Overseas Chinese Web Guide

Tag: san jose

  • Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose, CA

    I recently visited the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. I had expected a dedicated, attached parking structure to easily shuttle the kids in and out. However, after a quick trip around the block, I ended up at a fixed fee $5.00 parking lot on Auzerais Avenue tucked under Guadalupe Parkway/87. From the parking lot, the path to the museum is just a short, manageable walk.

    If you are interested in arriving by public transit, the VTA Light Rail has a Children’s Discovery Museum station on the Alum Rock / Santa Teresa Line.

    Bob the Builder really gets around. I saw him at Legoland and the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana during the past year or so.

    The Bob the Builder activity room featured an impressive collection of Bob the Builder characters and construction vehicles. I loved the plumbing challenge where your junior plumber could attempt to reassemble the pipes under a play sink. Of course, the endless Bob the Builder video playing back on the television proved to be the true kid magnet.

    The bubble room was also a popular destination. The museum featured a number of bubble tables with rings and other frames for creating bubbles of all sizes. A lot of fun for kids and adults alike.

    Upstairs, the museum had a few craft rooms for some hands-on projects. During our visit, we were interrupted by a piercing alarm and a compulsory building evacuation. That decommissioned fire truck at the museum entrance proved no match for the flood of fire trucks that quickly surrounding the premises.

    If you are going, bring your own food. I think I may have had the world’s worst teriyaki chicken bowl at the Kids’ Cafe. The sauce did not taste like teriyaki and the raw, baby carrots seemed out of place. I love my veggies, but I have never been to a Japanese restaurant where teriyaki chicken came with raw carrots.

  • Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, San Jose, CA

    I recently paid a return visit to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose, California. Unlike the chaos immediately after opening week, the park’s operations were more settled this time around. The crowds were smaller, the lines were shorter, and the rides turned around a lot faster. All the hiccups that were evident during the previous visit were gone. I actually enjoyed this visit a lot.

    One noticeable difference from last time is that Happy Hollow had fenced off some of the metal sculptures that appeared in the entrance and throughout the park. A sign posted on the fences warned of hot temperatures. Kids just love climbing on top of the cute animal sculptures, and I guess someone must have gotten burned from those sculptures baking under the hot sun.

    I was also able to get on the Danny the Dragon ride this time. The line was much shorter, so we did not have to wait too long to get a seat. The weather was much cooler so that waiting in line was not so unbearable.

    When lunch time rolled around, I found it difficult to find an empty picnic area. Last time, Happy Hollow had a lot of empty picnic tables available for general use. However, this time, most of the picnic areas were booked, so we ended up at an area by the food court. We didn’t see anything in the outlying areas open to the general public.

  • Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

    Yesterday, I visited the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose, CA. The park just re-opened the previous weekend after an almost two-year renovation. When I arrived shortly after 10 a.m., I already saw a long line of cars waiting outside the toll booths. The parking lot itself was already about a third full. I saw a number of parties park outside the parking lot and walk in. $10 is a bit much for parking, but you can buy a $40 for 10 visits parking pass at the admission booth. From the parking lot, it’s only a short walk to the main entrance.

    The entrance features a number of whimsical sculptures, such as this delightful pig family. The park features additional sculptures inside.

    When you enter the park, the first ride I encountered was the Keep-Around-Carousel. I loved all the different animals, such as zebras and ostriches. This carousel was a bit different in that I could only hear music whenever I passed the attendant’s booth. No centralized pipe organ music typically found in carousel rides. Actually, I couldn’t figure out whether the music I heard was part of the ride experience or just something the attendant’s were listening to at the moment. Riding a merry-go-round in semi-silence is odd. Also, the ride operators have not completely worked out the kinks in their system. The kids were all seated on their animals for a long, long time before the ride started.

    I encountered the same problem on the Pacific Fruit Express Family Roller Coaster. The one minute roller coaster ride takes two quick laps around the short track. However, it took 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 minutes to unload / load the passengers each time. They really need to work on turning around the rides to keep the line moving and the kids happy.

    The longest wait was for the Danny the Dragon ride, located at the back of the park. If you really want to ride on the dragon, come early and head straight for the back of the park. Compared to Disneyland, the lines here don’t look long. But, for whatever reason, the line was moving just too slow and we ended up skipping this ride. Too long a wait in the hot afternoon.

    Oh no! Dorothy and Toto kills the WIcked WItch of the East.

    The puppet theatre features three different shows throughout the day. I saw the Three Little Pigs show, which offered a humorous twist on the original story. Overall, a fun day for the family. Oh, we also packed lunch because I read that the food service was a bit slow. The park has a lot of picnic tables, and only one place selling food. Pack a lunch and save some time.