I'm Getting Too Old For This: Wanting To Go To Amusement Parks

In the words of Danny Glover's character in Lethal Weapon: I'm getting too old for this sh*t.

It probably started a few years back. The last few times I went to Six Flags were horrid experiences: one time, a few of my friends decided to get high before going, and the people who were smoking up for the first time ended up feeling too sick to go inside the amusement park, and ended up staying in the car THE ENTIRE TIME. Um, talk about being super-lame (drugs don't always equate out to good times, kids). Another time, I went with two school friends for Fright Night, and they ended up having a HUGE fight the night before. Let me just say AWKWARD trip the next day.

But those aren't the only reasons.
(WARNING: The following post contains some gory details)

Within the last few years when I haven't gone to Six Flags, I've been hearing horrible stories about rides stalling mid-fall: some leaving riders stranded up on the coaster until a maintenance worker climbed up to tweak the engine, only to have the ride lurch back abruptly and continue it's path of excitement OR cases in which riders had to actually climb down the rickety structure because of a ride malfunction. Um, hell no.

And then there are the more extreme cases in which people are killed. Yup, that's right. Killed.

We've heard the urban legend about the girl whose hair got caught in the Stuntman's Free-Fall ride. True or not, that still gave me the reason to NEVER get on that particular ride.

But unlike the myth about the Free-Fall ride, what about the more recent stories:
Last year, a girl's feet were cut off at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

And this year, a boy was decapitated at the Six Flags Over Georgia(though, it was his fault .. but imagine walking through the park and seeing it happen: NO THANKS).

But I guess there's still the thrill of the ride.

Either way, I guess times have changed, 'cause a summer mecca to Six Flags is no longer in my things to do list for summer.