It's not that my life from 2002 through 2006 was "roller coaster" in the sense of being turbulent, but simply that during this period I became hooked on roller coasters and theme park thrill rides in general. This did not spontaneously arise, but rather sprouted from my children's interest in theme parts and their rides. Will and Rebecca seemed fearless on them, and I had a lifetime behind me of being too chicken to take on all but the easiest rides. After a couple of visits to Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Georgia, in March 2003 I decided to "face the fear" on our third visit there and stolidly rode every extreme ride they had...and never looked back. Although I never got to be as much a fanatic of thrill rides as others who traverse the country (and even abroad) searching out new experiences, I did rack up a considerable number of visits to Wild Adventures, Busch Gardens, Universal Studios/Islands of Adventures, the Disney World parks...and single visits to Cypress Gardens in 2005 and Dollywood in 2006. Since then my only thrill ride experience has been the three times I rode the Dania Beach Hurricane wooden coaster in South Florida...and it's now been gone for a number of years. Oh yeah, we did recently go back to Epcot Center, where I managed to get on Test Track and Soaring after waiting in line for them half the day...they do offer express passes but had already handed them all out when we arrived that day...
This all came back to me while I was waiting today at Publix for a prescription to be filled and looking at their magazine section. I picked up one called Theme Parks and looked at the pictures of exuberant roller coaster riders looping and diving on rides in various parks spread out across the country, and it occurred to me that there wasn't a single photo of those horrendously long lines folks often have to stand in just to get their two minutes of thrills. I never see any lines on Disney World commercials, either...just Micky, Minnie, and company rushing out to personally greet a visiting family. Once during a stay at Universal Studios in 2003 each of us had a fast pass card that enabled us to quickly go on the same rides over and over again...now that's the only way to go! Although my home town of Gainesville is within reasonable driving range of several theme parks, the drive to and back can still get to be a little tedious. Well, at least I still have my fond memories and, what do you know, I can even get on YouTube, search out a favorite ride like Busch Garden's Montu or Island of Adventure's Hulk coaster, press my face to the screen, and pretend I'm riding once again...
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