Rocking Horse Ranch / Legoland NY – Day 1 can be found here.
I’d be lying if I told you that I slept well last night. There’s always a certain amount of adjustment that goes into sleeping in a new place, but some are easier than others. Rocking Horse Ranch – with its open archway between the rooms, queen-sized bed, noisy air conditioners and paper-thin walls – was not an easy option.
So it goes. My wife was nevertheless able to wake at 7 am so that she and my daughter could grab a very quick bite before heading off on their 8 am trail ride.
I rose a bit later, but still early enough to catch the very start of breakfast at 7:45 am. They put out quite the spread:
Eggs are also made to order on request.
There are so many activities on order, it seems impossible to fit them all into a single day – except that little gets underway until 10 am.
Though the delayed schedule did give me the chance to snag a photo of the rarely-empty pool
But we muddled through all right, starting with a round of bowling:
It’s a similar set-up to that found at Great Wolf Lodge – it’s free at Rocking Horse Ranch, though the machines here do not keep score
Minor annoyance – the video screen behind the bowling alley plays ads non-stop, most of them for GoPro cameras.
There’s a small arcade too, but nothing to write home about. Most of the games here are the ticket-winning ‘gambling games’ that my wife and I have grown to loathe over the years:
We then moved onto a double round of mini-golf before heading to Bingo at 10:15 am.
The mini-golf course is a quick 9 holes but still challenging even after the third attempt. Bingo ran for a full hour, and there were a range of small prizes available.
They ran a range of different versions including single-line bingo, T bingo, + bingo, B-N-G bingo and blackout bingo. My son was a single number away from winning blackout but alas did not take home any prizes. He still enjoyed it, though.
Meanwhile, my wife and daughter wrapped their horseback ride at about 9 am after roughly 45 minutes of actual riding. There was a brief assessment in which riders were asked to cantor up a hill. If you held on to the saddle at all, that was enough to be reclassified as intermediate as opposed to continuing on the advanced ride.
Despite not getting their first choice of time slot, they really enjoyed the ride – most of the path was in shade through the forested trails and there were several points where they had a view of the lake. It was already getting hot by the time they returned, so they will hang onto the 8 am time slot going forward.
Riders are welcome to bring their own helmets and boots, though helmets are provided for any who do not have their own. Closed toed shoes are required, though this included stiff water shoes. Some rode in shorts. There was time enough for breakfast after they returned, and indeed the dining room wasn’t too busy at 9 am – though it was slammed by 9:30 am.
We then all met up and went out for a few rounds of downhill tubing.
The runs are wet down with misting sprinklers, which is refreshing as opposed to soaking.
My wife spotted a groundhog too:
After we went to the bungee trampolines, which the kids really enjoyed.
Our daughter even managed a few backflips!
She also had fun on their climbing wall:
By the time that wrapped it was already lunchtime. They often have an outdoor barbeque but lunch was indoors today. It’s not clear whether it’s too hot today to dine outdoors, or if there’s another reason behind the change.
It was another tasty spread:
The chicken was a bit dry and the corn somewhat overdone, but the hot dogs were very good – the sauerkraut was a nice touch. The desserts were very good – though sadly I forgot to take photos this time around. My wife had a brownie with soft serve that she really enjoyed.
After we took the kids for a ride on the banana boat. I had initially thought this was going to be quite tame, but they put on some decent speed and led us through some tight turns. A few kids kept falling off the back – as they are wont to do – but we had a good time.
Our son and daughter stuck around and did three more rides. At most they had to wait another round before reboarding, though there were times that they were able to walk right back on again.
My wife and I found some shady seats by the pool. There weren’t a lot of options available as many were claimed with books or towels, but we still found a nice spot with minimal searching. Towel hogs remain as annoying as ever, but it’s rare that a resort will actually do anything about it. (Though they would get bonus points if they did!)
Our son joined in a fun-filled game of Bucket Blast, which is similar to musical chairs but with a bucket of water. The last one standing is rewarded with Buckaroo Bucks, which can apparently be redeemed at the gift shop. He managed to get into the final four before getting eliminated.
Our daughter had ridden the waterslides more times then she could count, then moved to the indoor pool where she was tackling the obstacle course with some newfound friends.
My wife and I were left with nothing else to do but to sit in the shade, read, and sample some of the food and drinks from the Chef’s Tasting. There were Swedish meatballs, pretzel bites, chips and guac at the food station:
And ‘Big Splash’ lemonade for the drink:
All very tasty.
Eventually our time at the pool came to the end. I disappeared to write for a bit, while my son headed off to Laser Tag, and my daughter returned to the bungee trampoline.
Time for dinner! We had succeeded in moving our time slot to 6 pm, so we filed in a bit later than usual. It was busier, so something to bear in mind for those who like to have their food served quickly – though I would say that the service was still well above average.
Tonight’s menu:
The salad was a Caesar:
And we had wings for our appetizer:
It’s rare I’d describe wings as too saucy, but these ones were definitely that. They were tasty, though – our daughter managed to eat an entire spicy Buffalo wing!
My daughter and I had the prime rib for dinner:
My wife had the miso salmon:
While my son had the chicken fingers:
The prime rib was again a bit more well done than I would have liked, but it was all very tasty. Same desserts as last time but again they were very well executed.
I ducked out to do a little bit more writing, while my wife and daughter squeezed in a quick round of minigolf before heading to tonight’s campfire for some S’Mores:
My son opted instead to meet up with his friends for another round of laser tag.
It’s interesting how the kids seem to have made friends quite quickly here. Perhaps even more quickly than they did at either Great Wolf Lodge or Club Med Charlevoix. I wonder why that is – simply different ages and stages? Or is it due to the many, many different activities on offer? Hard to say, but we’re not complaining.
I have to admit, yesterday I’d wondered why we do trips like this. Why drive for 7 hours just so the kids can splash in a pool and go down a few waterslides? We have a perfectly serviceable pool at home.
But as my wife wisely pointed out, not every trip can be into the heart of Antarctica or the depths of Namibia. They need to have these kind of touchstones, too. The old fashioned, summer-at-the-lake experience.
Time to gather some photos from around the resort, including shots of the lobby:
One of the side rooms / refreshment stations located just off the lobby:
The refreshment station itself:
The downstairs sauna:
The games room:
Also, the Silverado Saloon:
And the Saloon’s spacious theatre:
There’s some fun decor around the resort. You’d think that the cowboy theme might be overplayed somehwat, but they don’t take it too far.
The old movie posters are a nice touch
I’m being more exhaustive than usual as there are actually very few photos of Rocking Horse Ranch on their website – hency why I’m trying to document as much as possible.
We then reconvened at the Silverado Saloon for tonight’s illusionist show, featuring Ryan Dutcher.
It was perhaps more geared towards children than adults, and there was a fair bit of prop comedy – but our children really enjoyed it. We were still talking about the final trick on the drive to Legoland the following day.
But I’m getting ahead of myself – it was time to head to sleep, and brace ourselves for the next stage of our latest family adventure.
Continue reading Rocking Horse Ranch / Legoland NY – Day 3.