Tag: review

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Review: Glen Lodge in the Adirondacks

We were looking to raft in the Adirondacks near Lake George, and came across the Glen Lodge and Market when researching. Their rafting/lodging special was too good to pass up ($199/person for 2 nights’ lodging, breakfasts, rafting day and dinner). We came with 2 families, booking three of the lodge’s seven rooms.

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The Glen Lodge in Warrensburg has seven rooms and a woodsy feel.

The rooms were all upstairs. They had plenty of space and were stocked with tables, chairs, toiletries and a hair dryer. While not fancy, it was quite comfortable and warm. One treat was Lake Champlain chocolates on the nightstand. Continue reading “Review: Glen Lodge in the Adirondacks”

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Chicago: Embassy Suites downtown Chicago with Kids Review

**This is the last in our series on Chicago. In this series are our reviews of the Shedd Aquarium, the Willis (Sears) Tower and the Museum of Science and Industry). **

When we stay in a hotel, our preference is a suite – that includes breakfast (and even better for one that includes happy hour). We really enjoy having our kids sleep in a separate area, but not necessarily next door. We often end up at the Embassy Suites in downtown Chicago (600 N. State Street). (While we sometimes get rooms to review for the blog, we paid for this one ourselves).

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The Embassy Suites in downtown Chicago

Continue reading “Chicago: Embassy Suites downtown Chicago with Kids Review”

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Chicago: Museum of Science and Industry with Kids

**This is part of our series on Chicago. Also in the series: the Shedd Aquarium, the Willis/Sears Tower, and a review of the downtown Embassy Suites**

We flew into Chicago early morning, and took a taxi straight to the Museum of Science and Industry (as for luggage – we sent that ahead with my husband who had other plans for the day). We planned to spend the day there but I didn’t realize we would spend the ENTIRE day there. So much to see and do. And we still missed out on some of the exhibits. My kids are tween/teen age, and they loved it as much as I did. Plenty for the younger set too.

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The simulator – no way I was going on that!

Some planes “flew” over the miniature set with trains below. Continue reading “Chicago: Museum of Science and Industry with Kids”

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Review: One World Observatory

To be honest, I was a little nervous to go to the top of One World Trade Center. I wasn’t in the East Coast on September 11, 2001 but it’s impossible not to think about what a target this building is, and how high I would be, trapped if something similar happened. Okay, getting the creepy feelings out of the way early!

One World Observatory opened to the public in late May, 2015. The building opened to tenants the previous November.

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Looking up the One World Trade Center building. Photo by Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The entrance to One World Observatory is on Continue reading “Review: One World Observatory”

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16 Things You Didn’t Know about Hurricane Harbor

We went to Hurricane Harbor last year for the first time (our Hurricane Harbor review and primer here). We went back again yesterday and had a great time, noticing and doing different things than we did before. Here are 16 things I bet you didn’t know about Hurricane Harbor.

1. Going on a weekday (especially one when rain is expected and it’s cloudy and in the 70s) makes a HUGE difference in line compared to the weekends. Fortunately it didn’t rain on us and we only got cold once (took a break then went back out) and had a relaxing day without many lines. We waited at most 20 minutes (for the Tornado – video below) and most lines were less than 10 minutes.

2. You will get a lot of exercise.  Continue reading “16 Things You Didn’t Know about Hurricane Harbor”

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Review: Behind the Magic Tour – Disney on Broadway

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll see I’m a big Broadway fan (see our reviews of Broadway shows and our family friendly Broadway show page: Broadway for kids). So I was super psyched at a recent Disney Social Media Moms On the Road conference to get the “Behind the Magic” tour at the New Amsterdam Theater.

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The New Amsterdam Theater is the oldest Broadway theater in NYC. It’s owned by the city of New York, but operated by the Disney Theatrical Productions. Photo by Deborah Abrams Kaplan

This tour is open to the public to those with or without Disney Broadway tickets Continue reading “Review: Behind the Magic Tour – Disney on Broadway”

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Review: Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions Concert

My son is a huge Pokemon fan and he’s been raving about the music for a long time. I haven’t paid much attention, to be honest. But when I saw an ad for Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions, my curiosity was piqued. It took a bunch of research to figure out what the concert was and how it worked. Basically, it’s a full symphony playing arrangements from the actual Pokemon video games, with large screens showing parts of the game at the same time – it’s timed to the music. You see the evolution of Pokemon games as the concert progresses.

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This is the second international tour they’re doing – the first was a huge success based on what I read online. Continue reading “Review: Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions Concert”

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Review: Is A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Appropriate for Kids?

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder won the 2014 Tony award for best musical. So I had super high hopes. Overall I really enjoyed the show. The downside was that I only understood 75% of it, and I wasn’t alone.  My two theater companions also had difficulty understanding either the accents and the lyrics to many of the songs. We did get the gist of it, though.

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The plot

Monty Navarro is mourning the loss of his mother when a stranger tells him that his mother was a D’Ysquith (pronounced dies-quith), a well-known upper class family. If true (it is), that makes him ninth in line to become the earl of Highhurst, with all the money and prestige associated with that. While Monty doesn’t start out to off the other heirs, that’s exactly what happens, and this my friends, adds up to humor in the play. The drama comes from not knowing it he’ll succeed, and also whether he’ll get away with it (early and at the end we see Monty in prison). Continue reading “Review: Is A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Appropriate for Kids?”

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Review: Finding Neverland – is Finding Neverland Appropriate for Kids?

I’ll be honest that Finding Neverland on Broadway was initially not a show I wanted to see. Why? It’s about JM Barrie’s journey in writing Peter Pan. And I’m not a fan of Peter Pan. But I wanted to see one of the boys who plays a Davies brother (Alex Dreier) as I’m friends with his parents from our college days. And I went to see Billy Elliot when Alex was cast in the show, but he wasn’t performing that night (the kid actors take turns and you’re never quite sure who will on stage that night). The other reason was that I was doing an annual theater night with my writer friends during a conference. We took a vote as to what show to see, and Finding Neverland was at the top of everyone’s list.

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I’m so glad I went. The 20 or so in our group walked away raving about it. And we were all shocked that Finding Neverland didn’t get a single Tony nomination, because it was fabulous. It did win several audience choice awards from Broadway.com, including favorite new musical, favorite leading actor, favorite onstage pair and favorite new song. Continue reading “Review: Finding Neverland – is Finding Neverland Appropriate for Kids?”

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