On Saturday, we dropped our girl off with my parents and headed downtown to catch the light rail train in to the arena. Even though it was a little cold and rainy, Owen was pretty excited about going. Especially about the train ride. He spent the whole time staring out the window and talking about the other trains we passed. Since he rides for free, we only had to pay $7 for the wife and I roundtrip. And that't the end of the reasonable pricing.
We got to the arena right before the doors opened and it didn't take long to shove the other families aside and get in. We grabbed our tickets from will call and started looking for a popcorn vendor, cotton candy vendor, and our section. Thankfully, an usher told us to go down on the floor for the pre-show before going to our seats. Good call. You go down on the floor for about 45 minutes before the start of the circus to get up close and personal with clowns, performers, and animals. That was really cool and I learned something I didn't know about my boy. My son understands slapstick as evidenced by his laughing hysterically when a clown falls on his face. Okay, maybe Owen takes his cue from me laughing at him when he falls on his face, but he's learned an important lesson nonetheless. Laughing at other's misfortune is fun.
We saw the horses up close, but the coolest thing we saw up close was the elephant they brought out. It amazes me how those things can move as big as they are. Owen loved looking at it. It painted a couple of pictures for us with it's trunk. They kind of looked like an abstract watercolor which I felt really expressed the elephant's desire to eat an entire loaf of bread in one bite. Which elephant got to do after painting for us. One recommendation if you ever find yourself at the circus pre-show, don't stand to the side or you risk staring at this for a while:
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| Thankfully, Owen didn't ask if that was the elephant's trunk. |
After the pre-show, we made our way to upper deck and our seats. On the way, we picked up one bag of $4 popcorn, hit the potty, and I started to stand in line for cotton candy. The line was ridiculous as cotton candy was also being sold with glowing necklaces, elephant snow cones, and push a button spinning epilepsy causers. I bailed since the circus was about to start and they had guys working the stands. Long story short, I never did get my hands on cotton candy, so there's no way the circus experience could rate any higher than 5 out of 10 for me. During intermission, Owen and I grabbed another bag of popcorn and one bottle of diet coke for the family. I was going to buy two bottles, but they were $4.50 a piece. I'm also proud of myself for not hitting the extra butter dispenser on either box of popcorn. There's no need to turn a 1,500 calorie popcorn into a 2,500 calorie one. I was also thrilled to see you can get a beer at the circus. The good news is that you can buy a "beer." The bad news? Here are your choices and the price.
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| Only the best. |
It was a big decision where we would buy our tickets and I tried very hard to find a happy medium between cost effective and decent seats. I thought we struck a pretty good balance with front row of the upper deck between the middle and outside ring when I hit the buy button. I was wrong. They had handicap seating in front of us, so anyone under 6' 4" in height is staring at the back of someone's head for anything happening on the floor on your side of the arena. If you're 3 years old, you're staring at the back of someone's head for everything. If there is an act using the far side of the arena, you're looking through the overhead scaffolding/lighting. Specifically, we were amazed by the magical tightrope walking legs because we couldn't see any of their torsos. At least I assume they didn't have torsos, don't ruin it for me.
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| It's the greatest show of shadow heads on Earth! |
The best parts were definitely the clowns, trained horses, and the tigers. The butt of his chair that flipped up and down was pretty awesome too. I would assume the elephants and motorcycles in cages were awesome too, but somebody had quite enough of the circus by the halfway point and wanted to go home. We talked him into staying through intermission and watched the tiger trainer standing in front of our seats with him on my shoulders. He was begging to go home, even trying to run out of the section. He almost went to tears when we came back from intermission and I had to lure him back with the popcorn.
We gave up and headed for home, probably 30 minutes before the end. We were not the only ones on the platform to catch the train home and I was happy not to have to fight my way through the crowd. All in all, I think I would give the circus a thumbs up, but took some lessons away for next time. First, we needed to be a lot closer to the floor. I think being able to see more stuff would have helped keep his interest. Second, the pre-show is really cool and well worth getting there an hour early. If they sold a cheap ticket that let you just hang out before the show and then an elephant picks you up and hauls you out of the arena before the real show starts, I'm in. Third, bring your own snacks (flask) and be prepared to tackle a cotton candy vendor.
Since my opinion doesn't matter, I asked Owen what he thought of the circus. According to him, his favorite part of the circus was the popcorn. After watching him double fist shovel it into his mouth, I would say that's accurate. He's also been talking about how much he liked the tigers. Based on the quiet sobbing during the tiger trainer part, I don't think that's as accurate. His least favorite part of the circus was "A cupcake." I asked if his least favorite part was that they didn't have cupcakes and he nodded yes. When asked how much he would pay to go back to the circus I got a few answers before getting an actual number. These were: "It's Thursday," "R" [the letter], and "I would like to watch tv." I finally pinned him down to put a number on a ticket, he said 2. Pay attention Ringling Brothers, don't make a 4 year old cry next year when he sees $19 and a $4.70 Ticketmaster convenience fee. Lastly, I asked him to give the circus a thumbs up or thumbs down. After careful and thoughtful consideration, he went thumbs up. Next year I'm letting his grandparents take him.
CK
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