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February 17, 2017

Powering Up the Star Wars Universe

We crunched the numbers to calculate how much energy it would take to power up the iconic weapons and ships from the Star Wars universe. So…just how many batteries does it take to power Star Wars? We’ll cover your favorites—lightsabers, blasters, X-wings and yes, even the Death Star.

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were lightsabers, there were blasters and there were ships. But all this cool stuff needed power. Lots of power. Let’s check out the power needs of some of your favorite “Star Wars” technology and what it would take to power up the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

To better understand power terminology, we took a look at the common energy usage of things in the world around us. One AA alkaline battery contains 3.9 watt-hours. A car battery contains 722 watt-hours. The Tesla Powerwall has 7 kilowatt-hours. One barrel of oil is equivalent to 1.7 megawatt-hours. A nuclear reactor yields 1,000 megawatts. And for comparison, the Earth’s annual energy consumption is 104,426 terawatt-hours per year.

Droids

We can’t forget about the droids that inhabit the “Star Wars” galaxy. They need power to function too.

We don’t have droids as complicated as R2D2 and C3PO just yet, but we do have ASIMO. Billed as “the world’s most advanced humanoid robot,” ASIMO, developed by Honda, stands 4’3” tall and is capable of walking, talking and helping people.

ASIMO is powered by a rechargeable 51.8-volt lithium ion battery that lasts only for an hour. That’s equivalent to 132 AA batteries or 1 car battery.

K-2S0

Droids would likely be as energy efficient as humanoids in the “Star Wars” universe, otherwise you would expect slaves or clones to replace them. Assuming a 2.14-meter-tall aluminum alloy body (or similar), we can estimate the weight is 470 pounds each.

To power a K-2S0, it would take 19,946 kilojoules, which is equivalent to 5,537 watt-hours. To put it into perspective, that’s 1,420 AA batteries which equals 8 car batteries, 1 Tesla Powerwall, 1.6 oz of oil per hour or 6 hundredths of a percent of a nuclear reactor.

BB-8

Assuming BB-8 has a similar energy efficiency as K-2S0 and knowing that BB-8 is 0.97 meters tall, calculation results are 7.92 x 109 joules, which is equivalent to 2,202 watt-hours. That is equivalent to 565 AA batteries, 4 car batteries, 1 Tesla Powerwall, 1 pint of oil per hour or 2 hundredths of a percent of a nuclear reactor.

Lightsabers

Lightsabers are powered by high-output diatium power cells, which are capable of recharging naturally. The blade neither radiates heat nor expends energy until it comes into contact with the solid item it is striking.

Qui-Gon Jinn used his lightsaber to cut into the thick blast doors of Nute Gunray’s bridge. The doors were 2.35 meters tall and over a meter thick. Qui-Gon’s lightsaber cut a circular area approximately 0.9 meters in diameter.

In order to melt 0.87 cubic meters of conventional steel, it would require approximately 1.69 gigajoules of thermal energy. That is equivalent to 469,482 watt-hours, slightly more energy than one lightning bolt.

One lightsaber has the equivalent energy of 120,380 AA batteries (that’s 6,000 pounds of batteries or 250 gallons, enough to fill-up a kiddie pool). It’s also equivalent to 650 car batteries (that’s 26,000 pounds, exceeding the 20,000-pound maximum weight of a single-axle semi-trailer). One lightsaber is also equivalent to 67 Tesla Powerwalls, 0.28 barrels of oil (5.5 gallons of gas), one nuclear reactor or 0.05 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

Kylo Ren’s Lightsabers

It doesn’t appear there is any reason to assume that Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was capable of generating any more or less power than any other lightsaber.

In one scene, he is shown using the crossguard to burn through Finn’s jacket, causing a small burn. A small lightsaber-sized second-degree burn requires about 166 joules of energy as a low-end estimate. It seems it could be assumed that the crossguard blades are capable of outputting similar power to the full-size blade.

How many batteries would it take to power a lightsaber that uses 2.5 gigajoules of energy or 694,500 watt hours? The answer is 180,570 AA batteries or 975 car batteries. That’s equivalent to 101 Tesla Powerwalls, 0.42 barrels of oil, 1.5 nuclear reactors or 0.07 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

Blasters

According to Han Solo, ancient Jedi weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. Firing bursts of focused particle beam energy (bolts), a blaster gets its power from two main components: Energy-rich blaster gas from a cartridge and a replaceable power pack.

The blaster bolts carry no heat themselves, but materials struck by them deform and fuse like when Princess Leia blasted a hole through a metal grate using an E-11 blaster rifle while escaping from the Death Star.

A hole was blasted big enough for Chewbacca to pass through, probably about 3 feet wide. An estimate on the mass of the grate is approximately 54 kilograms. Roughly 6.34 megajoules is needed to vaporize 1 kilogram of iron, so the blast yielded approximately 342 megajoules.

Power usage is comparable between lightsabers and blasters. Jedi in the “Star Wars” universe have been known to use power packs to charge up their lightsabers.

The 342 megajoules to power a baster is equivalent to 24,360 AA batteries, 132 car batteries, 14 Tesla Powerwalls (that would weigh as much as two cows or half a Bantha), 0.06 barrels of oil (approximately 1 gallon of gas; that’s $2.29 per shot!), 1 nuclear reactor for three blasts a second, or 0.01 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

Star Destroyer

It’s one of the most menacing ships in the galaxy. In “Empire Strikes Back,” we see an Imperial Star Destroyer blasting asteroids out of its way. If we approximate the standard asteroid mass as about 33,965,759 kilograms with a heating capacity of iron at 447 J/kg·K, then we could calculate that it would take 30 terajoules (8,333 megawatt-hours) to melt the asteroid.

That’s 2.1 billion AA batteries (in the U.S., 2.9 billion AA batteries are thrown away every year!), 11.5 million car batteries (16 million cars were sold in the U.S. last year), 1.2 million Tesla Powerwalls, 4,901 barrels of oil (at 35 mpg, you could drive around the Earth 130 times or make 6 round-trips to the moon), 10,000 nuclear reactors for a blast every three seconds or 2.5 seconds of Earth’s power supply (enough for 207,000 people for one day).

To vaporize the asteroid, it would take 250 terajoules or 69,400 megawatt-hours. That’s 17.8 billion AA batteries, 96 million car batteries (71 million cars were sold globally last year), 9.9 million Tesla Powerwalls (3 for every apartment in New York City), 41,000 barrels of oil (enough to drive a third of the way to the sun), 270,000 nuclear reactors to fire once every second or 21 seconds of Earth’s power supply (one blast from Earth every 21 seconds).

A turbolaser must yield approximately 3,750 terawatts of power, releasing energy four times that of the Little Boy atomic bomb.

X-Wing Fighter

Sometimes it isn’t always about the size of the ship in an intergalactic fight— as long as you are packing the right firepower. In “A New Hope,” when a blast from Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter struck the surface of the Death Star, it created a blast likely powerful enough to have vaporized at least one cubic meter of armor.

Conservative estimates put the output of the four X-wing cannons at approximately 60 gigajoules of energy, which equals 16.67 megawatt-hours. That’s 4.27 million AA batteries (enough batteries to go 8 times around the Large Hadron Collider, and stacked up, they’d reach space twice!), 23,153 car batteries, 2,381 Tesla Powerwalls, 9.08 barrels of oil, 0.01667 running hours of a nuclear power plant or 5 milliseconds of Earth’s power supply.

Snowspeeders

The snowspeeders are outfitted with improvised weaponry, including de-icing and heating elements and two laser canons compared to the X-Wing’s four. To power a snowspeeder, it would take 30 gigajoules, which is equivalent to 8.33 megawatt-hours.

That’s equivalent to 2.13 million AA batteries, 11,576 car batteries, 1,190 Tesla Powerwalls, 4.54 barrels of oil, 0.008335 running hours of a nuclear power plant or 2.5 milliseconds of Earth’s power supply.

Death Star

Remember when the first incarnation of this formidable battle station destroyed Leia’s home planet of Alderaan?

Using a beam formed by several beams firing from its Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser, the Death Star was able to destroy an Earth-sized planet with a binding energy of roughly 2.25 x 1032 joules. Comparatively, our sun produces roughly 3.846 x 1026 watts. How could one moon-sized battle station produce that much power? Using a ‘hypermatter’ reactor, of course.

The 2.25 x 1032 joules needed to power a Death Star converts to 6.25 x 1028 watt-hours. That’s equivalent to 16 octillion AA batteries (stacked end to end, these batteries would measure 84.5 billion light-years, almost enough to stretch across the observable universe of 92 billion light-years), 86 septillion car batteries (80% of the mass of Jupiter), 8 septillion Tesla Powerwalls (150 times the weight of Earth) or 37 sextillion barrels of oil (enough to satisfy the Earth’s oil consumption for 1 trillion years). The Death Star I uses power equivalent to 2 quintillion nuclear reactors to fire once every 24 hours (each blast would require an amount of uranium equal to the mass of Mercury). The Death Star II uses power equivalent to 1 sextillion nuclear reactors to fire once every 3 minutes (seven blasts would generate enough nuclear waste to equal the dwarf planet Ceres at 9.5 x 1020 kg). A Death Star’s energy usage is equivalent to 598 billion times Earth’s power supply. Astronomers estimate there could be 20 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Only 29 more galaxies to go!

Starkiller Base

“The Force Awakens” shows five planets being simultaneously destroyed by Starkiller. The power calculation would be five times the current power of the Death Star, or 3.12 x 1029 kilowatt-hours.

Also in the movie, we see it draining power from an average-sized star, which certainly has enough nuclear fuel to provide the kind of energy shown. Earth’s sun will provide roughly 3.5 x 1056 kilowatt-hours in its lifetime. There isn’t much more info given in the film that would allow for honing in on a figure between these two numbers. Note that the expected lifespan of the sun is 10 billion years.

To power the Starkiller Base, it would take 1.12 x 1036 joules or 3.12 x 1029 kilowatt-hours. This is equivalent to 80 octillion AA batteries, 430 septillion car batteries, 40 septillion Telsa Powerwalls, 10 quintillion barrels of oil, 1.5 septillion nuclear power plants or 3 trillion times Earth’s power supply.

Hyperspace

Aside from powering up the Death Star, hypermatter particles allow a ship to jump to lightspeed without changing its complex mass and energy. We’ve seen the Millennium Falcon make the jump to lightspeed several times. According to physicist Miguel Alcubierre, a warp drive could manipulate space-time, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics to move 10 times faster than the speed of light.

To make a warp drive, it was initially estimated you would need a minimum amount of energy almost equal to the mass of the planet Jupiter. More recent studies have reduced the energy requirement to be about the mass of the Voyager 1, approximately 700 kilograms.

Using E=mc2, 700 kilograms is equal to 62.9 exajoules, which is 15 billion tons of TNT explosives or 17,500 terawatt-hours. That’s 4.5 quadrillion AA batteries, 23 trillion car batteries, 2.5 trillion Tesla Powerwalls, 10 billion barrels of oil (1% of all the oil ever produced), 17.5 million nuclear reactors or 16 percent of Earth’s power supply (that’s one jump every two months!).

Ebates Star Wars Stores

ThinkGeek – Star Wars Apparel for Adults & Kids
BuyCostumes – Star Wars Halloween Costumes
LEGO – Star Wars Lego Toys and Products
GameStop – Select Star Wars Universe Games

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February 8, 2017

How Many LEGO Would It Take to Build These Sci-Fi Megastructures?

With LEGO, it’s often said you can create your own universe, so to get your imagination running wild, we’ve decided to LEGO-fy some of science fiction’s most memorable icons. From hoverboards to Death Stars, here’s how many LEGO it would take to make just a few of the classics, along with a couple of real-world items to help put it all in perspective.

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<a href="https://www.ebates.com/blog/lego-to-build-sci-fi-megastructures/"><img alt="How Many Lego Would It Take To Build Sci-Fi Megastructures" class="ngg_none" src="https://www.ebates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/How-Many-Lego-Would-It-Take-To-Build-Sci-Fi-Megastructures-Batman_IG-2D.png" width="600px" height="6290px" /></a><br><a href="https://www.ebates.com/blog/lego-to-build-sci-fi-megastructures/">How Many Lego Would It Take To Build Sci-Fi Megastructures</a> Created By:  <a href="https://www.ebates.com/"> Ebates</a>

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We didn’t start with moon-sized star destroyers. We began with one of the smallest units of LEGO possible: the 15.8 mm by 3.2 mm brick. With two of these, a red one and a blue one, we were able to recreate one of the tiniest icons in all of sci-fi cinema: the pills offered to Keanu Reeves at the beginning of “The Matrix.” Of course, you probably don’t want to swallow either of these, since the only trip they’ll take you on is one to the emergency room. From there, we moved upwards, from 300 LEGO to build the 12th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to 550 LEGO for our very own Baby Groot to 850 LEGO to build an Identity Disk from “Tron” to 940 LEGO to build Benny’s spaceship from “The LEGO Movie.” (We know that seems tiny, but Benny is a LEGO mini-fig, so his spaceship would be LEGO-sized too.) And for Marty McFly’s trip to the future year of 2015 in “Back to the Future Part II,” his Nike Air shoes would take 1,500 LEGO to build, and the Mattel Hoverboard would take 2,050 LEGO.

Jumping into slightly bigger structures, we started to turn to Matija Puzar, our certified LEGO expert, for help. Matija is a trusted business partner of The LEGO Group who has built some amazing scale models of the world’s most iconic landmarks. If there’s a guy who knows how LEGO and the real world intersect, Matija is your man. The first thing our LEGO expert alerted us to was that any LEGO structure of a certain size wouldn’t be all LEGO. “Larger models need both a steel structure and gluing of the bricks to prevent them from collapsing on their own weight. I’ve made a 1.5-by-1-by-1.5-meter model with no glue at all, although in retrospect I probably should have glued it.”

Matija also alerted us to some real-life LEGO creations to help us with our equations. A man in Austin, Texas, actually built his own fully functional LEGO R2D2 using 16,000 bricks along with a steel frame and a motor from a remote control plane. We calculated that Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” would take 17,450 LEGO to build. Our master builder also pointed us in the direction of an actual, working car that was built entirely out of LEGO. Although he was quick to remind us that the plastic LEGO bricks wouldn’t “fancy the temperatures around the engine,” that didn’t deter us! Using the real LEGO car as a basis of comparison, we were able to determine that it would take 573,314 LEGO to build and travel through time with the flying Delorean from “Back to the Future Part II.”

Our master builder also had a friend who built a life-size Tardis from “Doctor Who” with 150,000 LEGO. But, of course, that number would go way up if you built the inside to scale as well. (There are more LEGO on the inside.) A Light Cycle from “Tron” would take 120,217 LEGO to build, and a Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy” would take 334,235. To build the Batsignal from “Batman,” it would take 226,851 LEGO. To bust ghosts in the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1, it would take 955,200 LEGO.

As we took off for space, our LEGO numbers took off into the millions. An AT-AT from “Star Wars” would take 12.4 million LEGO to build, and an X-wing fighter would take 5.5 million LEGO. From “Avatar,” a Scorpion Gunship would take 3.2 million LEGO to build, and the Batmobile from “The LEGO Batman Movie” would take 340,000 LEGO. The Millennium Falcon would take 15.5 million LEGO to complete, and NASA’s space shuttle would take 58.3 million LEGO to build.

Matija even had some theories about how a LEGO starship would hold up when it jumped into hyperspace. “I am not sure how LEGO would survive the constant radiation and extreme temperatures. It would definitely be an interesting — albeit expensive — experiment to perform!” NASA has shown that plastics are, pound for pound, more effective at shielding against cosmic radiation than aluminum!

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from “The Avengers” would take 81.7 million LEGO to build, the Discovery One from “2001: A Space Odyssey” would require 186.3 million LEGO, and the Heart of Gold from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” would take 162.1 million LEGO. Matija told us that “in space, it would be hard to keep track of pieces, in addition to the space suit making it difficult to grab the pieces and build precisely.”

Heading back down to Earth for a little bit, we also wanted to see how many LEGO it would take to build our favorite superhero homes. James May, a presenter from the British hit “Top Gear,” actually built his very own full-size LEGO house a few years ago as part of an art project. The house was two stories high, 20 feet tall and took 3.3 million bricks to complete. Using that as a basis of comparison, we determined that Superman’s Fortress of Solitude from the 1978 film would take 850 million LEGO, and Wayne Manor from “Batman” would take 840 million LEGO. The Mothership from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” would take 999 million LEGO to build.

Batman’s secret headquarters, the Batcave, would take 1.18 billion LEGO to build. The NSEA Protector from “Galaxy Quest” would take 1.5 billion LEGO to build, and an effort would require Tony Stark to assemble 6.6 billion bricks to recreate the Avengers Tower in Manhattan. Matija commented that the “Avengers Tower would definitely be an interesting one to build! Definitely not a life-size one, but a nice scale model would be cool to do.” Which kind of disappointed us, as we were really looking forward to partying with a full-size LEGO Hulk in the full-size LEGO tower.

The iconic Starship Enterprise from “Star Trek” would take 13.5 billion LEGO to build. That’s still pretty small compared to some other ships, like the Dark Aster from “Guardians of the Galaxy.” According to its creators, this villainous starship measured as long as 11 Empire State Buildings laid on their sides, which we calculated would take 42.5 billion LEGO. The Axiom from “WALL-E” would take 463 billion LEGO, and the Borg Cube from “Star Trek” would take 255 billion LEGO. It would take 554 billion LEGO to build the Spaceball One, and 102 trillion LEGO to build the Halo Megastructure.

The Death Star, a moon-sized planet killer from “Star Wars,” would require 435 trillion bricks to complete (even more if you want to go the extra mile for safety and throw in a few guardrails!). Sadly, Matija didn’t see completing this model as entirely realistic. “It would be a really nice experiment to see how many bricks it takes before a structure collapses on itself due to its own gravity. A bit unfeasible, though, I’m afraid. The average 2×2 brick can withstand 950 pounds.”

But this is sci-fi, and who’s to say what isn’t possible today won’t be possible tomorrow! Could some brilliant hero create a new, stronger LEGO brick capable of withstanding the cold, hard realities of space? We sure hope so! Until then, we’re going to keep building, and we encourage you to do the same. Just please put your toys away when you’re done. Your mom isn’t going to be happy if she has to pick up a quadrillion LEGO off the living room floor.

Source List
http://www.matija.no/
http://www.wikia.com/
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19gal5dbd9klpjpg.jpg
https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1472/901/1600/Stratoposeidon%20-%20small.jpg
http://beyondthemarquee.com/15970
https://cdn.instructables.com/FBA/B3KC/HH2VY2JP/FBAB3KCHH2VY2JP.LARGE.jpg
https://cdn.silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Batmobile-Blueprints-1200×717.jpg
http://www.spaceflight101.com/soyuz-spacecraft-information.html
https://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/89/159589-004-233CA187.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/14-Fantastic-Guardians-Galaxy-Facts…
http://dirkloechel.deviantart.com/art/Size-Comparison-Science-Fiction-Spaceships-398790051

May 16, 2016

Theme Park Thrills Revealed: Get the Best Bang for Your Buck

Summer… it’s fast approaching, and that means it’s almost time to load up the kids, fly them across the country and give them a vacation that will make them love you forever. We’re talking about the theme park experience!

According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, there are more than 400 theme parks operating in the United States today. That means it won’t be easy to pick out the best one to take your family to. There are a ton of factors to consider, from ticket cost to park size to how much they’re going to overcharge you for a bottle of water inside the park. Well, we want to help. That’s why we’ve put together a breakdown of 10 of the biggest theme parks in the country. Use it to figure out which one will give you the best bang for your buck and give your family the best vacation ever.

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Disneyland: Built in 1955 under the direct supervision of Walt Disney himself, this was the place that transformed theme parks from one-day pit stops into multi-day experiences you could build a whole vacation around. Disneyland features some of the most famous, family friendly rides in the world, including Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Dumbo’s Flight. It also features nearly all the characters your kids love right now, with chances for them to meet their favorite Avenger, Jedi or princess waiting around every corner. It’s hard not to make some amazing family memories at Disneyland, and the people at Disney know it. You’ll be lucky to get away with spending less than $1,000 a day at this park on a family of four, especially with half the attractions now relegated to a second park: Disney California Adventure. Get ready to pony up for a second ticket if you want the full experience.

Walt Disney World: Disney’s Florida park is a few hundred times bigger than its California counterpart, and that extra size is reflected in its extra expensive ticket prices. Is the added space worth the additional cost? It all depends on your family’s tastes. Disney World lacks some of Disneyland’s more popular attractions, including the kid-favorite Cars Land. You can also forget about any appearances by your favorite Marvel characters (Disney doesn’t have the theme park rights to them in Florida). However, there are a ton of unique attractions, including the Test Track which, at $300 Million, is still the most expensive coaster ever built. They also have a 600-acre animal preserve and the soon-to-be-opened Avatar Land.

Universal Studios: While Universal Hollywood is technically bigger than Disneyland, a majority of its space is taken up by the Studio Tour, a tram ride that takes you across the Universal Backlot. If you come from a family of film buffs, it might be worth the visit, but if they’re more interested in the traditional theme park experience, Universal doesn’t have quite so much to offer. With fewer than 20 rides and attractions total, you could traverse the entire park in just a few hours. Of course, you may still find your kids begging to go if they’re big Harry Potter fans; the newly opened Wizarding World of Harry Potter offers every wannabe wizard his or her very own acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Smaller muggles can jump on The Flight of the Hoppogriff if they want a fun first roller coaster experience, while those with advanced degrees in witchcraft and wizardry can try Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey which combines 3D movies and animatronics to give you the full Hogwarts experience. Just be warned, the new attractions are so popular that people are reporting having to wait in line over five hours to get on.

Busch Gardens: With two locations — one in Williamsburg, Virginia, and one in Tampa, Florida — the Busch Gardens parks offer their visitors a slightly more adult theme park experience. The Tampa park is Safari themed with dozens of wildlife attractions. The Williamsburg park has a European theme with sections modeled after villages in England, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland and Ireland. But both parks’ true attractions are their rides; Busch Gardens features some of the most innovative and thrilling roller coasters in the world. While each park also has a kid-friendly Sesame Street area, the scary coasters and readily available beer (this is a park owned by a beer company, after all) make them a much better vacation for an older crowd.

Knott’s Berry Farm: Built on the site of an old berry farm (that’s how it got the name, folks!), Knott’s is an ideal park for families looking to strike a balance between entertainment for all ages and affordable prices. Tickets are only $72 for adults and $69 for kids — one of the cheapest on our list. The rides also range from completely kid-friendly to absolutely terrifying; there’s something for every level of thrill seeker in your family. The hotels are also shockingly cheap, with a four-night stay running you less than $700 (breakfast included). The park’s one big drawback is its location. Situated in Buena Park, California, there are no other tourist locations in the immediate area. So if you want to do anything on your vacation besides tour the park, you’ll have to pay for extra transportation.

Cedar Point: Located on the coast of Lake Erie in Ohio, Cedar Point calls itself the Roller Coaster Capital of the World. And even though it only has the second-most coasters in the world, that title is still hard to dispute. Amusement Today has named it the best theme park in the world for 16 consecutive years. It’s also the only park in all the globe to feature coasters in all four height classes (kiddie coaster, hyper coaster, giga coaster and strata coaster), including the Top Thrill Dragster which holds the American speed record for coasters at 125 miles per hour. This may not be the ideal park for a family visit, but with tickets costing only $39.99 apiece, it’s the perfect park for a group of teenagers or young adults on their first solo vacation.

Hersheypark: Built in 1903, this is the oldest park on the list. Tickets only cost $32 a day, and there are more than 70 rides and attractions, including a fully-functioning zoo, making this a great vacation spot for families on a budget. The big draw, however, is the chocolate. Anyone obsessed with Hershey’s will be in heaven touring its factory or indulging in the exclusive sweets and snacks available in the Hershey’s Chocolate World Visitor’s Center.

Six Flags Magic Mountain: There are 19 different Six Flags parks operating today, but this is the only one that can boast of having the most roller coasters in the world. With 19 separate coasters, all designed with a huge range of speeds and heights, this is another great park for thrill seekers of any age. They even have a Looney Tunes themed drop ride called Sylvester’s Pounce House, which allows younger riders to experience a less intense free fall. Located in California — just outside of Los Angeles — it makes a great day trip for families visiting the West Coast.

Six Flags Great Adventure: Situated in New Jersey right between New York and Pennsylvania, Six Flags Great Adventure is an ideal vacation spot for families that can’t travel too far from the East Coast. But its location doesn’t mean it lacks anything in size. In fact, Great Adventure is the second-largest theme park in the world after Disney World. It comes complete with a full water park and wildlife preserve to go along with its more traditional attractions and rides, including the Kingda Ka which, at 456 feet, is the tallest coaster in the world. And, like Magic Mountain, the tickets are very affordable; they’re less than $60 a day for kids and adults.

Legoland: Do your kids love Lego? Do they really, really love Lego? If the answer is yes, then you could give them the vacation of their dreams by taking them to this park inspired by their favorite building blocks. But keep in mind you’ll be sacrificing all your adult vacation fun; more than any park on this list, Legoland caters mainly to children. All the rides and attractions are designed with little riders in mind, the most intense one being described as a “family coaster.” The tickets aren’t cheap, with both adults and kids costing more than $100. But it might be worth it if your child has always wanted to see a Lego model of Mount Rushmore.

Win a Disneyland Family Vacation Giveaway!

Find out how you can win a Disneyland Anaheim vacation prize package, including a four-night stay for four at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel or Disneyland Hotel!

Source List
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_Magic_Mountain
https://media.universalorlando.com/resources/factsheets/…
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g32655-d78694-Reviews…
http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-disneyland-disneyworld-20150812-htmlstory.html
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/offers-discounts/tickets-savings-days/

November 25, 2014

Holiday Gift Guide for Kids

Without literally thousands of toys to choose from this holiday season, buying gifts for your child, niece, nephew, cousin, or friend can become daunting. We’ve come up with ten great gifts for any child in your life, many which focus on creativity along with fun!

1. Magformers 30 Piece Classic Set (Target) | $39.99
2. Melissa & Doug Alphabet Sound Puzzle (Bed Bath & Beyond) | $19.99
3. Hide and Seek Playhouse (Sears) | $34. 10
4. Play-Doh Fun Factory Deluxe Set (Toys R Us) | $17.99
5. Melissa & Doug Wooden Deluxe Puppet Theater (Gettington) | $71.95
6. Seedling Design Your Own Super Hero Cape (ReUseIt) | $35.99
7. Fisher-Price Grow with Me 3-in-1 Skateboard (FAO Schwarz) | $49.99
8. LEGO Minecraft: Crafting Box (Toys R Us) | $59.99
9. Disney Frozen Deluxe Toddler 2 Pack with Olaf (Target) | $37.99
10. Crayola Marker Maker (Kmart) | $19.99

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