During our stay in Germany, I had planned a few things that require to drive. I wanted to make a good use out of the rental car. On our last full day of having the car, we drove up to the coast. I always wanted to visit the strawberry theme park Karls up there. When I lived in Germany, we would buy their lovely strawberries, available across the county, over the Summer.
The drive from my hometown Waren was just over an hour which was ideal for the kids. We got really lucky with the weather that day, even though it did cool a bit down. As the day went on, the kids could run around in their t-shirts. The theme park is just a few minutes off the motorway. When we arrived, we parked the car on a big field. This was additional parking. The actual car park was full already.
We started to queue at the ticket shop. Tickets are €12 per adult/child. This includes all the rides. This is very reasonable, if you compare this with the likes of Tayto Park. Queuing times vary. The longest we queued, was probably the caterpillar. I’d say it was about half an hour.
The first thing we approached, was the massive bouncy cushions. This is probably where we spent most of the time. They had two different ones spread across the park. Close by to these were several sandpits with a few diggers. As a boy Matthew of course still loves anything construction. Literally insert a €1 coin and it actually goes on for a very long time. So you definitely get your value for money there.
Next up daddy and Matthew queued for the go-kart. Again this is another ride where you have to insert a €1 coin. Generally we can’t pass any ride that involves Matthew driving his own car. He absolutely loves it.
It was coming towards lunch time. We settled down at a table in the big tractor shed. You can sit outside as well as inside. Outside was actually all taken. Another cool thing they had, was actual tables which looked like tractors. We were hoping to grab one of them but with the wasps flying around on a sunny day, we were better off sitting inside. Hubby sat down with the kids while I queued to get our food.
For the kids I ordered chips and chicken nuggets. Hubby and I had a curry sausage and I ordered a side portion of sweet potato fries, too. Being in a strawberry theme park, I just could not resist and order the strawberry lemonade. It was so good. I was very tempted to buy a few bottles of them and bring them with me. But because they were glass, I think we would have exceeded our luggage allowance.
Once we were finished with our food, we headed straight to the caterpillar where Matthew and I started queuing. Chloe and daddy went off exploring the park while we waited for our turn to go on the ride. The caterpillar ride went around twice. It is plenty for the kids and enough to get a thrill. Also it keeps down the queues.
After that we decided to have a cheeky ice cream. Can you guess the flavour? Yes, of course it was strawberry. It was a homemade ice cream. Matthew wasn’t too keen on it though and so hubby and I ended up eating it. After another session on the bouncy cushins, Matthew and I went up on a big slide. You could see the whole park from up there. Basically you are going down the slide on these long potato sack. I haven’t heard Matthew laughing so loud. He enjoyed it so much, that we went up a second time.
Chloe was getting brave then and went up another slide with Matthew and daddy. I’d say they must have had about three turns. She wasn’t brave enough to go down on her own though. As long as her big brother or daddy was there, she was happy to slide down.
It was getting late and we needed to make a decision on which other rides we wanted to take in on our visit. We started to queue for the old train going around the bouncy paradise (7 years upwards) and passing the hotel. The last ride was the tractor. That ride was probably the one we queued the longest for but all four of us went on it. While queuing up, there was a little shop. We purchased a strawberry flavoured lollipop for everyone.
Before we left, Matthew wanted to go into the big fairy tale playground one last time. He took Chloe with her and guided her over the bridges and robes. At the end they came back down the slide.
We finished our visit off in the main building where they have a massive shop, kids play centre as well as a cafe section with delicious cake and coffee. I purchased a slice of strawberry cake each for hubby and I. The kids shared a big cup of delicious strawberries. It was time to make our way home. It was actually quite tricky to get out of the park because the main exit was closed off. After asking two different staff members, we finally made our way out.
We said our goodbyes to Karlchen who is the mascot of the park. I purchased a kilo of strawberries to take home which we had that evening in the holiday home. The kids had an absolute ball at the park and they were just the perfect age for it.
