Big Apple Circus - Dance On (Boston, MA)

Our first toddler outing after having our new son was to the Big Apple Circus in City Hall Plaza in Boston.  We left the 1 month old with gramma and drove into Boston VERY early to be sure that we parked as close as possible to the circus so that our 2 year old and 4 year old were annoyed the least amount possible.  We ended up at the Government Center Garage that cost us $35 to park from 10am - 12:30 (boooooo), but it was a very close walk, and we had a space in barely a minute. We didn't see the elevator option and walked down four flights of stairs, but it didn't matter because we found the elevators for the way up on the return.  This specific parking garage does not have any attendants, only a few security guards, so it is crucial that you pay at a machine using your ticket prior to leaving.  I am not sure what people do who are trapped at the arm trying to exit if they haven't paid and their ticket won't let them out, but I'm sure it's quite an annoyance.

Unfortunately for us, the biggest annoyance was the actual Big Apple Circus.  The tent itself was small and a little smelly.  Even though we had box seats (which was nothing more than a metal fence type thing around us), there was a row directly in front of us not far enough down for us to see, never mind our munchkins.  The background itself looked really hopeful.  It had a large slide clearly for clowns and a big bright sign that the kids loved.  Before the circus started a dj played "Into the Groove" and other parent friendly dance hits, and the kids loved it, but when the show started, the music was done by a band and was lackluster to say the least.  My 4 year old said, "I'm sick of people standing on each other.  There are no animals. Where are the clowns and the dancing?"

The answer is: there were NO ANIMALS, and there was ONE clown without a gimmick, unless the gimmick was to be a scary, 144 year old, transgender type of clown with no jokes.  On the other hand, there was dancing.  There was a guy who was probably about 4 feet tall who was the master dancer type, popping and locking circus style who would sort of introduce each act with a dance.  That little guy was the best part of each act because as soon as he left the act seemed to turn into a painful Cirque du Soleil tryout gone awry without the amazing costumes and the talent. 

There were some guys who jumped on each other using a pole.  There was a guy who "juggled" by bouncing some glow in the dark balls off of mirrors in the shape of a V that he sat between and stood in front of.  There was a team of Asian youth who rode some unicycles that were BMX style wheels and the pedals were on the actual rims.  The boys in that group came back out in different outfits and did something with basketballs that was so boring I don't even remember what the point was.  The girls came out and turned out to be contortionists.  These girls were quite amazing (as seen in the picture), but their costumes were nearly sheer and left nothing to the imagination and bordered on inappropriate.  This really could have been a great act (with different costumes), but they performed without passion.  As you can see from the picture above, it was sort of a dead stare let me do the moves sort of performance.  It was during this act that my daughter began to fall asleep in the muggy funky smelling tent, and my son began to demand, "Let's go to a circus with elephants and some clowns another time and get OUTTA here!" 

So, we left.  We went to Faneuil Hall Marketplace.  The kids got frozen yogurt on gigantic waffle cones at the first frozen yogurt place on the left if you walk in the front door.  It was VERY inexpensive and great quality.  At the front of the Quincy Market building, there was a huge high school orchestra doing a spectacular job entertaining the masses, and inside the kids loved all of the free samples and all of the sights.  We ended up at Build a Bear and played in there for a while before we headed back, and we let the kids pick out these mini type animals that were $10.  I can't find them online for some reason, but they are adorable and don't break the bank.  Outfits are $6.  This little trip made them forget about the one clown circus without animals.

In all fairness, we did not stay until the end so maybe something amazing happened and the $17 dollar tickets per person (that would have been upwards of $54 if it weren't for an online coupon code) were worth it.  The next time we go to the circus we will go see Ringling Bros. & Barnum Bailey or not go at all.