The Best Park Experience (when the parks are closed)

Two weeks ago, it was my birthday.

Having a birthday in February is sort of tough, because I although I'd like to spend it at a theme park, all of the parks near Washington, DC are closed this time of year.

So, I do my best to find experiences that are as close as possible to what the parks provide.

This mostly consists of me heading to my local "Dave and Busters" to recreate the experience of playing games in the park arcade.  If I'm lucky, maybe Dave and Busters even has their film simulator running too!

Honestly though, I'm looking for some fresh ideas and that's where you come in.

For this week's show, we want to know what winter experiences you have found that remind you of the summertime fun at the regional parks.

Tell us your idea right here on the blog by using the "Comments" link below.  You can also e-mail us by using the address over on the right or use our Contact Page!

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Trip Report - Dave and Busters

A tradition in my family is to spend the night before the Thanksgiving holiday at our local Dave and Busters Restaurant.

For those of you who don't know, Dave and Busters is a chain of restaurants that offers food, drinks and some of the most interactive games around. Their Million Dollar Midway has the latest video and ticket redemption games.

All of the cousins in my family spend the night before Thanksgiving there because it generally isn't too crowded. We usually have all of the games to ourselves because everyone is on the roads traveling to their out-of-town destination.

The reason I love going to Dave and Busters during late-November is because it's right about that time when I'm most in need of a theme-park fix. None of my local parks are open, so the closest thing to the true park experience is visiting this "adult arcade".

My first step after getting to the arcade is to visit the prize room, where they have hundreds of things you can "buy" with the tickets you receive when winning the games. Last night, all of the cousins set their sights on Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock. We figured we could enjoy playing that on Thanksgiving night with the entire family around.

So, we went to work gathering the necessary 12,500 tickets that were necessary. With nine cousins running the floor, it wasn't too difficult.

We played traditional games like Skee Ball, Pop A Shot and those wacky games were you try to make a stack of coins fall off the ledge.

But Dave and Busters also has some new games, such as Deal or No Deal. In this game, the suitcases aren't filled with money, but instead, they are filled with tickets. You can win anywhere from 1 to 600 tickets by choosing and eliminating certain cases.

I always figured I'd do pretty well on the real game show and I proved that point when I elimitaed all of the cases except the 200 and the 600. The dealer offered me 450 tickets, but I said "NO DEAL" and opened my case which did indeed have the 600 tickets. BOOYA!

Walking the floor of the Million Dollar Midway is pretty overwhelming. There is a constant wall of sound from the games and the shrieking people who are winning tickets. But that's what I love about it. It gives you a taste of the theme park experience, without being outdoors or having actual rides.

Well, there is one ride. They have a motion simulation theater which shows many of the same ride-films that you have probably seen in your local parks. But if you've seen them once, there's really no need to see it here. The theater is rather small and only has a few seats.

Anyway, the trip was great! We easily had enough tickets for the Guitar Hero and even have some tickets left over for next year. It also means that the holiday season is finally here!

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