Parc Babyland

In June, with two other mothers and their boys, we missed school on a Wednesday (9am to 12pm) and headed to Parc Babyland. We were a total of six boys and three mothers. The park was about an hour's drive away and I had a mother with her two boys in our 7 seater Touran. The four boys were making lots of noises while I had a good chat with the mother.

We arrived just in time for the opening at 10.30am. It was not a big park and there was no queue. I think the park was a hidden treasure as it was by word of mouth that we came to know this park. Maybe that was why it was not crowded.

Most of the rides were operated by ourselves. There were start and stop buttons at each amusement ride and once the children were seated, it was the adult who pushed the button to start the ride. A ride lasted three minutes unless the stop button was pushed. 

The boys had great fun with the giant slide. As A2 had not pass the height limit, I had to do it with him. It was thrilling.

There was also a mini roller coaster just beside the giant slide. We did these a few times.

There were two trains rides and below was a photo of the six boys.

 Tricycles were available at a corner. A1 being the sweet older boy rode the younger boys around. They rode round and round and were never tired.

We stopped for a picnic lunch. There were picnic tables under the shade. Lunch could be bought there but we brought our own. One mother made a tomato salade, another made quiche while I made banana cakes and brought watermelon.

The boys continued to have fun with bouncy castles and other fun rides. The horse ride was the highlight. As the boys were not 120cm yet,, they took turns to ride with me. It was like the real thing with the horse trotting and galloping.

My boys tried the doggy ride aka viking boat with glee. I thought they would be afraid but no. They were waving at me when they reached the high end.

We called it a day at 5pm. The boys spent a long time at the balls pool. It was deep and the youngest boy sank in and had to be pulled out by his mother when his brother alerted us.

When leaving, A1 asked if he could come every wed. The boys love the park. I love it too. It cost a friction of the price we pay to go Disneyland and best of all, there was no queue. We would surely come back again. I told Anca about this park and she went recently. She told me her boy cried when they were leaving at closing time. We shall organise a day there togather. It has to be soon because this park is for young children.

Playmobil Fun Park

On Saturday, it was another rainy day. So we decided to visit the Playmobil Fun Park since it was indoors. I read from Tripadvisor that it was best to go in the morning to avoid the weekend crowd.

The indoor park is 2000m² big with all kinds of Playmobil toys. It was paradise for the boys. The entrance fees cost 2.50€ per person. That was pretty reasonable. And of course, to trap our wallets, to exit, everyone had to pass through the Playmobil boutique. We did tell the boys that we were here to play and not to buy anything.

 

Girls were mainly playing with princess castles and doll houses while boys had more choices.

There were ships of all kinds. Cargo ships with containers and ports. Pirate ships with treasure islands. Police boats and leisure boats. There were lots of fire engines.

There were fortress with knights and horses. There were animals and dinosaurs; cowboys and red indians. And many others. There were thousands of Playmobil figurines.

 There was also a snack bar that sold nuggets with fries. The usual stuff in a play house.
Indeed, there was not many people in the morning so there was no lack of toys for the children. There was also an organised game to save the wild life.

After staying for two hours, we left for lunch. A1 said he wanted to eat a sandwich so we had Subway. It was the first time we bought the boys sandwiches and they ate well.

 Seb would prefer to bring the boys to Woupi where they could spend their energy running, jumping and sliding away until they were dead tired. Still, this place is a good alternative. We would come back again. Maybe on another rainy day.

 

Jardin d'Acclimatation

This was our third visit to Jardin d'Acclimatation and as usual, the park was crowded and we enjoyed ourselves. This time round, we took time to visit the whole park.

There was a Korean style park.

There were a few playgrounds planted all over the park. The boys had fun in this well designed playground. The setup was a maze and the kids could go under or climb over to get around.

Beside the playground was a water park. It was a hot day and there were many kids but I did not bring extra clothes for the boys. So they just wet their hands and legs at the bank of the water park.

 We then walked around to visit the animals in the park.

There were donkeys, the one above was huge; sheeps, cows, goats and lots of different kind of hens.

A2 had taken over his brother's tricycle while A1 was on his balance bicycle.

One of the big attractions of the park was the village of fun rides. There were many choices for young kids like merry-go-rounds, mini roller-coaster, bumper cars etc... A1 is not a fan of such rides so we could easily walk past this area.

Indoor park

On these rainy days, we were limited in our choice of parks. So here we were, spending a weekend in Chartres and brought the boys to the indoor park. They had fun in the balls pool.

This place is much smaller than the one near our home. And the structure is too high for A1. Guess that would be the first and last visit.

A1 loved jumping into the pool while A2 preferred to take it slowly since he was shorter.