Reliving My Youth

On the last weekend in August, I relived some of my glory days by heading out to Calaway Park. I'm pretty sure the last time I went to Calaway Park was when I graduated from high school in 2002, so it's been a good ten years since I've been to the theme park. In the last ten years, my tolerance for rides that spin, surge and plunge has decreased dramatically.

Warner Bros. Movie World entrance, circa 2007. 

When I was at Warner Brothers Movie World in Australia, I thought I got a concussion from their Lethal Weapon rollercoaster. When I was at the Stampede with Tom on the ride I know only as "The Big Boat," I thought I was going to lose my lunch. So what would Calaway Park have in store for me?

The Vortex Rollercoaster.

We started with the classic rollercoaster ride. The main highlight of this ride was when Billy yelled, "HOORAY G-FORCES" (or something equivalent) as we entered an upside-down loop.

The Storm.

Another of my favourites is "The Storm." Basically, the big wheel starts in a horizontal position, and slowly speeds up and moves into a vertical position. What I didn't remember (or enjoy) was that your cart makes this weird whipping motion where the wheel is attached to the ground. Also, there were rocks in the base of the individual carts, and you could hear them rolling around every time you went upside-down. I kept waiting for one to fall out and hit my in the eye.

The Mind Blaster.

I don't remember the Mind Blaster from previous visits, so I think it must be new (and by new, I mean it has been added in the last ten years). One look at it, and I knew it would not be a ride for me. The platform rocks up and down in a boat-like motion, and the seats on the platform simultaneously spin. Jeff and I chickened out, preferring to lose our dignity by sitting out, rather than by hurling all over everyone. But the others still looked at us disdainfully.

The others judge us for wussing out (except Billy-- he seems blissfully happy).

At lunch time, we ate sub-par burgers and hot dogs from a giant BBQ shaped like a train. We decided we'd take a bit of a breather before we went on any more rides, so we took a docile train ride through the east side of the park.

Gill, Steve, Ashley and Jeff ride the train.

My favourite ride of the day is (and has always been) the giant swings-- called "The Dream Machine" at Calaway. Two of my favourite photos of the day also came from our ride on the Dream Machine.

Ashley on the Dream Machine.

Billy, Man of Mystery.

At the end of the day, I concluded the following things:

1) My tolerance for rides is still not that good.

2) Calaway Park is a lot smaller than I remember from my youth.

And finally...

3) I probably don't need to go back to Calaway Park for another ten years.

But regardless, it was still fun!