the narrator did not want to go on the ride at first. how was she planning to spend her time instead
Answers
It’s good to step out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s trying something new, or making friends. My experience was riding a ride that seemed big to eleven year old me. California Screamin’, in Disneyland, was my first crazy, upside down rollercoaster.
Disneyland is always a fun place! They have small rides for kids, and big rides for adults who are kids at heart. There are many rides that look threateningly big through a kid’s eyes, and Screamin’ looked terrifying to me. As I passed the ride, I could hear screams and the swooshing noises of the coaster car cutting through the wind. The passengers reached the top of the hill, stopped, then sped down waiting to be caught by the tracks. I winced as the coaster raced down the hill. Yikes. Drops really scared me, but the only thing worse was going upside down. Could you fall out? The structure of the ride just went up, and up, and up, into the sky. Heights were not my thing. I started walking faster to get away from the frightening thrill of California Screamin’. I could see the boardwalk in view. Almost there. Maybe we would play some games. I just had to pass this ride, and I was there. When I had almost passed the long line of people waiting, I noticed the sunburned, waiting riders. They looked inpatient as they were leaning up against anything they could find. I slowed to a walk as I examined the people around me. This was just slow enough for a familiar sweaty hand to grab me on the shoulder.
“Hey,” my mom said, “Why don’t we ride this?”
She points up to the rollercoaster that I had been fearing.
“Umm, no thanks.” I quickly replied. I tried to hurry on, but no luck.
“Oh come on you’ll love it!” my mom enthused.
“Ya go with mom, I’ll take your hat.” my dad offered.
I silently handed him my hat and peered up at the ride. It couldn’t be that bad right?
“That looks calm,” I thought, “I can probably ride this.”
“Ok fine let’s go!” I said, the end of my words starting to pick up excitement.
My mom and I headed off toward the ride leaving my dad and brother behind. I was actually half excited to go on this ride, despite my nervousness before. The line moved quickly and we were soon halfway through. I was wondering why the ride looked better when I looked up at it the second time, rather than the first. Then it hit me: I had forgotten about the loop and drop! The sun had been beating down on my face and blinding me without my hat. I totally overlooked the worst parts! However there was no turning back now. We were almost to the coaster cars. I became more nervous as time went by. Would this ruin big rides for me? I didn’t know the answer, but it was too late to think, we were getting on. I was too scared to sit in the front or the back, so we settled on the middle. When we got on the ride, the seat belt bars came down, and my regret settled in. I was stuck. The coaster slowly inched out of the covered boarding area and into the launch. The sun blinded me as the ride inched closer outside. Then the car stopped, and the heat soaked into the riders as we waited to blast off. After a few seconds that seemed like minutes, a voice came through the headrests on the seats. It was talking about safety, and then came to the countdown, moments later. Five. I clenched my sweaty hands and had a nervous smile on my face. Four. I’m glad my dad took my hat or, it would’ve fallen off. Three. Why did I go on this? Two. My mom tilted her head toward me, smiling.
“Ready?” she asked.