Enchanted Forest, Oregon's Dirty Little Secret

Oregon has a dirty little secret, and it's such a great place that I must share a few of my favorite things. Today My sister and I took our kids to Enchanted Forest in Turner, Oregon. It's about an hour south of Portland, and about 15 minutes from Salem. If you live anywhere in Oregon, you MUST stop by this small amusement park at some point in your life. If you have children, it is best suited for kids age 4-7, but really any age might enjoy. My dd is 5 and I took her a couple of years back and it wasn't as amazing as it was today. I took my 14 year old son a couple of years ago and he was bored within a few minutes. I am teaching Kindergarten again this year and this would make an AMAZING field trip. Again, I really think that if you have a 5 year old, they will be in 5-year old heaven at this place.

If you can, go first thing in the morning during one of the summer months because it is likely to be cooler. There are a lot of hills so you will probably get warm fast, so bring water and a good pair of shoes. The admission is amazing for a theme park, it was $9 for kids and $10 for adults. What's even crazier, is that everything in the park is affordable. The medium sized sodas are $2, I just paid $7 at the theater(rip off!). The gift shop has lots of cheap trinkets and fun stuff to waste your money on. If you give your child a 5-dollar bill they will be able to get most anything in the shop. The food was reasonable as well, $2.65 for a nacho-WOWZERS! Totally not worth packing a lunch and hauling it around all day. There are two other restaurants onsite as well. One is outdoors has burgers and a grill. The other is inside and has pizza and salads-AND a free water show. The show is not all that exciting, but it's a fun thing to watch while eating in the air conditioned restaurant.

What is there to do you ask? There are a plethora of little houses from all the story book classics. Most of them you can go in and have a hands on experience of some sort. The crooked house is just crazy fun, you will laugh so hard you will think you are falling. Some are a little spooky, but all in good taste. After you go through Story Book Lane, you can watch a live show that plays three times a day. The show we saw this time was "The Emperor's New Clothes", last time it was "Hanzel and Gretel". The shows are awesome and super interactive. The kids are all engaged by the performance. It's a nice break for adults too. There is plenty of seating and and it's a great time to have a snack. Right next to the theater are the little kid rides. They take tickets and are not included in the admission. Tickets are $1 each and each of the rides takes 2 tickets. You can also opt to purchase the ride bracelet for $16. We never get the bracelet because we like the little houses and all of the other exhibits. They only have 4 little rides, so it's not worth it in my opinion. However, if you do buy tickets and don't end of needing or using them, they WILL refund your money. I know crazy, hugh? They will give your money back for any reason. Western Town is another fun little part of this majestic secret in the valley. The Western town has tons of tunnels and slides to keep the kids busy. Lots of mazes and coin operated exhibits to play with. Lastly, the big hit of the day was the slide in the shoe. Not only is it the best ride in the forest, it's free!!!

I hope I have encouraged you to give Enchanted Forest a try. I hope more people support this secret little fun pot, I would love to keep it around. Let me know your favorite part of the park and if you have a photo I can share on this post. :)