This past Saturday I was able to enjoy a great night with my 4 year old son at the Colonial Life Arena taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the 2014 Monster Jam tour. We purchased some kettle corn and a bottle of water and settled down in our seats, ready to take in all the monster trucks had to offer.
The performance began with preshow entertainment from Lexington Hobby, which included racing amazing remote control cars over the track! These were not my sons’ remote control cars, that’s for sure! The guys racing these prestine vehicles made it look easy and like so much fun! They also brought out 4 wheelers and had a Carolina vs. Clemson Quad race, which included several heats. (Clemson beat Carolina in all three heats…but we won’t get into the whole Clemson versus Carolina debacle.) 🙂
Another part of the preshow entertainment included a dancer by the name of Salima, who moved to the beat of the music while twirling two batons lit with fire (which was amazing to watch, but made my 4 year old very concerned for her safety).
After all of this initial excitement, it was finally time for the big event! Six monster trucks competed in various small competitions. Each truck was decorated according to their names and sponsors. We put on our ear protection and waited for the competitions. As you can tell from the picture below, my son could barely contain his excitement!
The announcer did a great job explaining everything happening in each competition. I had never been to a Monster Jam event, so I was grateful for this extra information. It was hard to tell whether or not the crowd was experienced in attending these events; I saw people of all walks of life, including non-walkers. We had the opportunity to visit the Monster Energy truck on Thursday night, and my three year old was frightened by how enormous the truck was, so we decided it would be best if he stayed home with his daddy (along with our 18 month old).
Next we observed the wheelie event. The trucks competed in various heats against one another where they drove across the arena and became airborne. In between each event, the announcer interviewed the drivers and the event workers gave away various autographed items. Ultimately, Spider-Man was victorious!
After a 10 minute intermission, in which my son said, “Mamma, when are the monster trucks going to move again?”, there were a couple of fun mini events including a man who seemed to fall from the ceiling and a BMX freestyle event. Then the monster trucks started moving again (much to the delight of my son) and each truck had a few minutes to freestyle, performing their own stunts. It was amazing to see these enormous vehicles become airborne, and the crowd loved it!
The event clocked in right at 2 hours and my son fell asleep in the car on the way home. We both enjoyed the event, and would gladly return when Monster Jam comes back to the Colonial Life Arena in 2015. (Mark your calendars for February 6-7, 2015!) In the meantime, Colonial Life Arena has several family friendly events on their upcoming calendar, including the Disney Junior Live Pirates and Princesses Tour on February 19, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus at the end of March, and Disney on Ice in April (check out our calendar for exact dates and times).
Disclaimer: The Columbia SC Moms Blog received complimentary seats to this event in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are those of the writer.
