|
 Rides
Offline
Our visit this year was marked by the exclusion of two of
the best rides in the park. Stealth, the laying down and going
backwards ride broke down early and through the rumour mill
that waiting in lines creates, we heard that only seven cars
made complete runs on it all day... so much for arriving fashionably
late!
|
|
 Top
Gun is Top Choice
While I really love riding Stealth during the day and invertigo
is exhillerating, both were out of commission for our visit.
The hands down favourite by default then, turned out to be
Top Gun. This year I rode Top Gun three times. The first time
was the best because it was still light enough to see. I've
been on this ride in 2001
and 2002.
 Vortex
Clean-up on aisle 2! We waited for the front row seats and
were treated to a strange mishap on the Vortex. It seems that
someone got a little too freightened or excited on the ride
and pissed himself a bit. We couldn't figure out what was
going on, but the ride was stopped and the rubber gloves came
out. The announcer said they had to clean up a "Protein
Splash" but Puppy said he thought the guy was joking.
Ggreg and I were confident that it must have been urine, but
either way the ride's thrill factor hardly warrented that
type of reaction.
(and you know this girl only makes minimum wage... ugh!)
|
The Grizzly
I've never been on The Grizzly before. The group dynamics
of 2001
and 2002 meant other attractions
got higher priority. This year, I decided to try it.
BIG MISTAKE! This ride HURTS! It might be fine for kids,
small bodied adults or wooden coaster fanatics. The
old fashioned design is just too uncompromisingly uncomfortable
for a modern tall man such as myself.
Each section of the car accommodates four people. Ggreg
got in first and then I got in. Once in the car, we
had to strap a red seat belt over our laps. My legs
were folded over, pushing into Ggreg and the hard plastic
wall seperating us from the bearish couple in front
of us. I couldn't really sort out the seat belt when
all of a sudden a a bar came down to hold us secure.
It seems that the bars in each section of the car are
connected. The ride's attendants were running around
frantically trying to push the bars down to make sure
they locked. A guy did ours and while it felt very snug
and secure, I thought that was the end of it. The attendants
then concentrated their attention on the bear couple.
The one in front of Ggreg sucked in his gut and we heard
a click when all of a sudden, an attendent on my side
started pressing down on our bar. I was nervous thinking
the guy could see that my seat belt was unfastened,
but NO, he was jamming down on the bar. It ground past
my hips before it locked, my knees and thighs screamed
out and my eyes teared up a little. Before I could protest
further, we learched forward. The hard plastic square
between Ggreg and I was cutting into my hip and the
forward motion made the hard plastic against my knees
and back vibrate. I felt every bump, jerk and lurch
of the car. I screamed out in agony as we crashed to
a stop in front of the announcers booth. I yelled for
them to let me out before the ride started, but they
didn't. Every click-clack on the old wooden track sent
shooting pains into several points of my body and the
ride hadn't even gone up the first hill yet. Silently,
I prayed for the ability to walk after this was over
as the train elevated us to the top of the first hill.
We cascaded down and around in an exhilarating rush
that would have been fun if it hadn't hurt so much.
The next hill was jerky and I kept saying "Owe!
Owe! Owe!" with each one. Ggreg was laughing at
me and then we were both saying, "Ooo! Owe! Oh!"
as we jerked to and fro on the downward sweep of track.
When the hellacious experience was finally over and
we roared back into the station, our bar was locked
down and we couldn't let it up. It seems that you have
to push down on it to get it to release! Ggreg made
a couple of perfunctory presses but my hip bone wouldn't
allow more than a few millimeters of movement. Lucky
for us, one of the attendants had an external lock release
pedal at the back of the car. When we were finally released,
I could barely walk and my throat was raw from screaming.
|
Psycho Mouse and Sky Buckets
Two more rides I've never tried were Psycho Mouse and the
Sky Buckets. First up was Psycho Mouse. We knew it was going
to be a camp classic, mildly amusing at most but we were pleasantly
surprised by the amusement of the ride once it got going.
The multiple switch-backs high up at the top of the ride lend
it a less sophisticated appearance, but the attraction is
actually a roller coaster once you start going down. It's
easy to see why it's located on the outer edge of the kiddie
area as it's probably meant to be a starter coaster for pre-teens
to young for the rest of the roller coasters. As with many
of the rides, it was over far too soon and we stumbled over
to the sky buckets.
 Ggreg
and I agreed no shaking or rocking, though it was still a
bit harrowing to look over the edge and see the people illuminated
on the pathways below. It almost got borring until we started
screaming "SKY BUCKETS!" which forced the people
on the ground to look around in confusion. So silly and yet
so easily amused.
|
