The Time I (Inadvertently) Saved My Grandmother From an Unpleasant Amusement Park Ride
Alissa Grosso
My apologies for the delay in sending this out. This morning a bolt of lightning knocked out internet in our general area, and then before that had a chance to get fixed the storm took down some trees and power lines and we lost power.
It’s been a pretty hectic week and a half or so here (and that was before the storm!) I can’t get into the details just yet, but suffice it to say that roller coasters have been on my mind of late. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of roller coasters. When it comes to amusement park rides, a carousel is more my speed.
When I was in second grade my family went on vacation to Disney World in Florida. If you’ve ever been to Disney World then you know that most of the rides there are pretty tame, but they do have a few that aren’t, well, my cup of tea . . . like those nausea-inducing spinning teacups. Two other Disney World rides from the 1980s that were not for me were Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I realize that by extreme roller coaster standards, these are pretty tame rides, but they’re still too much for this big chicken.
My mom and my sister are both fearless when it comes to amusement park rides. I take after my dad more, but even my dad is a bit bolder than I am when it comes to rides. So, as it happens when we went to Disney World both of my parents ganged up and convinced me to ride Space Mountain with them, by promising me it would be fun and not at all scary. This turned out to be a lie. Readers, it was not fun. It was extremely scary.
As it happens my dad’s parents had also made the trip down to Florida and joined us for part of our Disney Wold excursion. While they weren’t there for Space Mountain day, they were with us on the day we were due to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I should point out that prior to our trip my dad had purchased a guide book, and had our daily itinerary all mapped out.
I should also point out that while my immediate family had flown down to Florida from New Jersey, my grandparents had driven all the way down (It’s a 16 or so hour drive.) because my grandmother is the opposite of a daredevil and was way too terrified to get on a plane.
So when it came to the point in our schedule when we were supposed to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, everyone in my family was excited, except me. My grandparents had not invested in a guide book like my dad and were expecting a pleasant scenic train ride. I apparently had a little more knowledge about things than they did, and expecting a repeat of Space Mountain said I didn’t want to go on the ride. This puzzled my grandparents, but my grandmother agreed to wait with me while everyone else went on the ride.
When the rest of the family finally rejoined me and Grandma my grandfather was looking a little bit green in the face. The first thing he said to my grandmother was, “Good thing you didn’t go on that ride!” He apparently spent the whole ride worrying my little sister was going to fly out of that runaway train, and trying not to lose his breakfast!
Well, hopefully this rollercoaster we’ve been riding soon comes to a nice, gentle end.
— Alissa
Weekly Inspiration
What I’m Reading: Wired
What I’m Watching: Dune
What I’m Listening to: “I Will Survive” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Find out more about my books at alissagrosso.com
Find out more about my digital art at alissacarin.com
My apologies for the typos and such this post is almost certainly riddled with.
Love it! What fun memories 🙄🤢🎢
All those comments about your Dad definitely fit him…. Love the picture !