What a ride

DH and I took the kids to Astr*land today, since tomorrow is its last day. I’ve heard about this place for over 20 years and had looked forward to going for years.

It really wasn’t that bad, but it truly seemed like the staff, or a least most of them, couldn’t care less about their jobs. Now I realize that it’s your second-to-last day of work, but couldn’t you at least make a little effort??!! I must have stood in the food line for an hour, roasting in the noonday sun, ready to pass out. The cashier was in a miserable mood by the time I got to her window. This was probably not helped by the snide comment of the guy ahead of me, who snidely told her, “Thank you very little for your effort,” as he took his food and drink. Thanks a hell of a lot! Did you consider that I might not want her spitting on my food??!! Jerk. And then some other idiot from another line came up to offer this suggestion: “Hey, have you considered putting more than one pizza in the oven at the same time??” Shavondia looked nonplussed; I was amazed at the rudeness of these presumed Southerners. Shouldn’t they be nice, patient, polite folk? I’d expect these smartass remarks from people at Great Adventure in NJ, not at Astr*land in Houston.

And the powers that be at Astr*land, even though the newscasts all week were all warning that record crowds would be in attendance, allowed the park to be undermanned in my opinion. Half the food concessions were closed. In the late afternoon I stood in line for a half hour to get a frozen lemonade, diet coke for DH and a bottle of water for the kids. When I got to the window, I learned that they had only diet coke and Hi-C at the fountain (the other 3 sodas were out), no ice and no bottled water. I walked away with a frozen lemonade and a cup of water. Ridiculous! Not all the rides were open, and some rides, like the Cyclone, could have had more than one car running. Another annoyance was the teens behind me in the Cyclone line; they seemed to have no concept of personal space. Not to mention their speech and grammar: “Sit in the last car; it’s FUNNER back there.”

In the end DH and I both got to ride ONE, yes, one roller coaster. I rode the Cyclone and DH got to ride the Batman coaster. The girls got to enjoy a lot more. They rode the airplanes, Martian Maggot, caterpillar, cars, and motor boats. If B had been tall enough, she would have ridden the Cyclone with me. Poor A got to sit in the stroller for most of the day, and wound up with a little sunburn across his nose and cheeks. I suck for not even considering putting sunscreen on us. DH sucks because he actually had some in the backpack in the stroller, but didn’t put it on A. I hope and pray that A wakes up tomorrow happy and not blistered or sore from it. That’ll teach me.

Looks like I’ll have to plan next summer’s visit north to coincide with my brother’s company trip to Hershey Park. The rides are better and there’s no ridiculous wait for food.