Sunday, October 19, 2008

Decieved

We had Stake Conference today, which means that I didn't take the kids to church. It's a pointless exercise in patience. One I do not willingly endure. I know that I should do something here at the house with the kids... but I like to get out as much as I possibly can. It's a curse.
After checking out local things to do I choose an event that sounded fun. Here's how the listing reads :
Pirate Days of The Colony
The festival features themed music concerts, pirate comedy routines, re-enactments in period costume, a children’s play and activity area, pirate costume contests for the two, peg and four legged, arts and crafts marketplace and exhibits, cannon fire and more.
Price: Free
The Colony is about 45 minutes North-North-East from our house so I thought this day out would satisfy everyone. Gets me out of the house, Ms. R could get her face painted and B-Man would get a nice car ride and see pirates.
The first indication that this was not as it was advertised? As we were driving up I saw signs that read "Parking $5". Wooow Nelly. I came to this because it was free. I certainly do not carry cash. So I pulled a U-y and drove into a neighboring community and guiltily disregarded the signs proclaiming, "Parking Strictly for Residents". Hoofing it almost 1/2 mile back. Suuuure you didn't have to pay to enter after you'd paid to park so you could watch the musicians ... but that was about it. EVERYTHING else cost $$$. Bounce houses, face painting, crafts, activity areas... I was completely disgusted. Ms. R was crushed because she couldn't get her face painted and B-Man was upset he didn't get to go do things with the pirates.
To stave off complete disappointment, we walked along the shore of Lake Lewisville and threw rocks and sticks in for a good hour.
After that we headed up to IKEA since it was only another 10 minutes from where we were. I love IKEA. Love the cheap restaurant, Smaland, wandering around getting organization ideas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a crock! Sorry it didn't turn out better! I hate it when stuff like that happens! Talk about false advertising! Thanks for coming by--love Pioneer Woman!

Roeckers said...

that happens alot around here. Sure admission is free but they get you on everything else. But at least you have IKEA!!

Dawn said...

How dissapointing for you! I totally get the whole Stake Conference thing, we have ours next week and I am REALLY trying hard to get excited about taking the rugrats=(

mom said...

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!!! But the kids looked like they had lots of fun at the lake.

Anonymous said...

We went to The Pirate Days festival after hearing about the Free Admission at Stewart Creek Park. That park usually charges to walk through the entrance, so we were pretty excited. However, on the flier we received at the school, it told us to go to the festival website for a complete list of events and festival pricing. That is where we learned about the $5 parking and the $10 childrens area. We had no problem with that (even with three kids) because we saw there was a TON of stuff for them to do for only $10 each. All in all, I think it was worth it. Sorry the wrong info got to you, but I wouldn't hold it against the Pirate Days folks. The whole thing was run by community volunteers, and I truly do not believe any deception was intended. After all, State Fair and Scarborough Faire charge jsut to walk through the door, and continue to gauge you at every chance. It was all laid out on their website. It really was a fun day and we wound up staying so much later than we planned. Only because the kids were having such a great time and the stage acts were non-stop. It was worth it, and we really didn't spend that much $ anyway.