A Haunting We Will Go...

Took the girls to Haunt the Zoo this evening. It was Fun With Chaos revisited.

We arrived in line -- the car-line on 50th street to get onto the Zoo grounds that is... for the inexperienced, there are many lines at Haunt the Zoo -- right about 6pm. And I thought we'd be early with gates opening at 6:30. HA! I've been taking the girls to this event for the last five years and each year I learn a little something to make the next year better. Next year I shall remember that thirty minutes is not enough. Though I must say that this year seemed much more packed than the last.

So once we were through the car line and parked, we had to stand in the wait-for-the-gates-to-open line. You see, one thing I learned last year was to buy tickets in advance, so that was one less line. While in the gate-opening line, a little girl "Scooby" that was in front of us hurled twice on the pavement. And that line didn't go anywhere for at least fifteen minutes, so we got to stare at semi-processed cheerios for awhile. Yum. So once the line started moving and we were through the gates, we then got to experience the going-through-the-turnstiles-and-turning-in-tickets line. And this was followed shortly thereafter by the waiting-for-the-candy-people-to-catch-up-with-the-mass-of-people-just-thrust-upon-them line.

But once things started flowing it wasn't TOO bad. Sure, it was the typical clutching tightly of the kids so they don't get lost in the sea of people when it's almost completely dark out routine. But only once per kid was there an issue in that regard. While I had my eyes on them the whole time, they each once turned the wrong way around after getting candy and didn't see me so about flipped out until I grabbed their hands from behind.

Surprisingly there wasn't a getting-out-of-the-zoo-parking-lot line as there has been in the past. Maybe we just got through it and out of there quick enough to beat the rush.

Not a bad night overall. Beats begging for candy on the street. I put some pics in the album.