West Ed Mall with kids (ages 2,3,7)

[jmac98]

Good afternoon Greenlantern (and all reading),

I have been taking my kids to WestEd every November for about 8 years now. What started as just an idea for a quick getaway when they were young quickly turned into an annual event they quite look forward to. My girls are now 10 and (almost) 12, but they started at ages 2,3+.

For the waterpark, you'll obviously make great use of the kids play structure in the corner and the giant wave pool. The waterslides in and of themselves, you actually cannot go 'with' your kids on the slides together. They don't allow it. What they do allow, however, is for you to go first, then wait in the pool at the bottom while your child goes down for you to catch them. Your 7 year old will likely be fine, but the younger ones will probably be too scared unless they're the adventurous type.

There's 1 'kids' slide on the giant waterslide structure that all 3 kids will enjoy and be comfortable on, which you'll find facing the kids play structure. Other then that, the rest may be too large for them. The only one you can go on together is the raft one.

Galaxyland is a little different in that of course you can go on the rides with them. They'll collectively all only get to go on maybe half the rides as the majority of the main rides have a height restriction regardless of parents accompanying. There's still some fun rides for the little ones to enjoy all the same.

Inside the mall itself there's an impressive looking mini golf course that is like an 'alien' themed one just outside London Drugs (this is not the glow-in-the-dark ones others have noted). This course is well designed, visually a ton of fun, but is actually quite difficult. Many mini golf courses for family are often fairly easy and/or wear a path that kind of guides the ball. This one is not like that. It's actually quite challenging, and in that, kids will tend to lose interest halfway through at such a young age. Although they may be drawn to it by its presentation and atmosphere, the novelty will wear off quick for them mid game.

There's of course a handful of other things in the mall you can decide upon in real time.. public skating, $1.00 boat RC controlling (kids will like this), seal/marine show, animal go kart things (whatever they're called that kids ride around the mall on), an arcade, movie theatre, candy stores (really really pricey) ... all of these things are fine but really, the day you're swimming especially the kids will be super tired after to do much.

We always stay at the WEMINN which is literally across the street and affiliated with the Galaxyland Hotel or whatever it's called. Same owners. The difference is that its far cheaper. When the kids were super young, as yours are at 2,3, we stayed in the Galaxyland Hotel right in the mall just so we didn't have to bundle them up and carry stuff around and lug the strollers (etc). And we could take them back inside for quick naps mid day, whatever. But as they got a bit older, we just stayed across the street, the walk from the hotel being closer than half the parking spots in the mall lot all the same.

I hope you guys have a great time. Again, we've been going for years and it's a nice little getaway in the winter that doesn't cost too much and is fun for the kids especially year after year when they taller for more rides, etc. We've had friends come with us from time to time as well,and it's always a great weekend.

Enjoy yourself and make some memories with the family.

[RogerWilco]

Check out AMA if you are a member in Edmonton, you can get discounted tickets for both the waterpark and galaxy land there. But I believe you need to go in person to one in Edmonton. Did this last spring.

[wooohooo]

^^

If you know people that go to the U of A or some companies offer discounts and the ticket comes out to $30 PP which is a fairly good price.

[Canadianman]

nm

[jmac98]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

^^

If you know people that go to the U of A or some companies offer discounts and the ticket comes out to $30 PP which is a fairly good price.

You can also buy them at the front desk of the Fantasyland or WEMINN for discounts. $30 or $35 or something vs the $40-$45 face value. About $10 off either way. You can also buy discount mini golf and whatever else through them.

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by RogerWilco

Check out AMA if you are a member in Edmonton, you can get discounted tickets for both the waterpark and galaxy land there. But I believe you need to go in person to one in Edmonton. Did this last spring.

Scratch that, I just was looking for the prices on the web site and it looks like AMA no longer offers the passes.

WHERE CAN YOU GET A WEST EDMONTON MALL CHOICE PASS?
AMA is no longer able to offer West Edmonton Mall Choice Passes at a discounted price, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our members. The best way to save on your Choice Pass or other activity and entertainment passes is by buying directly through the West Edmonton Mall website for a 10% discount

[IGGYRULES]

Originally Posted by jmac98

You can also buy them at the front desk of the Fantasyland or WEMINN for discounts. $30 or $35 or something vs the $40-$45 face value. About $10 off either way. You can also buy discount mini golf and whatever else through them.

Can you do this even if you're not staying at the property?

Sent from my HD1910 using Tapatalk

[Shazam]

You get free towels for the waterpark if you stay at either of the two properties at WEM. Hopefully they wash them using soap.

eServus occasionally has discounted tickets. Air Miles also has them - 665 miles for two.

I usually stay at the Hyatt Place Edmonton West. Cheap, very quick drive to WEM, free breakfast buffet. Building is very new and is very quiet.

Waterpark and Galaxyland both offer unlimited Coke Freestyle drinks with admission.

Oh yeah, the posted hours of operation on the website are almost always wrong. Those dip####s never update the website.

If you get a cabana use the side entrance with the phone to get in, you'll skip the lineups.

[jmac98]

Originally Posted by IGGYRULES

Can you do this even if you're not staying at the property?

Sent from my HD1910 using Tapatalk

I’ve honestly never tried as I always stay there. But they have never asked me for a room number or anything.

[IGGYRULES]

Originally Posted by jmac98

I’ve honestly never tried as I always stay there. But they have never asked me for a room number or anything.

Thanks!

[Bunk]

We need build a giant waterpark in Calgary so that there truly is no reason to ever go to Edmonton at all.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Bunk

We need build a giant waterpark in Calgary so that there truly is no reason to ever go to Edmonton at all.

We need to build a Giant Waterpark in Calgary so we can lure in all the people who go to Giant Waterparks.....and then lock the doors from the outside...

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Bunk

We need build a giant waterpark in Calgary so that there truly is no reason to ever go to Edmonton at all.

Build it inside the Saddledome when the Event Centre is complete. Climb up to the top of the press level for the Peter Maher mega slide, race your buddy in the pocket dog dual slide, or try the stomach churning twist malt slide. Then relax afterwards with some nachos and a heroin beer.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by Locke

We need to build a Giant Waterpark in Calgary so we can lure in all the people who go to Giant Waterparks.....and then lock the doors from the outside...

Giant waterparks are awesome.

[GreenLantern]

Ended up having a lot of fun. Big difference in that mall from Friday to Saturday, but still a lot of fun. Waterpark was busy for the morning with a lot of grade school kids, so we stuck to the kiddie stuff for the morning then after lunch we had basically no lines on any slide.

My 2 year old loved the water slides, the orange one (Safari Cruiser?) was the biggest he could go on, but he just kept saying "Again!", I think we went a dozen times in a row. I learned though to make him walk up instead of carrying him after a few, tires him out more that way

Mall itself is pretty meh, after the aquarium stuff it's basically just like any other big mall. We brushed by Galaxy land but the kids were still so tired from the water park I don't think they really wanted much to do with 'rides', which we were fine with as well.

Witness a few altercations between mouthy Edmonton fans and Flames fans who were trying to watch the game with their kids when we went for supper at the end of the night, seemed about par for the course for Oilers fans. Nice reminder of what city we were in and a fitting farewell to greaser town Great place to visit, for a short period, definitely wouldn't want to live there... and I'm from Saskatchewan!!

[getbak]

Remember to get your booster shots tomorrow.