Editor’s note: Remlinger Farms opens the weekend of May 11, showcasing its amusement park attractions and musical lineup. Read our writer’s review about her experience on the zipline and other new rides added last year. Find out about the concerts and the family-friendly brewery here.
The metal gate opened and it was my turn to jump. I looked at the ground, 40 feet below, and my knees turned into jelly.
A 300-foot line sends you whooshing over a pond to land on the opposite bank. The new zipline ride at Remlinger Farms is over in less than 15 seconds. Once you get over the initial terror, you’ll be whooping it up on the other end.
“AMAZING,” said my 8-year-old, who is much braver than me.
“It’s pretty sick,” said the teenage ride attendant. (If you don’t speak teenager, “sick” means excellent.)
All the new attractions
The zipline is one of the new attractions this summer at Remlinger Farms. The farm, located about an hour east of Seattle in Carnation, has two dozen rides and attractions in its Family Fun Park.
Also new this year: a 70-foot tall Ferris wheel, a bungee jump trampoline, a 30-foot rock climbing wall and an arcade. The train is back up and running, taking passengers past animal pastures and through a pitch-dark tunnel.
“There are lots of rides,” I overheard a parent telling her kid. “You don’t have to pick and choose.”
Exactly.
The skinny on what’s included
What we like about Remlinger Farms is all the rides are included in your admission ticket, with the exception of $8 for a pony ride and $7 for the zipline. My kids went on their favorites, the super slide and the giant swing, over and over and over again. No one bugged me for more money or more tickets. It’s the best.
The zipline runs on weekends only, noon to 4:30 p.m. To ride, you must weigh between 50 and 250 pounds. My 8-year-old stepped on the scale and just made the cutoff at 52 pounds. I was too scared when it was my turn to jump, so I made my kids go first — Mom of the Year! Once I saw them land safely on the opposite side, I knew, OK, I can do this.
Nathan Sherfey, Remlinger Farms’ co-owner, was the first to test out the zipline. “I got up there, I’ve done a zipline before, yeah, it’ll be totally fine,” he remembered thinking. “The first time, I almost didn’t want to step off.”
At least once or twice a day, there’s a kid who goes up and has to back down. Totally understandable.
How it all started
Remlinger Farms was established in 1965, and started offering tractor rides in the ’70s. The Family Fun Park grew from there. And is still growing. When we visited last weekend, we spotted a scrambler being assembled. Sherfey wants to add a putt-putt course and possibly laser tag.
Sherfey, 27, is the fourth generation to run the family farm in Carnation. He grew up coming to the farm every summer. “At first, it was my own little Disneyland,” Sherfey said. “I would cut the lines, I would get free cotton candy. All the workers knew me.”
As he got older, he helped pick berries and run the registers. Four years ago, he’d just finished up his master’s degree in finance and his grandpa called: “Well, do you want to do this with me?”
Gary Remlinger, 78, continues to work on the farm. “He’s still here. He’ll never go away,” Sherfey said. “I wake up at 6 a.m., and he’s been here since 4 a.m.”
Remlinger Farms is best known for its kid-friendly fun park and U-pick berries. Sherfey opened up a brewery at the farm last year and added live music every Friday and Saturday. There’s a new concert lineup too. His goal is to make the farm appeal to everyone from little kids to teenagers to adults without kids.
“We want to make it fun for every single age,” Sherfey said.
If you go
- Visit Remlinger Farms Family Fun Park for more information about the rides, dining, U-pick, parties and more
- Family-friendly concerts all summer long. Find out who’s playing here.
- 32610 NE 32nd Street, Carnation
- Cost: $29.95 per person. Kids under 2 are free. Pony rides are an additional $8, zipline rides are an additional $7. Parking is free.
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