As I alluded to in my last post, we finally got back to some action this weekend. Craig and Jacob went to Massachusetts for a basketball tournament. Carter and I could have gone along, but we didn't expect much sightseeing so we opted to stay home and have our own fun. Craig and Jacob did get into Boston for a bit to enjoy some Wahlburgers and check out Harvard, but I think we made a good choice to stay home. We finally got to break in our Darien Lake season passes! It boggled my mind a little the other day because I thought back to those failed attempts to get Carter on Ride of Steel in August and October and how sad he was that he had to wait nine (and later seven) more months to ride it. While I'm sure it didn't feel short to him, I can't believe all that time has passed already. I guess we kept pretty busy this winter and time moved right along! I kept getting nervous something else would crop up to delay his first ride, but we finally made it!
I was hoping to get there closer to lunch time, but between trying to squeeze in a workout, having to run to Wegmans so we weren't totally out of milk for Sunday, packing our bags, and getting our lunches made and car-ready, we didn't get on the road until just before 1pm, which meant a 2pm arrival. Our plan was to go directly to Ride of Steel before anything else could go wrong, and then work through anything else important before heading to the water park for a bit. Luckily the line was pretty short--right up into the station--and although it was still a wait because Darien Lake seems to be anti-two-trains on all their coasters, we probably only waited 15-20 minutes before it was our turn! Carter was nervous, but excited as the train chugged up the hill. We enjoyed the view, eyed up some lines at the water park, and got ready for the big drop. I had forgotten the terror/thrill of a drop that big and definitely screamed myself! I looked over at him as we went up the large second hill and he had a big smile on his face! In the end, of course he loved it! We almost rode again right away, but the line had gotten a little longer and I suggested we conquer a couple other things before we did it again.
We hit up the drop tower next, which we almost rode in August but it broke down while we were in line. I did the math and it seems like this one was about a 60-70 foot upgrade from the one in Ocean City, and the one at Cedar Point will be about the same upgrade from this one! Funny to think Cedar Point was my first one like this (with compressed air as opposed to the less gentle Demon Drop), and everything since has been a disappointment--haha! He was nervous as we waited for the fast shot up, and it was indeed crazy, but I assured him the first drop was more fun, and he agreed! But again, he liked it! And just like that, two of our last-year fails were redeemed!
As we headed to the water park, I had to get a picture of this gorgeous flower! They were all over the park and were so pretty!
The water park was a bit of a risk. It was only about a mid-70s day with filtered sun, so it wasn't super warm, and the nights have been cool so the water was quite chilly! In the end it was just warm enough, but between the cold water and the breeze, the waits were borderline chilly! But I suppose it beat roasting and burning! We headed first to the Tornado, which is our favorite--it's the one that has a sideways funnel that you shoot down into from a giant tunnel and do a bit of a half pipe kind of swishing back and forth before shooting through the base into the pool. It is always a thrill and always hilariously terrifying! The water was indeed chilly, especially as we got splashed and then went into the pool, but at least our wait was a fraction of our usual wait!
Next we went to the Swirl City slides. There are four slides on one platform, all different. There are two lines (for no reason--I think you used to pick which two slides you wanted to pick from at the top, but that hasn't been the case for us) and it turned out they only had one lifeguard at the top so the lines were SLOW. We probably waited close to an hour, but chatted a bit with the father and son in front of us and debated which slide we were going to do. Last time we did Mr. Twister, which had fun swirly pods along the way down the slide. We loved that and were tempted to do it again, but figured we'd try the "toilet bowl" this time. Carter had only done one before, at the indoor waterpark, because he wasn't tall enough for Seabreeze's last time we were there. The cold splashes of water ended up a bit uncomfortable as we spun around the bowl, and that pool was extra cold, but it was fun and now we know that we love Mr. Twister better or could try one of the other two next time.
Next door was Brain Drain, the infamous slide where the floor drops out. The wait was super fast compared to the last time we did it, so I consented. We chatted with a family in line where one kid was terrified and the parents were unsure but willing to try. I was dreading it a bit but persevered! The drop on the slide I did this time was a bit longer than my last one, but I think I got less face splashes this time. It was super fast and cold but we immediately turned our attention to watching the other family come down. The mom looked shellshocked but amused and the non-scared brother loved it. We would have stayed for the dad and scared brother but we weren't sure they were going to make it down and we were freezing so we moved on. Carter did a quick stop at the kiddie slide in Hook's Lagoon, and then our last stop was the Wahoo Wave, the newer slide that we waited forever for last time. The line was super short this time, which was great, but it proved challenging carrying the giant quad raft up by myself. Luckily a guy from the next group behind us helped me a bit. They really need a better system there! But we enjoyed that one as well, and that wrapped up our water park time.
I should add here that the best part of having the season pass was feeling like we didn't have to do everything on this trip. We had our goals, for sure, but we knew we could hit up any misses next time. For example, one of our favorites, Motocoaster, hasn't opened yet this year. Waiting on parts, perhaps? I would have been bummed to miss it on a single trip, but knowing we can catch it later was nice. Same with the waterpark racing slides or even the other quad slides, or some of the flat rides we never seem to have time for. That less-stress experience was so much more pleasant, and I will dizzy myself later this summer, for sure!
Our next stop was Tantrum, which we loved last time, but wanted to be in the front for this time. It's such a crazy flippy coaster with a vertical lift and beyond vertical drop. Despite being smooth it always rocks my brain a little and leaves me a little dizzy, but it was super fun! And while we were rocking my brain, we moved on to Mind Eraser. We ran out of time for Mind Eraser in August, and it was closed in October. I actually swore off Mind Eraser 20-some years ago. After ending up with headaches after riding it and a similar one at Canada's Wonderland, I was done with any in that format by that manufacturer, at least at Six Flags parks where they tended to be clones. Well...never say never because you will have a child who deserves a chance to try it once. The slow line (still maybe only 30 minutes) gave me plenty of time to think through my questionable life choices, but eventually we were on and I was bracing myself. I did not scream and I mostly just cringed, but in the end the brain rocking was minimal. Definitely there, but minimal all things considered. It is a fun, different format--a new one for Carter, with the suspended track and dangling legs--so getting back to something like that had its upside. He liked it a lot and I consented to ride it again later in the summer, so he was happy. I'd just rather go ride Raptor at Cedar Point or Great Bear at Hersheypark!
By this point the sun was starting to go down and turn the sky pretty colors.
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| Mind Eraser on the left, Tantrum on the right |
We definitely needed to eat by this point, but we figured we should ride the Viper first, and we made a short detour at a ride I've wanted to go on since it was installed many years ago. Moose on the Loose is sort of a kiddie ride--or maybe an adult-friendly step-up from one. It's cheesy, but the line was short and I wanted to try it once! You ride your own moose along a track and it bounces up and down a bit. It's got a little themed scenery and a soundtrack of clomping hooves and someone saying "Moose on the Loose!" It was silly but I'm glad we did it!
Viper was next and the wait was tolerable. Unfortunately, the ride was not. It really hurt both of us this time. I don't know if it was the car position or something else, but OUCH. It has never really been comfortable since I was a kid, but this ride was bad--much like the October one that I thought was the cold's fault. Boo.
It was finally time to eat and we settled on splitting an order of poutine. It ended up being really good and just the right amount to fill our stomachs without making us sick on our next ride.
Our first post-food ride ended up being the Predator, which we thought would be a longer wait than it was. But that one doesn't really make my stomach flip anyway, so it was fine. They re-tracked another section this year and now I can really tell what section needs to be next! The re-tracked sections are so much better and capture the original non-abusive, runaway train experience of the ride, but there's still one rough section. Still overall enjoyable, though! I caught this shot on the exit ramp.
We still wanted to do another Ride of Steel ride, but the line was still longer so we opted to wander over toward Boomerang. I hate that ride. I ride it because Carter loves it, but oh, it was also rough again. And that on top of the Viper roughness made me a little worried. I was managing, but I may start sending Carter on that one alone. After that we debated a few different options of non-coaster rides, but opted to go to Sleigh Ride and then hit up Ride of Steel right before closing. But first I needed to take pretty pictures of the still-wildfire-affected sunset.
Sleigh Ride was one of my favorites as a kid. It's like the Musik Express at a lot of other parks, but is more of a swinging sleigh than a fixed car on the end of an undulating arm. There's some nice swing and it's still fast, but it's not the same kind of crushing slide from the G-forces that you get on Musik Express. The theming is still basically the same as it was when I was a kid so it always gives me the warm fuzzies--especially because its old neighbors, the spinning boat-themed Raging Seas and the Scrambler-on-a-slope Crazy Quilt, are no longer around.
Oh, and somewhere around this time I showed Carter the game Fascination. It's like a BINGO table--you roll balls toward a grid of holes and try to get five in a row. I have fond memories of getting to play that a couple times over our season pass summer when I was a kid. It hasn't changed, and I love that about it. Maybe one of these times we'll play!
We made our way back over to Ride of Steel and got in line for our last ride of the day. We got on right around 9pm, when it was getting a bit darker, and I think Carter enjoyed the second time more because he knew what to expect and could just enjoy it!
Since we were there at closing time, I suggested we stick around for the Laser Light Spectacular. I had never been there to see it and I figured if we did it that night we wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the summer. Carter wasn't exactly thrilled, but tolerated it. We had seen the location of the show while we were on the Boomerang but we weren't sure what it was at the time. But after Googling the show I realized where it was and we headed back over that way after Ride of Steel. We sat there for about 10 minutes or so before the show got started.
It was actually pretty neat. They had a fun and varied soundtrack--everything from "If You're Happy and You Know It" and the Bluey theme to 80s and 90s hits and modern stuff. I thought they did a good job appealing to everyone.
Each song had a variety of animations on a screen coupled with laser effects. Some just looked like lines and some had almost like a smoke or cloudy sky look.
They even had this weird effect at ground level that seemed to be made with water spray and looked like a dancing woman. It was a little creepy, but cool.
I love the song "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, so I took videos of that one:
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| The Iwo Jima animation on the screen was cool |
After the show ended, we walked into the Magical Garden nearby. The canopy of lights was so pretty.
They also had these interesting circles around the garden that had 3-D animations of animals. The video I took doesn't really do it justice, but here's a dinosaur.
After that we headed out. We were both a little hungry, but the remaining park food that was still available was mostly overpriced candy so we headed to the Speedway gas station near the Thruway. This time (unlike last time) they had plenty of hot chocolate! We grabbed our drink and snack and waited in a super long line--must be a busy spot when everyone leaves the park at once--before finally getting back on the road. It's an easy highway drive, thankfully. I offered to have Carter sleep in our room on his "bad dream" mattress, which he sometimes appreciates because it's like a slumber party. I think he was out like a light pretty quickly, but I stayed up a little later to catch up on things.
Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend was a bit of a dud. I woke up exhausted on Sunday. I think my body is getting to an age where it's starting to protest when I overdo it. Saturday was a crazy day--I did a strength training workout before Darien Lake, and my watch ended up at 146 minutes of exercise (about 50 of that was my workout, so I guess walking and waterpark stairs made up the rest), 887 move calories (usually I struggle to hit my goal of 390), almost 19,500 steps, more than 8.8 miles, and 11 flights climbed. Despite a good night of sleep, I think my body was just done for the weekend because I was tired and lazy all day and just couldn't seem to snap out of it. The weather was cloudy so it didn't inspire me to go out, and I just couldn't get myself moving beyond a few pesky inside to-do list items that would have bugged me all week had I not gotten to them. And then it all went down the tubes even more because Carter got sick. He was complaining about being hungry as I was trying to figure out dinner. The big boys were on their way back and we had debated waiting for them, but he was too hungry so I was trying to settle on a plan for us. One second he was whining about how hungry he was, the next second his face changed, and a second after that he puked on the living room floor. Seriously?! This kid has always had issues distinguishing hunger from a sour stomach, and I guess since he hadn't been sick in years he forgot the feeling yet again. He got sick one more time in the bathroom about 20 minutes later. He had some dry toast and water very slowly in the evening and seemed like he was doing okay, but he puked all over himself and his comforter setup in the bathroom around midnight. Apparently he barely woke up because this stomach bug did not come complete with cramps and panicked nausea like I always seem to have! That was really unfortunate and frustrating since I had finally gotten to sleep just before, and there was a lot of cleanup--including more laundry than would fit in the washer. The rest of the night was uneventful, thankfully, and some water, toast, and plain pasta later he seems to be on the mend.
As for Jacob, he was back on the court for a game for the first time since Oklahoma City. He eased back into game play slowly and did sink a three in one of his games, but he ended up tweaking his bad ankle AGAIN in the second game, so that was it for the weekend and likely for the season. There was another tournament or two he could have played in, but it looks like he just needs to take a break and focus primarily on his training with school. His body is just a mess and he needs a reset. It stinks, but hopefully he can work on his conditioning and maybe work into his body that I would guess has grown quicker than he's really been able to keep up with. I think maybe every muscle, ligament, tendon, and bone is still trying to wrangle the fact he's grown more than a foot over the past three years or so. I could be wrong, but it seems like he's been having so many issues lately, likely partly from overuse and partly from bad luck. At least the ankle brace saved him this time. It's definitely not the way we expected this season to go, but hopefully he can find his way back soon. By the way, he's happier at his new school, for sure, which is a big victory itself.
In the end the weekend was a bit of a mixed bag, but it definitely had some high points. The kids now have a mere handful of school days left--four days this week plus two and a half for Jacob and one and a half for Carter next week. Jacob is finally wrapping up middle school (for real this time) and Carter will be a year away from finishing elementary school. Wow. Add in a weekend family wedding and coming up and we've still got more action ahead.
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