The sun is blazing hot, the colours are bright and the crowd is surging.
It is a good day to die, or, you know, get taken to Nikkiland by a four-year-old girl who goes nuts before we even reach the entrance to the event.
This is the ninth Nikkiland, and the event, according to creator Nikki Crosby, has found a new home at the Hasely Crawford Training Grounds, the expanse of green turf just north of the stadium of the same name.
"Nikkiland had been to the Police Barracks, Manny Ramjohn Stadium, QRC Grounds and last year we had at the car park at the Centre of Excellence," Crosby explained in an interview on the Wednesday following the event.
"But I think Nikkiland [has] found its home. Loved the training grounds and the staff was amazing. [They] totally accommodated us."
Nikkiland 2015 was laid out along the northern edge of the stadium itself, taking advantage of the eaves formed by the overhead seating, spreading across the carpark and onto the grounds themselves, where an assortment of bouncy castles, gyms and slides sat alongside mechanical rides, a nifty pool attraction which placed children inside a watertight cylinder and sphere, and a temporary paddock for horses available for rides.
At the very northern end of the grounds was a small (for Carnival, at least) stage where soca stars performed kiddie-friendly songs.
The afternoon's entertainment began with Sally Sagram and positively exploded with an appearance by Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons.
Lyons won the event's annual role model award, but Olatunji, a hot contender in that race who proved to be the day's star attraction, his performance encouraging a surging crowd of children to abandon their places in line to run, full pelt, as it were, to the stage once he began singing Ola.
Soca Monarch contenders should be grateful, I think, that children aren't judges this year.
On entry, you trade your ticket for a sheet of chits, redeemable for consumables ranging from cotton candy to doubles.
The organisation is sleek and sensible, strongly reminiscent of an upscale all-inclusive but with a much higher value for money ratio. For $175, you get more items than you will ever have time to eat, even if you find the time to redeem them all and at every other booth, somebody wants to give you something for free.
I passed several families who had obviously been here before and were far better prepared. They had cardboard boxes and canvas bags full of stuff I never saw and if there was ever an event that was crying out for a goodie bag, this is it.
Also missing is a map of the event. It may not have been needed at previous incarnations, but this year's Nikkiland demanded an action plan for maximum satisfaction. At the event's end, I saw at least three attractions for the first time as they were being dismantled.
Just walking the event to see everything will take around 20 minutes, triple that if you've got a child in tow and you resist the urgent demands to stop.