I had a GREAT time at the amusement park! I took zero pictures as usual, but other members took plenty and I will post a few of them here!
The drive down was HARROWING and I even got angry at Annie's soothing sexy voice for making me more nervous than I already was! So I had to pause her singing while I got stuck several times in stop-and-go traffic that resulted in a three-hour-long drive to the park. I was SUPPOSED to get there by noon but arrived at 1:30! I had left late though but I probably would've only arrived a half-hour earlier had I left on time!
Praised be to the heavens that I didn't get lost nor break down nor get into an accident. Finding the park was easy as pie.
I paid $8 to park (!!) and almost $50 to get in (!!!) and then looked around for a vending machine to get water because it was a SCORCHER. None of the machines would accept my $$$ so I ventured into Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) and grabbed a bottle of water priced at $3 (which was the standard for bottled water at the park).
Then outside the Starbucks I rang up NoControl and asked where everyone was and how I should meet up with them. They were in line for a ride so said that if I waited by the fake Eiffel tower thing at the front of the park they would come and meet me there. While I waited I took the opportunity to slather on MORE sunblock (I had applied it generously before leaving home). I was equipped with sunglasses and a floppy hat too so I was pretty well protected.
Finally the gang arrived: NoControl, Cheech, pkybear and his fiancee, and KaraLynn. They explained that half the group that had said they were coming were nowhere to be found and nobody had gotten any of their phone numbers so we couldn't contact them! This made me sad because I didn't want to not see them!
At any rate: RIDES. Wowzers. Rollercoasters are SCARY. Almost every ride I went on produced a genuine scream or two from me.
AND! omg this is the funniest part (well the funny part is in the paragraph after the picture). There is a ride called "the hurler" (I had heard about this one and had planned on refusing to ride it due to the name) but it turns out it's just the old Wayne's World ride, renamed. So I agreed to go on it.
Here is us in line for "the hurler" (I'm the one trying to smooth down my sweaty gross hat hair).
Problem: the hurler is an old ride, wooden, and the car jerked around a HELL of a lot. That wasn't the biggest problem though. The BIGGEST problem was the hairpin turns it took, causing my head to SLAM into NoControl's shoulder like THREE TIMES. He told me afterwards he was afraid I'd have a concussion or something. I was unharmed though it certainly did smart.
One of the GREAT things about the day was the fact that NoControl is not a big rollercoaster fan himself, and his refusal to go on some rides made it far easier for me to refuse as well. And our combined refusal led OTHERS to sit rides out, giving us time to hang out.
We got in line for a ride called "the rebel yell" which is basically a bunch of hills. There is a twist in the fact that it is sort of two rides: one goes forward, the other backward. Half of us wanted to ride forwards, the other half backwards. I was a forwards person naturally. Well, when we got to the roller coaster cars, we were moments later informed that the forwards ride had to be shut down temporarily. We didn't want to wait around and find out how long "temporarily" was, so we left. BUT as we did, I noticed Tigerwong! "Hey what the hell!" I said, and Tigerwong repeated "what the hell, hey!" and we learned that the rest of the group was in the "backwards" line. We all left the ride, and when the backwards people learned we couldn't ride, they left too. They didn't have to! But oh well.
The big group of us went around for a while. We stopped at this one standing coaster that goes upside-down at one point, and NoControl and I refused to ride, leading a few others to sit out as well. We all sat in a little seating area and talked while the others waited in the long line. Cheech and NoControl and I discussed Bjrk and the Sugarcubes a bit!
While we waited Day and Night called NoControl to let him know they'd arrived, and they soon joined us.
Finally the others were done with the ride and since all of us were together, it was group photo time! Here is the big group photo of all us happy-go-lucky kids.
Dierdre made everyone custom laminated badges with lanyards and everything! Here's mine!
After that we headed for another coaster. Half the group wanted to go on "the volcano" and the rest of us didn't. There was like an hour and a half wait to get on the ride so we were all "forget it" plus it is a scarier ride so some of us wanted to sit it out anyway. As we stood out in front of the ride watching a scary Tomb Raider ride, we met up with Jayde who was there with family. We went on some of the kiddie rides, like Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion (they give you light guns and you have to shoot targets... you get a score and I scored a lousy 400-something points while NoControl got something like 1500).
Around the kiddie area Scooby Doo himself was there to pose with kids, but unfortunately just as we got there his "assistant" (a park employee) blew the whistle and said it was time for Scooby to take a break
So no pics with Scooby, BUT we got pics of us posing in a wood cut-out of the Mystery Machine van!
We then rode the Scooby Doo coaster (it's been there for YEARS, I rode it with my dad when I was still single digits I think) which is really designed for kids, because NoControl and Cheech were a bit too tall for the ride and had a hard time fitting into the cars! Bless my short stubby legs! We held the ride up a little trying to get all buckled in
Like a sillyhead I didn't take off my hat so I had to hold it onto my head during the ride. It was quite scarier than I thought it would be, being a kid's ride. There were moments at the tops of hills where I was floating in my seat D:
Anyway after that we went in this little dorky thing called Treasure Cave which is just this dimly lit fake cave with a few fake treasure rooms. I think pkybear's fiancee was saying that it was awesomer back in the day.
Finally it was down to just six of us: me, Cheech, NoControl, KaraLynn, pkybear and his fiancee. We went into a souvenir shop and bought CANDY!
Here is me looking like a goof clutching a bag of strawberry laces and blueberry jelly beans while NoControl checks out the gigantic jawbreakers for sale:
After that we left the park, leaving the other group of peeps to stay until the park closed like they all planned (and go to an afterparty afterwards). KaraLynn drove me to my car that I'd parked kind of far away in the parking lot (not as far as you might think) and NoControl led the caravan of us to a nearby town for dinner. We ended up going to a place called Perkins. Before we went in Cheech gave me my late birthday present of some HELLO KITTY STATIONERY!!! How awesome is that
The service at Perkins was slow but they were nice and gave us a free appetizer sampler to make up for it. I had a cheese quesadilla which was the only veggie thing on the menu (I could've gotten breakfast but didn't feel like it, but I DID get hash browns on the side... and put too much salt on them). Oh and the cherry cokes that me and NoControl got were topped with maraschino cherries and I have a soft spot for those.
The drive home was a breeze and I listened to Anniemal the whole way up. Several times.
All in all I really felt at ease being with the group and I'm so glad I went. I can't wait to join them again for future events
The drive down was HARROWING and I even got angry at Annie's soothing sexy voice for making me more nervous than I already was! So I had to pause her singing while I got stuck several times in stop-and-go traffic that resulted in a three-hour-long drive to the park. I was SUPPOSED to get there by noon but arrived at 1:30! I had left late though but I probably would've only arrived a half-hour earlier had I left on time!
Praised be to the heavens that I didn't get lost nor break down nor get into an accident. Finding the park was easy as pie.
I paid $8 to park (!!) and almost $50 to get in (!!!) and then looked around for a vending machine to get water because it was a SCORCHER. None of the machines would accept my $$$ so I ventured into Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) and grabbed a bottle of water priced at $3 (which was the standard for bottled water at the park).
Then outside the Starbucks I rang up NoControl and asked where everyone was and how I should meet up with them. They were in line for a ride so said that if I waited by the fake Eiffel tower thing at the front of the park they would come and meet me there. While I waited I took the opportunity to slather on MORE sunblock (I had applied it generously before leaving home). I was equipped with sunglasses and a floppy hat too so I was pretty well protected.
Finally the gang arrived: NoControl, Cheech, pkybear and his fiancee, and KaraLynn. They explained that half the group that had said they were coming were nowhere to be found and nobody had gotten any of their phone numbers so we couldn't contact them! This made me sad because I didn't want to not see them!
At any rate: RIDES. Wowzers. Rollercoasters are SCARY. Almost every ride I went on produced a genuine scream or two from me.
AND! omg this is the funniest part (well the funny part is in the paragraph after the picture). There is a ride called "the hurler" (I had heard about this one and had planned on refusing to ride it due to the name) but it turns out it's just the old Wayne's World ride, renamed. So I agreed to go on it.
Here is us in line for "the hurler" (I'm the one trying to smooth down my sweaty gross hat hair).
Problem: the hurler is an old ride, wooden, and the car jerked around a HELL of a lot. That wasn't the biggest problem though. The BIGGEST problem was the hairpin turns it took, causing my head to SLAM into NoControl's shoulder like THREE TIMES. He told me afterwards he was afraid I'd have a concussion or something. I was unharmed though it certainly did smart.
One of the GREAT things about the day was the fact that NoControl is not a big rollercoaster fan himself, and his refusal to go on some rides made it far easier for me to refuse as well. And our combined refusal led OTHERS to sit rides out, giving us time to hang out.
We got in line for a ride called "the rebel yell" which is basically a bunch of hills. There is a twist in the fact that it is sort of two rides: one goes forward, the other backward. Half of us wanted to ride forwards, the other half backwards. I was a forwards person naturally. Well, when we got to the roller coaster cars, we were moments later informed that the forwards ride had to be shut down temporarily. We didn't want to wait around and find out how long "temporarily" was, so we left. BUT as we did, I noticed Tigerwong! "Hey what the hell!" I said, and Tigerwong repeated "what the hell, hey!" and we learned that the rest of the group was in the "backwards" line. We all left the ride, and when the backwards people learned we couldn't ride, they left too. They didn't have to! But oh well.
The big group of us went around for a while. We stopped at this one standing coaster that goes upside-down at one point, and NoControl and I refused to ride, leading a few others to sit out as well. We all sat in a little seating area and talked while the others waited in the long line. Cheech and NoControl and I discussed Bjrk and the Sugarcubes a bit!
While we waited Day and Night called NoControl to let him know they'd arrived, and they soon joined us.
Finally the others were done with the ride and since all of us were together, it was group photo time! Here is the big group photo of all us happy-go-lucky kids.
Dierdre made everyone custom laminated badges with lanyards and everything! Here's mine!
After that we headed for another coaster. Half the group wanted to go on "the volcano" and the rest of us didn't. There was like an hour and a half wait to get on the ride so we were all "forget it" plus it is a scarier ride so some of us wanted to sit it out anyway. As we stood out in front of the ride watching a scary Tomb Raider ride, we met up with Jayde who was there with family. We went on some of the kiddie rides, like Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion (they give you light guns and you have to shoot targets... you get a score and I scored a lousy 400-something points while NoControl got something like 1500).
Around the kiddie area Scooby Doo himself was there to pose with kids, but unfortunately just as we got there his "assistant" (a park employee) blew the whistle and said it was time for Scooby to take a break
So no pics with Scooby, BUT we got pics of us posing in a wood cut-out of the Mystery Machine van!
We then rode the Scooby Doo coaster (it's been there for YEARS, I rode it with my dad when I was still single digits I think) which is really designed for kids, because NoControl and Cheech were a bit too tall for the ride and had a hard time fitting into the cars! Bless my short stubby legs! We held the ride up a little trying to get all buckled in
Like a sillyhead I didn't take off my hat so I had to hold it onto my head during the ride. It was quite scarier than I thought it would be, being a kid's ride. There were moments at the tops of hills where I was floating in my seat D:
Anyway after that we went in this little dorky thing called Treasure Cave which is just this dimly lit fake cave with a few fake treasure rooms. I think pkybear's fiancee was saying that it was awesomer back in the day.
Finally it was down to just six of us: me, Cheech, NoControl, KaraLynn, pkybear and his fiancee. We went into a souvenir shop and bought CANDY!
Here is me looking like a goof clutching a bag of strawberry laces and blueberry jelly beans while NoControl checks out the gigantic jawbreakers for sale:
After that we left the park, leaving the other group of peeps to stay until the park closed like they all planned (and go to an afterparty afterwards). KaraLynn drove me to my car that I'd parked kind of far away in the parking lot (not as far as you might think) and NoControl led the caravan of us to a nearby town for dinner. We ended up going to a place called Perkins. Before we went in Cheech gave me my late birthday present of some HELLO KITTY STATIONERY!!! How awesome is that
The service at Perkins was slow but they were nice and gave us a free appetizer sampler to make up for it. I had a cheese quesadilla which was the only veggie thing on the menu (I could've gotten breakfast but didn't feel like it, but I DID get hash browns on the side... and put too much salt on them). Oh and the cherry cokes that me and NoControl got were topped with maraschino cherries and I have a soft spot for those.
The drive home was a breeze and I listened to Anniemal the whole way up. Several times.
All in all I really felt at ease being with the group and I'm so glad I went. I can't wait to join them again for future events
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Hopefully the overall experience helps pull you out of the shell somewhat. I used to be crazy painful shy - don't know what happened, but one day I realized I could at least pretend to be interesting in short doses, and so strangers didn't scare me so much. (Big groups, though, are still yuck. At a certain point, it just becomes impossible to make the sort of human connections I require to not be uncomfrtable around people)
As for SE, I think we all have our groups we evangelize like hell for. I don't really just have one, though. I'll run super hot on someone for awhile, then put them in the stockpile and obsess about something else.