Thursday, July 16, 2009

Enchanted Forest









OK, humor me if you will... just a bit more about our recent northwesterly jaunt. I had my heart set on taking the kids to Enchanted Forest which is an attraction that was around when I was a kid (lo these many years gone by). It looms large in my memory of my childhood and I am so utterly pleased that it still exists and hasn't been 'dozed to make way for something shiny new and heartless without an ounce of the style (however strange it may be) and gusto and intrigue and spookiness and humor and earnestness of this place.

I think I visited this place once when I was about four with my friend Shari Murray and it must be one of my earliest memories. You can go inside Sleeping Beauty's castle, inside the mine where the seven dwarves are digging for jewels, inside Hansel and Gretel's cottage (and see these creepy mannequins behind glass, with Gretel poised to push the witch into the fire) and you can even go down Alice's rabbit hole... you creep down this tunnel and it's pitch black for about half a second before you turn the corner and crawl out through the 'keyhole'... as legend has it I had a freak out attempting to go through the rabbit hole as a child and, true to form, Bruno wasn't about to go down that tunnel, either.

Anyway, cheers to aged amusement parks everywhere, alive and thriving! Long may they live to amuse entertainment-seekers everywhere! Enchanted Forest is savvy though... they've added a few new attractions to keep up with the times, keep people coming back... you can now get your picture taken with Abe Lincoln, which is a thrilling new feature.

2 comments:

cheris said...

Wow... just as odd and slightly creepy as I remember! Awesome.

Kami said...

That's so cool that you visited as a child, too! YEs, it's still alive and kicking... leaving deep and lasting impressions on(and hopefully not scarring) young children every day.