My husband and I decided we would take our grandchildren (ages 12, 10, 7 and 5) to the Daytona 500 Experience at the Daytona International Speedway.This was definitely a plan that did not excite me, especially taking the children and the possibility of us not being able to keep up with them and that they may wonder away from us, jeopardizing their safety.

Once there, I noticed that the staff were very attentive to everyone who entered, especially with children.All exit doors had at least one staff member (most had two) there to assist all who wanted to exit, making sure no children were allowed out of the building alone.They also watched the entrance, seeing which children entered with what adults.When it came to going outside to take the Speedway Tour, I noticed that the doors were not opened for the children to go out until we arrived to go out with them.This was great!I then began to relax and enjoy myself.

The tour was excellent and very informative.I learned so much about the track and the high banks that the race drivers must tackle when they are racing. (The driver stopped at points of interest to allow pictures to be taken.)

After the tour we went back inside to enjoy the museum which took us back to the days cars raced on the beach, they even had a "winners" layout with lots of information to update us.The kids joined in with other visitors at acceleration alley, where they drove car simulators and were pulverized by the other teams (the two younger kids were passengers in cars with their sisters).The entire family then went on the IMAX Experience which was a combination of a movie playing while the seats went up and down and rocked from side to side to simulate the banks and curves on the tracks.The older children were able to go on a couple of other rides/items which they enjoyed.

When we were leaving, the ladies at the exit door stopped us and said that because the two younger children were probably not tall enough to participate in a few of the "rides" due to height restrictions (they are really short for their ages), there was a game room just outside the PIT shop (the memorabilia store) where they could play video games.They each then reached into their pockets and pulled out fist fulls of tokens and gave them to them to play for free.This was really a special moment for us - knowing that people actually cared that everyone had fun before leaving.