Enchanted Island At Encanto Park Family Date
Let me preface this by saying Jacob works for a really amazing company. It shows up on the best places to work list often, and we see this all the time in their treatment of employees. Everyone works hard, everyone gives so much, and there is a lot of travel and time away, and they do all they can to make it as easy as possible for families and spoil us at least twice a year with company parties. This was one of those events we thought was just a corporate picnic but turned into a really amazing family date with so much to do and see, and so much fun to be had!
Encanto Park is such a beautiful and cool place in the middle of Uptown Phoenix surrounded by the high-rise buildings but still feeling like a beautiful place filled with nature. It’s like a mini Central Park. Inside of the park there’s Enchanted Island, an amusement park targeted at children, but with plenty for adults to see and do too.
We were excited to learn this was included in the company picnic, and our train-loving son couldn’t keep his eyes off the train that circles the park. He literally wouldn’t even eat and just kept saying “choo choo” over and over again. And so we headed over to the park and were thrilled he is tall enough to ride on several rides and we wouldn’t be on the train for the next hour, thank you super tall Whiting genes! Although I’m sure our little man wouldn’t complain if he was on the train the rest of his toddler life.
Seriously, the train ride is darling, very fun, and very long! It’s worth a trip just to go on a ride around the park and let your kids wave at everyone. To the park employees who stop and wave every time a train goes by, bless you! Watching our son wave and say “Hiiiiiiii” and get excited made his little life complete.
Once we’d had a few rides and mom and dad were ready to move on we removed our sad crying toddler from the train and went on to find other fun to be had. Luckily there was a lot!
Don’t let his sun-in-eyes concentration face fool you, this little boy loved the cars and shouted “AGAIN!” after each ride ended. We had another crying toddler incident when we finally physically removed him from the ride. Bless you, unlimited wristbands and the attendant for letting him stay in his sports car for several rounds!
We watched a few other rides for a little bit and then went to the carousel for a few spins. We each took a turn taking him for a ride, something he loves doing at a local mall, but it just wasn’t a train and half way through each ride he turned and let us know “All done” which doesn’t really work that way. Luckily he let use finish, let us take him one more time, and then, of course, wanted the train again. So we obliged, why not, and headed over to eat and chat with coworkers after the boy mostly had his fill.
We ended with one more family activity, that happens to be one of my favorite dates and something that’s so fun to do as a couple, or as a family with kids. We headed over to the paddle boats and went for a spin around the lake complete with baby ducks and baby geese following parents all over the place, jokes with coworkers discussing collisions, and our little man having the time of his life watching his parents kick around.
But seriously, that view tho’!
It was the perfect fun family date that you know you’ll remember and treasure, and I definitely think it’s worth the splurge to make these memories and enjoy a really cool place together. We’ll definitely back, and it’s keeping me motivated to keep our Pogo Passes current!
Get 365 Date Ideas!
We want to help you have the best date nights ever! Grab this FREE printable with 365 date ideas, a date for every day of the year so you never run out of ideas!
