Canada’s Wonderland ain’t for wusses…

WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE in this post.

As I checked my email Sunday morning, this note, in Rissa’s handwriting, was to the left of the keyboard:

AWESOME LEVIATHAN FACTS!
306 feet high, 80 degree drop, 
148 km/h, 32 passengers p/car

That was the first time on Sunday that I thought I might woof my cookies. The second was when I ended up in the First Aid building at Wonderland, but more on that later.

We’d decided that our first coaster of the day would be the Leviathan.  Get it out of the way, I thought.  Be a brave girl, I thought.  I also thought I might actually DIE as the Leviathan climbed its first hill.

80 degree drop from 306 feet.  10 degrees more and it would be STRAIGHT DOWN!   

I’ve made a mistake!  I shouldn’t be here!  Please, please, please – let my death be quick!  Don’t let me be the gal who voids her bowels and has white foam around her mouth. Let me look good when they discover I’m dead.

I had my eyes closed the entire time, I didn’t want to see anything. We kept going up and up and up…  How much further up is there, if you’re not in a plane?!?  My hands in a death grip on the lap handles. I would not look, you couldn’t make me!  I felt the near free-fall, went round the crazy-ass curves and smaller hills – eyes completely shut.  And at the end, I was still alive!  Legs very woobly, but I was alive as we made our way to The Bat and then to The Fly.

The Fly is freaking awesome!  I love The Fly.  I scream every time it takes a sharp turn, because it looks like you’re going to fly straight off the tracks.  I know that I’m not going to fly straight off the tracks – they must test for cars leaving their tracks before letting the public on these things – but it doesn’t stop me from screaming every time it happens.  Screaming and laughing.  The Fly is equivalent to watching Jurassic Park for me.  You scream, then you laugh, because it’s so ridiculous you were screaming.  The Fly is like having primal scream/primal laugh therapy – always enjoyable.  Which is why I was surprised when, at the end of the ride, I was in pain.

My armpit suddenly felt like it had been stabbed.  I was confused, because although sometimes I do pin things into an outfit (you know, those cotton armpit guards to protect a nice dress or fancy jacket from sweat stains), I was wearing a t-shirt and a hoodie and had no recollection of having a razor-sharp, stabby thing in my clothing.  Another sharp stab.  And then two more, now down my arm.  These were different from my usual angina symptoms.  I’m groping at my side, trying to find the pin.  Where was it?  David and Rissa looking at me like I was crazy.

“Mummy, we’re in public!” Rissa says, as I’m reaching inside my hoodie exposing most of my bra and a fair amount of breast.

“There’s a pin!  There’s got to be a pin!”

I wrestle off my jacket.  I’m acting like a crazy-woman.  “Something is there!”  I’m flapping the jacket now… “SOMETHING. IS. IN. THERE!”  David and Rissa watch as a black bug flies out.  Not a bee, not a yellow jacket – a hornet.  Somewhere during the ride, I’d picked up a passenger.  When trapped in the hoodie, it got pissed.  I’d been stung.  Multiple times.  And that shit hurts.

“Holy mother of… Yellow rat bas… Rissa, close your ears!

SHIT PISS FUCK MOTHERFUCKER!!”

Only me.  It could only happen to me.  And because David worries that any minor medical deviation for me will lead to a heart attack, we trundle off to the First Aid building where I am given Benadryl and anti-sting wipes, my vitals are monitored over a 10 minute period and I’m questioned.

“Do you have any medical conditions?”  he asks.

“How long do you have?” I respond.

The paramedic looked a bit confused when he found out that I suffered from angina.  I’m sure in his head he was thinking “And you are at an amusement park with thrill rides because why?”

“Are you nauseated?”

“Yes, but that’s probably just my hypo-glycemia.”

There were a couple of minutes there when I thought he was going to have an ambulance physically remove me from the property.  But eventually, I was allowed to dance off on my merry way…  Now stoned, because WOW…  Who knew that Benadryl was so freaking potent?   I was cozy and sleepy and spent the next hour with my head resting against David’s lap as we sat waiting for me to come down.

The only other injuries that day for me happened when I rode Flight Deck – used to be Top Gun – your head gets rattled around in between the headrests and you wind up with cauliflower ear and your stud earrings embedded in your skull.

But really?  Only two injuries after having ridden over a dozen rides?  For me, this was a good day.

P.S. 

Later in the day, I rode the Leviathan two more times.  Eyes wide open as we took that first 80 degree drop. And you know something?  When you’re looking down that 80 degreen incline?  It looks like you are going straight
down.  And it’s AWESOME!!  Arms in the air for the rest of the ride,
except where I thought I might whack them on a support beam.  Between
rides 2 and 3 I actually ran with Rissa and her friends to line up
again.  The ride was that much fun.  It turned me back into a 12 year old girl.  It is my new favourite thing.  I will travel through the world extolling its virtues.  I am a Leviathan convert.