticed the abundance of Ben10 garb on the children and got talking to the family behind us who had already been on the ride, they had opened it early. Great! So we ate our breakfast and jumped in line.

An hour later... we got to the ride, only 1 adult per child so Helen went with Jack while I watched on the TV's set up outside. The ride was about 10 or 15 minutes. Afterward Jack was given a Ben10 football and a photo opportunity with Humungousaur. As we left we noted that the line had grown somewhat. When we got in the queue there were maybe 100 people in front of us. When we left the queue extended past where we'd joined and extended all the way around the back of what is one of the bigger Toys R' Us stores that I know of. I'd have to say that there was somewhere around 600 people waiting. According to some staff the wait was around 4 and a half hours and, I'm not sure how true this is, apparently they only allow up to 1000 people to ride before they close up.

The tour itself was exactly what I expected. A simulator ride, character costumes and much Ben10 related paraphernalia that could fit on the back of a large truck. I must say that I was a little disappointed by the knowledge, or lack thereof, of the 'Plumbers' that were managing the ride. I heard several of the kids asking questions and it was pretty obvious that they hadn't done their research.



We asked one of the 'Plumbers' if this was Water Hazard or Bivalvan but I don't think she knew what we were talking about. She said Water Hazard.

Jack figured out that it wasn't really Water Hazard, just a man in a costume. Apparently there's a zipper on the back. I can't see it.

Inside the tunnel before the side.

Jack getting on the ride.

Wouldn't you know it. The moment Jack is on the ride Humungousaur comes out to see everyone.

Good thing he waited for us after the ride.

Hugging his favorite alien.
Jack had a great time, and is already asking when the tour is coming back.

2 comments:

  1. Little sweetie. I'm so glad he got to take the tour but aren't those things a rip-off? The Thomas the Tank tours that come here every year are such a pain and all these little kids really buy into it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thankfully, this one was free.

    ReplyDelete