So am I supposed to believe that one day some absolutely wild man came up with the idea to put a bunch of people in a cart and send them zooming around loops and dips at dangerous speeds on a rickety track? And people line up for this?
Surely these things cost a ton of money to build and maintain. Who the hell thought this was a good idea???
I don’t think(?) the modern ones, like the last 30 years or so, are very dangerous assuming people are taking normal precautions and the parks are maintaining them properly. Those old shitty wooden ones are fun as a kid but goddamn I do not recommend any of these rides as a 30-something+. As a kid/teen I could ride these things back to back all day long.
My dad insisted on some Clark Griswold style shit of arriving precisely when the park opened. Pre-bought tickets in hand (usually free or discounted from work…), packed lunch/snacks in a cooler he left in the burning hot vehicle, we would hit every single goddamn ride at the places. We’d only take a break for the cheapest possible slightly-warm bologna and kraft cheese on the whitest white bread sandwiches. Mustard only, no mayo, due to the 120 degree trunk temperature. Ice can only do so much.
Thanks to this post, I think I might have just unlocked the reason for feeling a general dislike towards my dad… another reason anyway. Although I do think I enjoyed it as a kid. You know, when he wasn’t yelling at “not me and my brother” after he missed the exit on the highway and had to backtrack miles. Just screaming and gesticulating at the windshield. Sometimes vaguely hinting at “being distracted” by us. Which usually meant we were talking to him. Answering his questions. Thanks, Dad
My dad also got us up at 4am to get to the park when it opened because he didn’t want to wait in lines. I don’t think we were obligated to eat trunk sandwiches but it was a running joke in my family that he didn’t want to be seen with us because he was generally walking 100 feet ahead, impatient to get to the next ride.
Ah, but you haven’t lived until you eat a warm, soggy (from melted ice water) dogshit sandwich then go back to spinning around until you have a headache. Somehow never puked once…
I guess I was “lucky” in a sense though that my dad could find the (infinite…) energy to do this shit. He was basically a giant kid himself. It’s weird now to think that he was doing all this stuff when he much younger than I am now. I was almost an adult when he was my age now. So most of the insane stuff he did was mid-late 20s, early 30s for him. Really makes it seem like if you wait to 30 to have kids… ain’t no way you’re keeping up. Or the kids might have a less unstable childhood. Hmm, tradeoffs 🤔