My company had a summer party at Playland today. That is a permanent amusement park in Vancouver. I hadn’t been to one in over a decade; I think I went to K-days once, but I don’t recall going on any rides. I didn’t think Edmonton had a permanent amusement park until someone pointed out West Edmonton Mall.
In any case, the company was allowed to go in an hour before general admission, so there would be no lineups. This would be a huge opportunity, so I shouldn’t waste it.
I did research beforehand to try and figure out the rides I should go on. Watch some videos, read some reviews. That was a mistake. All it did was make me realize that I don’t like thrill rides. I was getting anxiety attacks. Thankfully I forgot most of it by the time I got to the park. (Hey, I used the Vancouver bus system for the first time since I moved here.)
It was a great day to go. It was cloudy with a constant threat of a light rain. So the park would not be too crowded. It sprinkled a few times, but nothing bad.
When I got into the park, I said hello to the director. I asked her what ride she would recommend: The Beast. Great! No lineups; near the entrance; I was on it before I had a chance to see what it was really like. If I had seen it in operation I would probably have never gotten near it.
This is a ride that I feel was saying “Where are your laws of physics now?” You aren’t supposed to accelerate upwards when swinging on a pendulum. I spent most of the time concentrating on breathing without hyper-ventilating.
Afterwards I followed a co-worker to The Corkscrew. Another ride I got on without actually paying attention to it. It was a roller coaster; how bad could it be? In fact, while it was climbing up the lift hill I was looking back at The Beast, wondering how I got on that. So I didn’t notice how high we were going. And that I was going to be upside down until I was about to be. But a roller coaster feels safer because you feel solidly connected to something, and if you are weightless, there is something beneath you. Heck, we went on twice in a row.
With that, we went to the Atmosfear. Once again I wasn’t paying attention; I was following someone I knew. It was just one of those rides where you are in hanging chairs and it spins everyone in a circle. Basically a faster merry-go-round where you are suspended by chains. It was only when it was too late that I noticed that we were going up higher than I expected. Yes, the tall tower it was attached to didn’t really click in. (Who really looks up?) The worst part is that you cannot grab tightly onto something solid; you are attached by chains. This time I got through it by just focused on the ground.
I think that I didn’t sleep enough the night before because I was not paying attention to what I was doing.
The final ride I went on was the Wooden Roller Coaster. Roller coasters seem to be about the level I can handle. The rickety wooden ones make it a rougher ride though. The hills were sharp, and I made the mistake of trying to force myself to stay in my seat. It tensed me up and I think I got a bit of whiplash at one point. You aren’t going to fly out, so relaxing is better.
That was my last thrill ride. I woke up enough by then to stop myself from doing dumb things. I only went on the ferris wheel to calm down.
I did notice that the rides are the same as everywhere. I have seen these exact same rides in other cities, in other countries, in other continents. It makes sense; if you are a manufacturer of amusement park rides, you would design a good ride and sell it multiple times. Economies of scale. But I’ve even seen these same ones in traveling shows. I think the wooden roller coaster is the only unique one. (Oldest one in Canada.) You can also figure out how old the rides are by how they are advertised. I’m pretty sure the one covered in breakdancers is from the ’80’s. The one featuring Baywatch is probably from the ’90’s.
They also have the idea of gateway rides. These are rides that are mini-versions of the main attractions. So little kids can get used to them before going on the big ones. It’s a good idea.
There was a barbecue afterwards, then I had some cotton candy and a candy apple before I decided to walk home.