Summer vacations are about to begin in the Bucks/Montco/Philadelphia region for children and their families. Parents and caregivers are always on the quest for inexpensive and family-friendly entertainment for young children to occupy those hot summer months. The Regal Entertainment Group, which includes 284 Regal Cinemas, United Artists, and Edwards Theatres across the country are offering a solution for inexpensive family entertainment all summer long: kid-friendly movies for a dollar! This is a great way to stay inside a cool theater on a hot morning and provide your charges with a couple of hours of giggles and fun.
The Summer Movie Express will offer selected G and PG rated family movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:00 am for nine weeks, starting on Tuesday June 21st and running through Wednesday August 17th. Each theater will have their own schedule of which movies they are showing each week, so if one lives close to several theaters, the selection of movies each week will increase. In the Philadelphia region there are several theaters participating including in Bucks County The Oxford Valley Theatre Stadium 14 in Langhorne, The Warrington Crossing Stadium 22 in Warrington, and in New Jersey, the Burlington Stadium 22 in Burlington. For a full listing of participating theaters, see the Regal Summer Movies website.
Admission is only a dollar per person and a portion of that will be donated by the theaters to the Will Rogers Institute, who uses the money to fund their mission in the areas of medical research and health education. Regal has committed to donate a million dollars to the Will Rogers Institute from the proceeds of the summer movie series.
Some of the movies included in the Summer Express Movie series are Ramona & Beezus, Open Season (1, 2, and 3,) Megamind, Yogi Bear, Charlotte’s Web, Jason and the Argonauts, How to Train Your Dragon, Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppetts from Space, and Karate Kid. See the Summer Movie Express website for the movie schedule of your local theater.
These are not first-run movies, however, for younger children who may have not yet seen these movies in a theater, it makes it an exciting and different experience than sitting at home and watching on the television. It also is a great way to cool off when its too hot to play in the sun all day! Be sure to get there early, as it’s possible that the theaters will be crowded. Plan your schedule by checking out the full listing of kids movies this summer and making sure to see your kids’ favorites! See Mama’s calendar for some of the theaters schedules.
This is a fun opportunity for kids of a variety of ages, so you can bring all of your kids or grandkids for a morning of fun kids movies this summer. Snacks optional!
Opening Day at Sesame Place Promises a Fun 2011 Season!
This past Saturday, Mama and her clan were invited to participate in the opening day festivities at Sesame Place in Bucks County. What picture perfect weather we had! It was a bit too cool for the water rides at the park, but that did not put a damper in our day at all. We arrived promptly when the park opened at 9:30 and had a chance to check out the day’s schedule with the park map. We picked out a show time for Elmo Rocks and decided to see the two parades planned for the day. The first parade was the annual character arrival Corvette Parade. We got to line the parade route to see all of the characters, including the newest addition, Murray, arrive sitting in beautiful corvettes.
Murray's debut at Sesame Place
After the parade we headed over to the rides. My son, at age three and a half, can be somewhat fussy with rides and decided he preferred the hands on attractions as opposed to the traditional rides. We did enjoy the teacups at Grover’s World Twirl, which made my son laugh hysterically because he made mom and grandmom turn green! He loved being a monkey on the Nets & Climbs, dragging his dad along with him. I was surprised how daring he was, considering this is a kid that won’t ride on the carousel! He loved the Monster Maze and didn’t even get phased at being knocked over a few times by the swinging bags. Big Bird’s Nest was another favorite. It is a large circular “nest” that is a bit bouncy without being a full-fledge trampoline. There were lots of soft, vinyl blocks that the kids had a blast using to build with or toss around, or even jump on! We visited the nest twice, he liked it that much! We saw the newest ride, Elmo’s Cloud Chaser, which is a family friendly swing ride. We didn’t get a chance to go on it, but it sure did look like fun!
In the Sesame Neighborhood, there are mock store fronts and a model of the brownstone stoop from Sesame Street. They even have Oscar’s trash can, although it is kept shut. (We told our son that Oscar was sleeping.) My son LOVED this area, because he could pretend to be on Sesame Street. He knocked at 123 Sesame Street’s door to see if Gordon was there. There was a little gate that led to the area next to the stoop on Sesame Street. It was a working gate, which attracted lots of little ones playing there. My son told me that it was his favorite part of the park. My husband and I were a bit frustrated that out son was not interested in the rides because we wanted to go on them, but we know that at this age, imaginative play is more appealing to our son. What was so great about Sesame Place was that even little ones can play in their own way and have fun, while older kids can have a different experience doing what they enjoy. Sesame Place really does a great job at having entertainment for the whole family!
The gate at 123 Sesame Place
We had the opportunity to see the Neighborhood Street Party Parade, which is new this year. It was just beautiful; colorful, musical, and filled with interaction. The characters got off the floats and danced and there were dancers who performed at pauses in the parade. The floats were amazing and so festive. It was very crowded, but we still were able to see most of the parade. If you want to see the parade close up, definitely find a place on the parade route early. We got there about 15 minutes before it started and the curbs were filled already!
The Neighborhood Street Party Parade!
Ernie at the Neighborhood Street Party Parade
While we did not go on the water attractions, we did walk through the entire park to check out everything so we could see what we could enjoy on a future trip. There were so many cool water rides that if it had been warmer we could have enjoyed! Big Bird’s Rambling River looked like a lot of fun, as did the Skysplash. There was a little area in Twiddlebugland called Silly Sand Slides that my son loved. They were the slickest (dry) slides and he had a blast climbing up the tower of balls. We concluded our day seeing the Elmo Rocks show, which was amazing. The characters sang and danced to pop music that was on the Top 40 charts when I was a teen. Everyone had a blast dancing along.
Throughout the day we saw characters in the park posing for photos. My son had no interest in posing, but lots of kids did. The park took photos for you that were available for purchase. It was fun seeing Telly and Cookie Monster walking down the street! At one point I walked right into Bert, who was coming out to a meet and greet session. (I think I was more excited than my son!)
I was really impressed with how clean the park was and how on top of maintenance the employees were. We even saw many folks from management around the park making sure that operations went smoothly on the first day of the season. Every employee we interacted with was kind and helpful. The gardens looked great, planted with fresh annuals. Everything was sparkling clean for the new season of fun! Check out Sesame Place’s 2011 operations calendar to plan your visit this season! It’s a fun way to create family memories. We had a great time and can’t wait to go back again! Thanks Sesame Place for including us in the opening day fun!
Thanks for all of the great restaurant suggestions on last week’s question!
This week is Spring Break for many schools. Some people take advantage of Spring Break/Vacations to travel with their families, while others tend to visit local attractions to entertain the kids. What are some of your favorite local (Bucks/Montgomery/Philadelphia region) places to visit with kids for a day trip?
When my son heard that his school was closed for “spring vacation” this week he wanted to know which hotel we would be staying in and where! It’s his first year in preschool, so the concept of spring vacation is new to him. While our family doesn’t typically travel during spring break, we did spend one day visiting the Please Touch Museum, which is a family favorite. Another local place we like to visit is the Morris Arboretum. For a longer trip, we like to drive to Lancaster County to visit the Strasbourg Rail Road and see the Amish farmlands.
Enjoy your spring break, however you spend it!
If you have a question or topic you’d like to see covered here in the future, please email your ideas to Diane@mamaslittlehelper.org.
We have a #BucksTweetUp Taking Place On April 11th!
Started with table for 2, then 4, then 5, 6, 7, 8……………………..
I (@MamasLtlHelper) have been trying to go out to lunch with @PinkeandBrowne for a few months now, then we decided to invite @NewtownPAPatch so we were trying to organize our schedules and said lets wait to April. We reconvened scheduling last week and added another Tweeter to lunch with us, @artemidiastudio. Then, @ChaddyD from @nhcelebrates wanted to join us. So there we were, the 4 of us scheduled for our lunch to meet our online community friends (Twitter) in an offline setting, to chat about what we do, to share our best practices, and whatever else came to our minds during our meals. In my mind I imagined, a little networking group of sorts, but fate had something else in mind for us….
As the hours went on after the official yes, all 4 of us we will meet at The Pineville Tavern on April 11th at 12:15pm for lunch, more and more people were being added to our lunch date. Ok, very cool…the more the merrier. Well, one thing led to another and now we have a huge #BucksTweetUp that started with a twosome lunch and I thought I should let my online community friends know in case you can make it. The tweetup appears to be around 30 attendees right now and it’s growing very quickly. Hope to meet you there…as @ChaddyD and I have been saying…this is going to be Legendary!
Be sure and use #BucksTweetUp to jump in on the chatter and let everyone know you will be there. @PinkeandBrowne and @MamasLtlHelper (me) had originally started the lunch, but there is nothing official as far as a list going on right now (not yet, but you can imagine my mind is spinning with future ideas for this).
Most of you know, Mama loves planning blogger parties for businesses and brands. It’s something I and many others think I have a knack for. I must admit, it’s a passion and I really enjoy it. However, this was a pure accidental TweetUp. I do consider @MamasLtlHelper (myself), @PinkeandBrowne, @NewtownPAPatch, @artemidiastudio, & @ChaddyD all responsible for this event, because we were chatting about it on Twitter and telling everyone because we were excited to be meeting our social media friends IRL. I just wanted to be in full disclosure here.
Mama Kicks It at B & R Fitness with Kickboxing with Julius King
So, this week I walked into B & R Fitness Center in Feasterville located in Bucks County PA for my appointment with my personal trainer, Julius King, from All Fitness Customized Training. They have an office located inside B & R Fitness Center. Every week I never know what Julius has planned for my training session, which keeps me interested and motivated to go. Each week it’s something new I’m learning for example, one week it was a fun workout learning racquetball, some weeks it’s working out my core with various weights and movements, other weeks it’s working the machines and now this week it was kickboxing, hands wrapped with tape and in punching gloves and all! Check Mama out in this video below. Although I took Karate Classes when I was a child, I had never done Kickboxing and must admit I was a little scared getting started. It was an intense workout and I felt empowered after it was over!
If you decide to check out either B & R Fitness Center or All Fitness Customized Training for yourself or your children, be sure to tell them Mama sent you.
More Information on All Fitness Customized Training
All Fitness Customized Training has locations in PA: Chester County, Main Line, Montgomery County, Delaware County, and Lower Bucks County. They have programs geared towards everyone including our kids starting at age 7. Whatever sport your child is into, they will customize a program to fit towards their weaknesses to prevent injury and of course to encourage success. I can’t wait till my daughter is old enough to reap the benefits of Julius’s training. I’m eager to instill the love and knowledge of fitness into her mind. I figure if I can raise her with the attitude that fitness and taking care of her health is essential and not an option, then she will think it’s just as important as any other part of her everyday life.
More Information on B & R Fitness Center in Bucks County PA
B & R Fitness Center is finishing up their renovations and the gym is looking better than ever! The children’s nursery is beautiful and as always my daughter and I love the staff. Her favorite part is all the social time she gets with the other children and the different toys that she doesn’t have at home. My favorite part is the loving atmosphere the staff give her and the glass front wall, both make me feel so safe when I drop my daughter off. If my daughter even thinks about having separation anxiety, the staff come right over and make her feel special and give me the nod to go ahead and leave for my workout. I love that they look out for her. Compared to other local gyms in Bucks or Montgomery County, B & R Fitness is the best bang for your buck with the least inexpensive fees and a huge selection of classes, machines and other amenities. They have super camps in the summer and awesome birthday party packages, especially the sports related themes!
All Fitness Customized Fitness Center offers Grindhouse Academy MMA tough love hands on kickboxing class at B & R Fitness Center in Feasterville, Bucks County Pa.
Mama from Mama’s Little Helper works it hard during this workout with All Fitness Customized Training. I’m actually starting to see muscle definition in my shoulders and arms. Check out other blog posts when I worked out my more of my arms and core. We work out at B & R Fitness Center in Bucks County PA. This gym is in Bucks County, but it’s on the border of Montgomery County, so accessible to both.
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