This upcoming weekend I'm taking The Fam on a road trip. We're waking up early on Saturday, packing up the Mariner and heading North. Our traditional summer weekend jaunt down to the polo matches in Portsmouth, RI has been replaced with The White Mountains of New Hampshire. We're going to brave the Kangamangus Highway. We're going to risk run-in's with wild moose, deer or hippies on their way to Saco River. Yes, we're taking the kids to Storyland.
To be honest, I didn't even know what the hell Storyland was up until a couple years ago. You see, when I was a youth, we didn't have to travel such a perilous journey to indulge and Pre-K fun. All anyone on the South Shore had to do in the early 80's is just jump on good-ole' Route 18 and head down to Whitman. There you would find KING'S CASTLE LAND!
Apparently in an age before trademark infringement, King's Castle Land was the one place a kid could go to hang with Yogi Bear, the 7 dwarfs, King Kong, Frankenstein, the 3 Little Pigs, Alfred E. Newman and a slew of other Disney, Hanna Barbera, random licensed characters. Thinking back, I'm sure at any point one of the "rides" could have lost a bolt and sent a child plummeting to their death, but I think that added to the adventure. There were fire-breathing dragons and Paul Bunyan...it was a complete mish-mash of crap the owners believed would keep the kids coming...and we did. To top it all off, instead of a chincy gift shop, King's Castle Land had a full blown toy store that put Child World to shame.
Now that the G is 4.25 years old, it is her turn to experience the rite of passage that is out-dated cheap amusement park fun. Unfortunately for King's Castle Land, it was closed and torn down starting around 1994...now it's a Super Stop & Shop complete with gas pumps (I cringe every time I fill up the car there). Hopefully she is old enough where she'll retain the memories that surely will come from this trip. Maybe one day, when G has children of her own and I am living out the good life in Florida minus the Mrs. (god rest her soul), she'll be able to partake in such an expedition. I also assume that by then The Disney Corporation will have finally taken over the United States and the Shore Shore Plaza will be replaced with Disney New England. I actually started a savings account for the entrance fee. I figure by then that a family of four can get into the park for roughly $3,500.
5 comments:
King's Castle Land was THE SHIZZLE!!!!! loved that place! now i relive it for brief moments during the "Free Credit Thingy Dot Thingy" Renaissance Fair commercials. (sigh)
Thanks for the memories. I was sad when they tore the Castle down.
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