Do you and your family enjoy theme parks? Ok, silly question. What family doesn’t enjoy theme parks? Kids love them because there is always something fun to do. Parents love them because they bring so much joy to their children. And let’s face it, lots of parents love roller coasters and other rides, too.

Many families try to visit all the major parks at least once while their children are young. It’s almost like the tradition of putting a sticker on your luggage to show where you’ve been. You want as many stickers in that suitcase as you can collect. They become badges of honor for your travels. As for theme parks, there are the usual suspects:

California

–Disneyland

–California Adventure

–Knott’s Berry Farm

–Magic Mountain

–Universal Studies

–Legoland

–Sea World

Florida

–Orlando Universal

–SeaWorld Orlando

–The Walt Disney World

But what about the not-so-usual suspects? Those are the theme parks you may not know about, but should know about, especially if you have young children. Here are some not-so-known ones that you might want to consider as well:

Bonfante Gardens – Gilroy, California

Gilroy? Where is Gilroy? Many of you have probably not heard of Gilroy, California. Gilroy is the garlic capital of the world, located off the 101, approximately 42 miles southeast of Monterey and just over 80 miles south of San Francisco. So if you’re visiting the San Francisco, Monterey, or Santa Cruz areas of California, an extra visit to Bonfante Gardens should be on your list.

Bonfante Gardens has the distinction of being California’s only horticultural theme park designed for garden lovers and families with young children. It’s like a Legoland, only instead of trees and flowers made of Legos, these trees and flowers are real. Imagine that, a theme park with something real. And while you won’t find the number of thrilling rides you’d find at the other parks, there are a few rides to keep kids (and ride-loving parents) interested. Rides include an aerial monorail, a roller coaster billed as a “thrill mine roller coaster” surrounded by nearly 600 trees, a carousel dating back to 1927, and a giant banana that bobs back and forth. Okay, maybe not the most exciting, but definitely appropriate for younger kids.

For the garden aficionados among you, Bonfante Gardens has several gardens to wow you, such as the Monarch Garden, filled with hundreds of tropical and subtropical trees, flowers, and shrubs; the Camellia Gardens displaying many different varieties of camellias; and the Holly Garden, which features more than 20 different varieties of holly trees.

The Bonfante Garden season begins on March 31.

Silver Dollar City – Branson, MO

Silver Dollar City is a must see theme park. Why? It has what the other theme parks don’t. A real living cave. In fact, Missouri is full of caves and is known as the “Cave State” due to the fact that it contains more than 6,000 surveyed caves. One of them is Marvel Cave, which is now part of the Silver Dollar City amusement park. Admission to Silver Dollar City also grants you admission to the Marvel City Cave tour, a tour that takes approximately 60 minutes and takes you 500 feet below the surface. You have to climb 600 steps to get down, but you’ll have a cable car to take you the ½ mile trip back to the surface.

Other rides include a giant swing, which launches you 7 stories into the air; a 20-minute steam train ride; a fun house called Grandfather’s Mansion; an 80-foot high-speed roller coaster with a great view of the Ozarks; and various water games.

Dollywood-Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

For those of you who are not familiar with Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, it is one of the cities near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most popular National Parks in the United States. So a Pigeon Forge vacation will bring you closer to quiet vacation cabins and all the outdoor activities you can handle: boating, fishing, hiking, and more. Plus, you can give the kids a day out at a fabulous nearby theme park: Dollywood.

Dollywood is a great place for families with children of all ages. Younger kids will love it because of the mix of attractions with educational diversions, like the Dreamland Forest Treehouse filled with kiddie rides, an interactive Dreamland Forest playground, and the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, which houses the nation’s largest collection of non – releasable bald eagles. There are also numerous exciting rides for parents and older kids, including the new roller coaster ride, Mystery Mine, where you travel on a 1,811-foot track through an abandoned coal mine and plunge vertically from 85 feet.

Five of the biggest festivals in the South take place in Dollywood between March and December, including KidsFest from mid-June to early August. Dollywood is open from March 31 to the end of December.

While every child wants to visit Disneyland, Disney World, Universal Studios, and all the other usual suspects, think about some of the lesser-known and not-so-common suspects that can delight, educate, and thrill you and your family. .