Sunday, May 25, 2008

Not Another Theme Park!





Yes, another theme park!!! It was SixFlags Discovery Kingdom (formerly Marine World) in Vallejo, this time. I made a deal with the kids; I said "okay, one more theme park but only if we ride Tony Hawk." It is the much-hyped roller coaster that simulates the motion of a skateboard, designed and sponsored by Tony Hawk himself, the world champion of the skateboard X-games, debuting that very same day.


I am a junkie for all sorts of coaster rides: I am happiest (the insane and hysterical kind of happy) at 500 feet in the air on a backward loop, careening down in a free fall; cork screwing at 200 mph; and catapulted to impossible heights from improbable angles, brain side down.


BUT! I turn retarded if you put me on anything that utilizes centrifugal force for motion. Merry carousels make my stomach churn, playground spin platforms make me regurgitate my breakfast. So, I was terribly curious as to what the Tony Hawk ride would do to me. It was constructed in such a way that the seats are attached to the base with giant ball bearings so that they can turn independently of each other simulating a trapezing, airborne skateboard. It didn't only lurch and tumble forward and backward, it also spun side to side and wound around in dizzying speeds.


Pippi, of the deceiving matimtimang dalagang Pilipina constitution, was gung-ho. Bidi, whose stomach is infamously made in China was most reluctant but since it was the only way they could make me go, he had no choice.


And so we lined up, an hour before the park actually opened just to get on Tony Hawk at its inauguration day. We were knocked around good and screamed to kingdom come but lived to tell. And no, I didn't see my breakfast again that morning.

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