Review of Adventure Park USA
January 26, 2010
by Jennifer Robinson

11113 West Baldwin Road
New Market, MD 21774
Directions

As part of a snow tubing weekend at Liberty Mountain, PA, we decided to stop first at Adventure Park USA in New Market, MD. What a great way to spend the day. The best way to describe the place is like going to the Boardwalk, except there’s no beach and no real boardwalk; just indoor and outdoor activities for all. During the winter months, the outdoor activities like the roller coasters, go karts, and other rides are closed, but the mini-golf stays open weather permitting. We had our fun inside though.

We spent the afternoon playing loads of video games, skeeball, basketball games, riding twirling tea cups and climbing up the tubes of the indoor climbing gym. The best part? You decide how much you’re going to pay to go! There is no admission to Adventure Park. You simply buy a $1 card and then load it up with as much or as little money as you want. Each game has a credit value attached to it and when you slide your card through the card reader on each game, it tells you how much it’s taking and what your balance on the card is. That’s right, no cups overflowing with tokens, or endless searches for quarter machines. One swipe of the card and you’re good to go. The card readers are easy to work, and my 4 year old was able to use the card and the readers without much help. Once you’ve swiped your card, you have to be very quick about hitting the play button or the game resets. On the few occasions that this happened, I took the card to the counter where they were easily able to see that the machine had taken the credits without the game being played, and they added the credits right back onto the card without any problem.

We bought three combination cards for $10 each. This included the card, and gave us 30 credits towards the arcade games as well as a wrist band that gave us 3 hours on the teacups and unlimited use of the indoor climbing gym. There are many different packages and combinations available with and without the wristband (see their website for full details). The good thing is you can easily add value to your card at any time, and/or purchase a wristband separately.

After playing for awhile, we ate lunch in their restaurant. It is typical fast-food fare: pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, etc. Ice cream and cotton candy are also available for dessert, and they did offer some salad options as well. The average combo meal was about $5 and included a drink and a bag of chips. There were flat screen TV’s playing football games so interested adults could keep track of the scores while eating. The bathrooms were very clean and easily accessible.

I saw three birthday party rooms and their website details the packages available, complete with free customizable birthday invitations. They also offer preschool story hours, and accept group and camp reservations as well. There is a laser tag option available and a rope climbing bridge, neither of which we did. The kids with us ranged in age from 4 to 9 and everyone had a great time. We even observed quite a few teenagers there playing one of those dancing video games over and over again.

The staff was incredibly helpful, friendly and accessible, making this a very nice experience. My kids are already planning our summer trip there so they can test all of the outdoor activities. It took us about an hour to get there from Northern Virginia, primarily on the main roads (495/270/70 and then some smaller routes) but it was well worth the trip!

Additional Information:

  • Adventure Park USA is open year-round; all outdoor attractions with the exception of mini-golf are closed until the spring. Currently Adventure Park USA is open Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 7:30pm; Friday from 11am to 9:30pm and Saturday from 10am to 9:30pm.
  • Adventure Park USA will have a special Breakfast with Hello Kitty on Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 8 to 10am. $10/person; under 2 free. Reservations are recommended.
  • View all of their special deals online.
  • Admission to Adventure Park USA is free; fill your fun pass with the amount you want to spend. You can see an example of how much typical rides and attractions cost online.

Have you been to Adventure Park USA? What's your opinion? Just drop us a note and Our Kids will add your comments to this review.