Sea Breeze

AutismUp, a local organization which has been useful to us, had a special day at Sea Breeze as part of their annual fundraising efforts. We had plans for four of us to go, but it ended up just being an outing for Buds and me.

Sea Breeze is the local amusement park, set overlooking Lake Ontario. It was a perfectly gorgeous day. We were giddy with surprise at finding a free parking spot in a little field right across from the entrance.

Because of the group we were with, we were given a wrist band when we entered the park. Turns out the wrist band had necessary information, but we didn't realize that until later.

We were like two elementary school children on a school trip, huge grins and clasped hands pulling in opposite directions.

"Let's try this ride."

"I'd ride that one!"

"Let's go this way!"

"When will the soft-serve stand open?!" (Buddie loves a good soft-serve ice cream.)

We decided to start our day with a ride on The Jack Rabbit, the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the United States. Built in 1920, for the Iowans in the crowd, that makes it over 50 years older than our beloved Tornado wooden roller coaster at Adventureland.

We chose to start with Jack Rabbit because we worried the crowds would become too long later in the day. Ahh, the Nashville and D.C. concerns about crowding still plague us, but Rochester surprised us once again. We rode the Rabbit twice, and the lines were the same each time, and the wait was maybe 10 minutes each time. The entire outing was a hugely relaxing pleasure.

We laughed and I shrieked on our Jack Rabbit ride, and once we had that first ride under our belt we were ready to explore.

Music Express was next up.

On Music Express, first you circle backwards, to lull you into laughter and comfort.

Then, once you are feeling relaxed, despite the pre-pubescent shrieks that are amplified in the inner cave of the ride, it slows, then starts the forward circling.

We knew the person on the outside was going to get smushed against the outer wall and by their seat mate. Some people would try to hold on to keep from crushing their partner, but not this gal. I told Buds I was going to snuggle right into his armpit and if he was squished, so be it. That's physics for ya'.

He says I cackled in his ear the whole ride, which he didn't seem to mind.

They did have signs like this posted at various rides in the park, which I do not remember from my time as an Adventureland employee.

Lunch was included with our special tickets, so we meandered our way to the picnic pavilions.

There were pavilions for the many, many groups that were having an outing to the park on this sunny Sunday. We couldn't find AutismUp, so we just went through some other group's food line and found quiet seats in a picnic pavilion that was not the one we were supposed to be in. No one cared. We had a wrist band, that's all that mattered.

I do feel like I could hang on to the wrist band for future outings to Sea Breeze for a free lunch.😉

Turns out that "A" on our wrist band indicated which pavilion we were supposed to go to. We walked past it later. I wish we had figured that out sooner simply because I would have been interested to see if the food offerings were different due to the sensory needs of the Autism crowd. Buds and I were happy with the BBQ chicken and veggie burger we ate with the Harrison Electric crowd, but I would guess that chicken tenders were on the menu in Pavilion A.

After lunch we watched the gymnastics/trampoline/balancing act in progress. They made all their moves look so easy, yet having been to a trampoline park, and having had a trampoline, I know they are not.

Buds convinced me riding the Log Ride was a good idea.

As usual, he was so right.

We road the little train around a section of the park, walked through the water park area, talked about life and past and future trips, and reveled in the sunny day.

After we'd done all we chose to, one final ride on Jack seemed like a good idea.

This outing was the perfect capstone to a spectacular weekend. We had friends in town, Monkey birthday fro yo, and the delight and charm of an old school amusement park which still provides joy and laughter for all ages.

10/10 will definitely visit here again.