Six Flags Misfortunes
We started the day off by getting up before 7 AM. I had a Six Flags season pass for like two years in high school, and I thought I recalled always leaving at the butt crack of dawn to get there early and hit up all the rides. By 7 Jared and I were at B&J's Family Restaurant with our dad for breakfast. After that, we went straight to Six Flags.
Thank heaven for the carpool lane. Yeah, baby! We got there in less than an hour, a pretty uneventful ride to say the least.
I tried to get to a gas station because I had to use the facilities. I sat at this left turn light and honestly watched EVERY side of the street get a green light through TWO cycles before we got the left arrow. I was pissed, cursing the light under my breath. I really had to pee. And then I remembered something dreadful! I forgot my AAA card, which my coupon required me to have in order to get the $27 admission. Crap. I was praying they'd take it anyway and tried not to panic.
We got in line to pay for parking, which I had done ahead of time. It saved me a whopping 75 cents, because Discover is the official credit card of Six Flags. We were second in line. Since we got there at 9 AM, and the park didn't open till 10:30, we had some waiting to do. Fortunately, they started opening parking up pretty early. We caught the tram, got in line, and they accepted the coupon without my AAA card! Thank heaven.
We were at the gate by 10 AM at the latest, and then I noticed a line to the left side with a really important red carpet for VIP people, where only a mother and son were in line. Then I noticed that it was the line for Discover card people. YEAH BABY! We ran over there and got in line.
They let us in 5 minutes before everyone else. It was pretty awesome. So we ran to X2 since that's the most ridiculous line in the park, apparently. I hadn't been to Six Flags since X was there. We had to get a $1 locker to put our stuff in. I was hurrying trying to get on the ride before they started it and closed the locker after putting my phone and water bottle in there. On the way to get on the coaster, Jared asked, "Should we put the key in the locker?" He had the car key in his deepest jeans pocket. I couldn't hear his question, and we had already closed the locker, and we were in a hurry, so I just disregarded him. We got on, and the ride was AMAZING!
After the ride, my responsible brother immediately checked his pocket. With wide eyes he said, "The key! It's gone!"
Tragedy number 1: lost key.
I tried to take deep breaths and think of what to do. So we walked back to the front and put in a lost and found request. I visualized them finding the key all day long so I wouldn't have to call my parents and tell them the news. But they wouldn't be able to check for the key till park close at 9 PM.
Tragedy number 2: day of anxiety in waiting for the key.
Let me also tell you that when I bought my car at the Ken Garff Nissan dealership, they only gave me ONE copy of my key. I was concerned and tried to get a copy made at Wal Mart, but Mazda makes fancy keys, so they couldn't do it.
We went on a couple more rides, our third one being Roaring Rapids. This was excellent because I chose the best seat on the raft--where I got the most wet out of everyone. (insert sarcasm here). I got drenched, more than everyone else. So did my phone. And now it's turning off whenever it wants. I tried the rice trick. It didn't work. My phone's still being funny. Sweet.
Tragedy number 3: Ruined phone, mildewy clothes... Good stuff. Not to mention the chafing from the heel of my left shoe... I still have a really bad blister!
We went on lots of rides... Ninja, Batman, Terminator Salvation, Deja Vu, Colossus, Tatsu...
Tragedy number 4: Deja Vu beat us both up pretty bad. I had to hold onto my brother so I wouldn't pass out and vomit everywhere simultaneously.
But let's move forward and get on a good ride! In line for Riddler's Revenge, however, Jared decided he wasn't feeling good after eating lunch. He went to go sit on the benches in the front of the ride. So I waited in line... And waited... and waited.
I was worried about him getting impatient. But I got off the ride, hopeful he'd be sitting around in the area. He was nowhere to be found. NOWHERE.
Tragedy number 5: lost brother.
I walked around the same area three times, more slowly every time.
Tragedy number 6: brother brought no cell phone.
Fortunately, we had set up a meeting place in the front in case we got separated or whatever. I was cursing him under my breath, saying he'd better be there or I'd kill him. After the arduous trek over there (not joking, I went the long way with a huge uphill hike, and my calves paid for it for two days), I found him. With less anger than what I felt, I gave him a stern voiced statement of my discontent. I cooled off for a few minutes, we got some fudge, and headed over to Viper.
I tried to put my stuff in a locker, but my dollar bills were wet from Roaring Rapids (thanks, Jared, for choosing that excellent ride), so it wouldn't take my dollar bill.
Tragedy number 7: And it didn't take coins. Super handy. So I tried to hide my water bottle (a refillable, good one that I've used for a year), and fudge in a planter corner. We got on the ride with no wait. I got my head jerked around harder than any other ride. My ears were sore until yesterday, actually, from the pain of hitting them over and over again. I hit my left ear so hard on the restraint thing, that it actually was suctioned to the restrainer. I was cursing something awful. I was so, so angry. After we got off that forsaken ride, I went to get my stuff. Lo and behold, it was gone.
Tragedy numbers 8 and 9: Lost water bottle/fudge, sore hearing mechanisms.
Last, but not least, we got on Goliath. It was as amazing as I remembered, and still my favorite ride of all time. Smooth, easy, not jerky, fast, fun, amazing. I love it SO much.
We went to lost and found to wait for our key. By this time the parents had been informed, so we arranged for a tow truck. Then the race was on: will X2 employees bring found objects first, or will the tow truck guy arrive in time to suffocate any possibility of my key being found? We waited in the cold, chairless lost and found area for almost two hours--10:45.
The tow truck guy won, about 40 minutes after he should have been there.
Tragedy number 10: It turns out he was calling the wrong number the whole time he was waiting (not his fault).
This guy was lazy and wanted to go get a different kind of truck to load my car onto instead of the flat bed.
Tragedy number 11: That took 20 minutes, and it was already 11 o'clock.
When we were finally loading up the car, some other stranded kids came to ask him for help. He took a long time talking to them. I was tired, hungry, grouchy, emotional, and impatient. Plus, that whole debacle of switching vehicles made it so that he was unable to unlock my car for me to get my things out of it (including my registration for my car to get new keys made). It was finally loaded, and I was singing hallelujah in my brain, then he went over to talk to the stranded kids again--another ten minutes flew by.
We were finally off at midnight... and we stopped at a gas station to pee and get some snacks.
Tragedy number 12: there was no toilet paper in the stall I chose.
It took an hour for us to get home, and Jared slept most of the way. We got everything sorted out. Didn't get home till 1 AM.
The next day, tow guys came to unlock my car and take it over to the dealership in West Covina, because guess what?
Tragedy number 13: Mazda has a monopoly on their own keys. They are $36 each, and take $96 to program. The programming needs to happen because the car won't start without a "chip." They also won't only do just ONE key. They have to do two. So because of my carelessness in losing that key at Six Flags, I had to pay $170. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm even MORE stressed about that money. Because I just bought a kitchen table, a couch, and a new TV, I have yet to furnish my future bedroom, and I don't get paid till September. That's $170 that could have been avoided, so easily. Grr. I also am switching my car insurance into my name instead of my mom's. I'm not too excited about these accruing costs.
While it might sound like I was focusing on the tragedies all day, I promise I wasn't. It was my brother's first time to Six Flags. I was trying to avoid sounding stressed in front of him, and tried to get him excited about rides, tried to remain positive about them finding my key. I wasn't grouchy when I had to pay so much for my keys. I wasn't mean to anyone, even the lazy annoying tow truck guy who got me home at 1 AM when he could've easily had us home by 11:30. I didn't complain about my blistered heel, and said I could buy a new water bottle. I avoided touching my sore ears so as not to be upset about it. I tried, tried, tried! And I TRIED to visualize my keys being found, but it didn't freaking work. Universe, I need you to work faster sometimes, please! It's hard to be positive when I get slow results.
There is good news to come. I just wanted this to be documented in blog history. It's also 2 AM. I won't be held accountable for typos, incongruities, or incoherence.
Thank heaven for the carpool lane. Yeah, baby! We got there in less than an hour, a pretty uneventful ride to say the least.
I tried to get to a gas station because I had to use the facilities. I sat at this left turn light and honestly watched EVERY side of the street get a green light through TWO cycles before we got the left arrow. I was pissed, cursing the light under my breath. I really had to pee. And then I remembered something dreadful! I forgot my AAA card, which my coupon required me to have in order to get the $27 admission. Crap. I was praying they'd take it anyway and tried not to panic.
We got in line to pay for parking, which I had done ahead of time. It saved me a whopping 75 cents, because Discover is the official credit card of Six Flags. We were second in line. Since we got there at 9 AM, and the park didn't open till 10:30, we had some waiting to do. Fortunately, they started opening parking up pretty early. We caught the tram, got in line, and they accepted the coupon without my AAA card! Thank heaven.
We were at the gate by 10 AM at the latest, and then I noticed a line to the left side with a really important red carpet for VIP people, where only a mother and son were in line. Then I noticed that it was the line for Discover card people. YEAH BABY! We ran over there and got in line.
They let us in 5 minutes before everyone else. It was pretty awesome. So we ran to X2 since that's the most ridiculous line in the park, apparently. I hadn't been to Six Flags since X was there. We had to get a $1 locker to put our stuff in. I was hurrying trying to get on the ride before they started it and closed the locker after putting my phone and water bottle in there. On the way to get on the coaster, Jared asked, "Should we put the key in the locker?" He had the car key in his deepest jeans pocket. I couldn't hear his question, and we had already closed the locker, and we were in a hurry, so I just disregarded him. We got on, and the ride was AMAZING!
After the ride, my responsible brother immediately checked his pocket. With wide eyes he said, "The key! It's gone!"
Tragedy number 1: lost key.
I tried to take deep breaths and think of what to do. So we walked back to the front and put in a lost and found request. I visualized them finding the key all day long so I wouldn't have to call my parents and tell them the news. But they wouldn't be able to check for the key till park close at 9 PM.
Tragedy number 2: day of anxiety in waiting for the key.
Let me also tell you that when I bought my car at the Ken Garff Nissan dealership, they only gave me ONE copy of my key. I was concerned and tried to get a copy made at Wal Mart, but Mazda makes fancy keys, so they couldn't do it.
We went on a couple more rides, our third one being Roaring Rapids. This was excellent because I chose the best seat on the raft--where I got the most wet out of everyone. (insert sarcasm here). I got drenched, more than everyone else. So did my phone. And now it's turning off whenever it wants. I tried the rice trick. It didn't work. My phone's still being funny. Sweet.
Tragedy number 3: Ruined phone, mildewy clothes... Good stuff. Not to mention the chafing from the heel of my left shoe... I still have a really bad blister!
We went on lots of rides... Ninja, Batman, Terminator Salvation, Deja Vu, Colossus, Tatsu...
Tragedy number 4: Deja Vu beat us both up pretty bad. I had to hold onto my brother so I wouldn't pass out and vomit everywhere simultaneously.
But let's move forward and get on a good ride! In line for Riddler's Revenge, however, Jared decided he wasn't feeling good after eating lunch. He went to go sit on the benches in the front of the ride. So I waited in line... And waited... and waited.
I was worried about him getting impatient. But I got off the ride, hopeful he'd be sitting around in the area. He was nowhere to be found. NOWHERE.
Tragedy number 5: lost brother.
I walked around the same area three times, more slowly every time.
Tragedy number 6: brother brought no cell phone.
Fortunately, we had set up a meeting place in the front in case we got separated or whatever. I was cursing him under my breath, saying he'd better be there or I'd kill him. After the arduous trek over there (not joking, I went the long way with a huge uphill hike, and my calves paid for it for two days), I found him. With less anger than what I felt, I gave him a stern voiced statement of my discontent. I cooled off for a few minutes, we got some fudge, and headed over to Viper.
I tried to put my stuff in a locker, but my dollar bills were wet from Roaring Rapids (thanks, Jared, for choosing that excellent ride), so it wouldn't take my dollar bill.
Tragedy number 7: And it didn't take coins. Super handy. So I tried to hide my water bottle (a refillable, good one that I've used for a year), and fudge in a planter corner. We got on the ride with no wait. I got my head jerked around harder than any other ride. My ears were sore until yesterday, actually, from the pain of hitting them over and over again. I hit my left ear so hard on the restraint thing, that it actually was suctioned to the restrainer. I was cursing something awful. I was so, so angry. After we got off that forsaken ride, I went to get my stuff. Lo and behold, it was gone.
Tragedy numbers 8 and 9: Lost water bottle/fudge, sore hearing mechanisms.
Last, but not least, we got on Goliath. It was as amazing as I remembered, and still my favorite ride of all time. Smooth, easy, not jerky, fast, fun, amazing. I love it SO much.
We went to lost and found to wait for our key. By this time the parents had been informed, so we arranged for a tow truck. Then the race was on: will X2 employees bring found objects first, or will the tow truck guy arrive in time to suffocate any possibility of my key being found? We waited in the cold, chairless lost and found area for almost two hours--10:45.
The tow truck guy won, about 40 minutes after he should have been there.
Tragedy number 10: It turns out he was calling the wrong number the whole time he was waiting (not his fault).
This guy was lazy and wanted to go get a different kind of truck to load my car onto instead of the flat bed.
Tragedy number 11: That took 20 minutes, and it was already 11 o'clock.
When we were finally loading up the car, some other stranded kids came to ask him for help. He took a long time talking to them. I was tired, hungry, grouchy, emotional, and impatient. Plus, that whole debacle of switching vehicles made it so that he was unable to unlock my car for me to get my things out of it (including my registration for my car to get new keys made). It was finally loaded, and I was singing hallelujah in my brain, then he went over to talk to the stranded kids again--another ten minutes flew by.
We were finally off at midnight... and we stopped at a gas station to pee and get some snacks.
Tragedy number 12: there was no toilet paper in the stall I chose.
It took an hour for us to get home, and Jared slept most of the way. We got everything sorted out. Didn't get home till 1 AM.
The next day, tow guys came to unlock my car and take it over to the dealership in West Covina, because guess what?
Tragedy number 13: Mazda has a monopoly on their own keys. They are $36 each, and take $96 to program. The programming needs to happen because the car won't start without a "chip." They also won't only do just ONE key. They have to do two. So because of my carelessness in losing that key at Six Flags, I had to pay $170. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm even MORE stressed about that money. Because I just bought a kitchen table, a couch, and a new TV, I have yet to furnish my future bedroom, and I don't get paid till September. That's $170 that could have been avoided, so easily. Grr. I also am switching my car insurance into my name instead of my mom's. I'm not too excited about these accruing costs.
While it might sound like I was focusing on the tragedies all day, I promise I wasn't. It was my brother's first time to Six Flags. I was trying to avoid sounding stressed in front of him, and tried to get him excited about rides, tried to remain positive about them finding my key. I wasn't grouchy when I had to pay so much for my keys. I wasn't mean to anyone, even the lazy annoying tow truck guy who got me home at 1 AM when he could've easily had us home by 11:30. I didn't complain about my blistered heel, and said I could buy a new water bottle. I avoided touching my sore ears so as not to be upset about it. I tried, tried, tried! And I TRIED to visualize my keys being found, but it didn't freaking work. Universe, I need you to work faster sometimes, please! It's hard to be positive when I get slow results.
There is good news to come. I just wanted this to be documented in blog history. It's also 2 AM. I won't be held accountable for typos, incongruities, or incoherence.
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