Amusement Parks

I like Amusement Parks. Recently, news broke that Six Flags was filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. They aren't closing, just re-organizing their books. Perhaps they finally succumb to their incredibly outrageous ticket prices. What is up to now? $40? $60 per ticket? It's just way too much for the everyday family to include in their annual vacation budgets in 2009. And they're not the only ones. Almost all amusement and theme parks are expensive.

But you know what? No matter what the future may hold for these types of parks, and I am sure they will be fine post-recession, my personal past and memories of times at amusement parks will always be joyful. I love roller-coasters and spending all day riding them. I love walking around the park, with family or friends, on a beautiful summer day--catching a show, getting soaked on the log flume, relaxing on the ferris wheel--I love it all.

All this week I am taking a page out of High Fidelity, and will give you a Top 5 List related to what I like. For today, here are my Top 5 Memories At Amusement Parks.

Top 5 Memories at Amusement Parks

1. During a trip to Dorney Park, an old co-worker of mine from my job at Wood River Village retirement home found a doppleganger for multiple colleagues and residents from the home. It was outrageous. At one point, we even found my look-a-like standing in line for a ride. Of course, I had to kill him. There can be only one.


2. At Epcot Center one night on my Senior Class Trip, we were enjoying ourselves somewhere halfway around the world. Well, the final bus of the evening as leaving in the next five minutes and we had to run around the world to catch it. Well, that's what we did. I think we may have even lost one in China.


3. While on a ferris wheel at Dorney Park with my family, we noticed that we could see our car in the parking lot from the very top. Testing out the range of his remote key device, my dad hit the lock button twice to see if it would make the car beep. It did. So what did we do? That's right, we waited for some poor schmuck to walk by it and made them jump by hitting the button. High-class hilarity.


4. In high school, we spent a day, also at Great Adventure, for "Physics Day". Let's just say I did what I had to do and had a very astute group member who excelled at all things science and math. So during one of the moments of down time, my buddies and I recorded a song at one of those Karaoke shops. Five of us banded together to sing one of time's most classic hit singles, a song that will certainly live on for generations to come and will be revered by the scholars of the future. We sang, "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. And yes, I still have the tape.


5. The Dumbo Ride at Magic Kingdom when I was four-years-old. 'Nuff said.

What are some of you favorite Amusement Park memories? Leave them in the comment section!