Daft Musings

by Carolyn Bickford

Menu
  • Seven Years Gone and A Pandemic In Between (Tales of an ex-Californian in Tennessee)
  • Share Your Craziest COVID Memories Here
  • The COVID Masks
  • Old Journalistic Ethics vs. Social Media Screeds (updated below)
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy
Menu

Oakland Fairyland

Posted on June 28, 2009 by cjbickford

Kelly’s been eager to visit Oakland’s Fairyland, which I agreed would be a wonderful place to her. On Wednesday, I took here there, since I was already almost halfway there, having dropped Neil off at Stanford for his Maya camp.

Fairyland is all I could want; and it makes me miss the old Happy Hollow (which is destined to become some twee environmentalism-preaching mess now) ever the more. It was the park Happy Hollow was based on, and I love it for its old-fashioned kiddie-appealing charm. It was built back in the day when children weren’t jaded before their time, and it has no qualms about having a little chapel, or having to acknowledge whatever the new hot licensed phenomenon is.

River Rat House

It has all of four low-key rides, a lot of play areas where children can climb and slide, or look at animals. Like the old Happy Hollow, it had a puppet show which took a folk/fairytale and gave it a little twist (in this case, the evil queen from Snow White remains an old hag). The animals aren’t off in their own zoo area, but put into a fairytale setting, i.e. ducks under Rapunzel’s castle.

Troll Bridge Crossing

Kelly especially loved two unique features of the park. You can get a key for $2, and which it, you can turn on a storybox which will tell or sing you a nursery rhyme or fairytale. Kelly wanted to make sure she got to activate all the storyboxes, and even their stories are told in a sweet old fashioned way. (Though as a nod to multiculturalism, Spanish is offered as a language choice as well as English.)

Kelly and storybox

Also, there was a little house completely filled with children’s books to read. Books! Kelly loves books.

Neil recently reread and introduced Kelly to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and I was having a very Alice in Wonderland week, so I particularly enjoyed the park’s related attractions, like the Wonderland carousel

kelly and dodo

and an Alice in Wonderland tunnel

alice maze

which includes a funhouse mirror and Cheshire cat oddities and jokes and ends in a card maze.

Card Maze

It’s just a shame Fairyland is so far away in downtown Oakland, or we would want to go there more often.

Category: Out & About

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Seven Years Gone and A Pandemic In Between (Tales of an ex-Californian in Tennessee)
  • Perspectives on Theranos 2: Some Good Ideas
  • Perspectives on Theranos: Silicon Valley Kool-Aid Culture
  • COVID Vaccines in 100 Days or Less
  • The Fun of Unscientific Social Distancing Markers

Recent Comments

  • George Haberberger on Concern Trolling Control Freaks
  • Roll With It: Diving into 2021 – Daft Musings on Hippie Hiking Adventures in TN
  • cjbickford on Performers and Audiences in the Pandemic Looking Glass
  • George Haberberger on Performers and Audiences in the Pandemic Looking Glass
  • George Haberberger on Destroying People and Freedom with the Power of the Perpetually Offended

Archives

  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • August 2019
  • February 2019
  • September 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • August 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • June 2015
  • January 2015
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007

Categories

  • art & fashion
  • Cult of Personality
  • Daft Musings
  • Death
  • Death to COVID
  • Education
  • Environmentalist Ramblings
  • Germany
  • Holiday Ideas
  • How Covid Changed Us
  • Idiot Thieves
  • Local Lore
  • music
  • Nashville
  • Our Amazing Cross-Country Road Trip
  • Out & About
  • Parking It
  • Parties
  • Pointless Complaining about Gas Prices
  • Religion
  • San Diego Comic Con
  • Southwest Tour 2014
  • Taxes Suck
  • The Next Great American Band
  • Travelling
  • Uncategorized
  • Yukky Medical Stories

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2025 Daft Musings | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme