Passing through the ticket officer, we now find ourselves within the premises of The Great Yarmouth Joy Beach.
My initial impression is... well, nonexistent. You see, I always enjoy venturing to places filled with greenery. However, I don't despise amusement parks entirely. The issue here is that this place... can be considered quite monotonous. In terms of scenery, environmental components, layout, and even the surrounding souvenirs, there is absolutely nothing to appreciate. It's like a parking lot occupied by rides. But as people usually say, "The most important thing is the rides!" So, I'll consider that.
"Whoa, Mr. Cake, what should we ride first? Something that will get our adrenaline pumping? I-I want to ride the wooden roller coaster!" Feline is excited and enthusiastic. It's as if I'm accompanying a 10-year-old child who's thrilled to be in a theme park.
"Calm down, eager eyes. We just got out of the taxi, remember? Aren't you feeling tired at all?"
Feline shakes her head, her smile unwavering. Her smile is wide, accompanied by irregular breaths, showing her immense enthusiasm. Watching her like this is quite exhausting. Besides, the journey from Cambridge to Norfolk took about an hour and a half.
"Firstly, why don't we look for something to drink?" Feline rummages through her teddy bear shoulder bag and reaches for the zipper. It seems she's retrieving something.
"No problem!" She pulls out a bottle of cold lemon water. Apparently, she prepared it without my knowledge. It seems she has learned a lot.
"Ahem! How about... finding some food?" I, being the more mature one here, should remain calm and act cool.
"Huh? I already had a piece of pancake this morning," she replies.
Hey, it was five pieces! How could she not count the four greedy bites she took? I facepalm in exasperation. How can Feline be so resilient?
"Why, Mr. Cake?" She looks up at me with confusion. Then, for a moment, her mischievous smile that I didn't want to see finally appears. "Could it be... you're afraid-"
"Psssstttt!" My right index finger swiftly covers her cheeky mouth, anticipating the forbidden words that might escape. Nowadays, girls don't seem to care about their own safety.
What's so exciting about the wooden roller coaster anyway? The tracks are uneven and prone to accidents. Don't assume that safety belts can fully protect them! Riding that train and screaming as loud as they can to prove their youth? It's absolutely ridiculous!
"Listen, eager eyes. Let me explain logically. Aren't you worried about your stomach shifting positions?"
"Huh?" Feline starts folding her arms, wearing a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"
"Once upon a time, there was a foolish and silly girl who wanted to have fun with her friend. She really wanted to ride that roller coaster ride. With her foolish smile, she was willing to endure a long queue just to get on that unruly train. After 20 minutes, she finally found herself seated on that train, securely fastened with a seatbelt. She and her friend screamed, laughed, got surprised, and felt their adrenaline rush. And then, she realized that something in her stomach felt strange. Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and eventually fainting, an ambulance was called. The doctor on-site said her stomach and heart had shifted places because of it. Unfortunately, the girl with shoulder-length black hair had to regret exchanging her momentary pleasure for such a fate!" I place my right hand on Feline's shoulder to make her understand.
"Wow, that girl had such a tragic experience! But I think she smiled sweetly, not foolishly!" Feline wipes my hand off as if she disagrees and refuses to accept it. "Besides, what happened to you, Mr. Cake?" she asks suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
This girl is quite something.
"What!? No foolish! I-I mean... Uh-uhem! Take it as a lesson. What if that incident actually happened?"
"How did it actually happen? The stomach and heart were actually separated on different location! If their locations exchanged, I'm amazed how the doctor could diagnose that the girl was still alive, huh?" she retorts, slightly irritated.
Well, she does have a valid point. I suspected that Feline has learned a lot. I need to polish my waffling nonsense story to make it more realistic.
"Listen, Mr. Cake, if you don't want to ride, I'll ride it instead! It's true that we shouldn't force our will upon others, but if one person is afrai-"
Fortunately, my right index finger intervenes at the right time. It's a signature move to maintain a dignified and cool appearance.
"Eager eyes, no more talking. Let's queue up," I say.
"O-Okay..."
After I said that, the furrows on her forehead finally disappear. Her mouth, which was pouting earlier, instantly turns into a smile. Now, her suspicion towards me has vanished.
We immediately turn to the far right corner. It's the flagship attraction at The Great Yarmouth Joy Beach, so it's not surprising to see many people queuing up in droves.
That ride makes me swallow hard. How can the roller coaster tracks resemble waves? I-I mean, it's weird, right? Who came up with the idea of creating a ride called Roller Coaster?
Well, but as soon as we pass by, there are many other rides that might be worse than the one we're about to embark on.
There's a ride with seats elongated to accommodate around 16 passengers. The problem is, the ride takes the seated passengers up vertically, secured by certain restraints, to a height of 22 meters. At the top of the ride, it's written Sky Drop. Forget about elevators, anyone can even see the view from that height without any barriers, except for the seat restraints. Well, indeed, anyone can enjoy a panoramic view of Great Yarmouth. But in exchange for that, there are potential risks, and if a minor mistake occurs, they could fall down from that height. It's a big no-no for me!
There's also another ride that is equally worrisome. If a swing in a children's playground moves forward and backward, this ride moves sideways. The seat is shaped like a boat, accommodating approximately 30 people. As the name suggests, the swing moves the passengers swiftly and steeply from side to side, almost rotating 360 degrees. In that case, not only the contents of their stomachs exchange positions, but their hearts and lungs could as well. These people are too peculiar. How can they have fun with something that potentially endangers their lives, huh?
Is the formula for the adrenaline hormone to have fun multiplied by the number of risks? The more risks, the more enjoyable it is for them? It's truly impressive.
Eventually, we find ourselves at the back of the crowd. The queue is quite long. It's not like waiting in line at the ticket officer earlier, where we could pass through significantly quickly. Here, we'll have to wait for about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, the queue consists of around 30 rows, and well... the ride can accommodate approximately 15 people. Maybe there are still two more batches before us?
Many people might get tired of waiting, but not me. This could be an easy trick to switch to another ride. It's not that I'm afraid or anything, as almost implied by Eager Eyes. The flagship ride is meant to be experienced at the very end, right?
"Wow, a long queue, isn't it?" I grimace at Feline and open the brochure map of the park. "You know, there are many other rides... like the 4D cinema? Y-yes! That's what young people enjoy nowadays, isn't it? Like this, I'm also a technology enthusiast. Maybe that would be the best choice since we've been on the road for nearly two hours from Cambridge, right?"
"Hmm? Aren't those the couple from earlier, Mr. Cake?" Feline gapes ahead.
She ignores me. Damn, this slow loris is something else. Why does she have to be so curious about other people? Besides, what's so great about it? Hah... Since she's like that, it would be troublesome to inquire further.
I try to see what Eager Eyes is looking at. Upon reflection, she's right. They are the couple we've been behind since we queued for the entrance tickets. They're a couple who feed each other cotton candy, more romantic than any romantic scenes from theaters or the ones Feline has recently been fond of.
"Just a coincidence," I reply.
Feline looks up briefly to the left. "Huh... a coincidence...." Then she nods slightly, her gaze shifting downward.
We fall silent for a moment, but her last words transmit her restlessness to me. What is she anxious about? Can't she be as calm as I am?
"Feline, what do you want to say, huh?"
"No, maybe you're right."
In a few minutes, the roller coaster train returns. Some passengers from the ride exit the adjacent lane separated by a hollow blue iron fence. There are two queues, the entrance queue and the exit queue.
"Let's go in, Mr. Cake!" Feline brightens up and becomes enthusiastic again.
Wait, why isn't everything going according to my plan? The queues are streaming in. Receding and receding, until it's just the two of us and the two people behind us.
W-wasn't it only able to accommodate 15 people? Errrmm... no. Not when we were at the ticket confirmation station. There was a written notice behind the glass that caught my attention.
'1 ride consists of 2 rounds, each approximately four minutes. Can accommodate 30 people in 1 ride.'
Well, it seems to be worse than I thought.
I try my best to keep my legs from trembling. We sit down together, once again directly behind the same couple.
***
ns 15.158.61.6da2
