Viking Training Academy : Discovering Dragons at Centennial Park

To celebrate the release of How to Train Your Dragon 2 on Blu-ray and DVDon Dragons Day 12 November, the kids were invited to an intimate Viking Training Academy where they met the famous and courageous Gobber, learnt to defend themselves against Gronckle and learnt some special moves to take on any kind of dragon from their favourite Viking friends.

What an experience! We were fortunate to head off to the movies when HTTYD2 was originally released, so we were keen to trek over to Centennial Park on the weekend and come face to face with some of the characters. Miss N wanted to be Astrid for the day, a character I’m happy for her to emulate for her strength and sharp wit. She was very curious about what could eventuate on our adventure. Would the dragons breathe fire? Would we really fight them?

We arrived at the Pine Grove in Centennial Park to find a stage set up ready for the arrival of the vikings. Horned helmets were distributed and we were ready for our warm ups. Punching, kicking, ducking and weaving was practiced. In no time the kids were ready to fight (or was it train?) dragons. Gobber arrived to the excitement of the kids who put them through their paces before Gronckle snuck onto the stage and scared some of the littlest kidlets. At last we were able to put our new skills to the test and in no time the dragon was feeding out of our hand.

Of course all good Viking fighters need a shield. A personalised one is even better so we all moved to a small clearing to paint our own wooden shields. Miss N took this activity very seriously and spent a considerable amount of time working out her colour combinations and patterns. She was delighted with her finished product which she took home and proudly showed off to everyone who would look.

When we arrived home, Miss N showed off her new viking training skills before having a little nap on the grass- but not before I promised to buy her the movie on Wednesday. Dragon fever is upon us!