So my school posse of me, Ian and Henrik decided to go on the rollercoaster at Tokyo Dome today. As is the healthy way to do it we made sure to have a big lunch first before setting off. As we neared Tokyo Dome the right hand side of the rollercoaster track came into view, bending its way through the air. As we walked around the restaurants and ticket offices the rest of the rollercoaster scrolled into view. With every step the steep ascent marking the start of the rollercoaster was being revealed to us and we saw the track going higher and higher into the air. We are talking about the Big One at Blackpool kind of height. Predictably, at the top it goes down again, very very steeply. But even when we could see the rollercoaster in all it’s glory I didn’t feel a single sense of worry.
However, when I was sitting down getting strapped into the ride itself, having bought the ticket, put my bag in a locker and convinced the people manning the rollercoaster that I didn’t have anything in my pockets, then I felt nervous (ie when it was too late). When the ride was just about to start all four of the staff around us did a little ritual dance. It was like a bow first of all, then they clapped and swung their arms in the direction of the metal hill of track before us. Not quite synchronised with their hand actions the ride started and as we passed their smiling faces they unnervingly waved us goodbye.
The ascent was the second worst part. But the view from the top was so awesome that it’s worth the £4 ticket alone. I was both gazing out into the distance of Tokyo as far as I could see but also staring at Ian who was sitting next to me. There is something stupendously weird about seeing someone sitting at a 70 degree angle, I mean I was sitting at the same angle too but to see someone else it s bizarre. At the top the cart stopped so we had a good opportunity to think about the awaiting abyss we had paid to be driven into.
I could not even see the track. The angle of descent was so steep that even when you are half way down it is getting steeper. It was unpleasant, let’s be honest about this. You get scared because you are essentially free falling from a big height and all your instincts are telling you that you are about to die. Don’t get me wrong, I love rollercoasters, but I am not going to lie about what parts of them feel like.
But after being sentenced to death you are saved at the last minute when the track levels off and rises again with enough momentum that you feel like you are flying. It plays with you rocking you left and right, the ground spins around you head and nothing makes sense except for forwards. A big wall approached, it got alarmingly nearer till I made out that the track had a large round hole to go through.
Again threatened with death but rescued from it. Up and around and then down and along and I could see the engineers in my head sitting around a desk designing the track by spinning eggs to decide which direction to go next.
The ground landed where it should be and the brakes hissed on. I didn’t know whether we would go round again and didn’t know if I wanted it to. Slowly we rode back into the little station where the staff stood clapping for us as if they had only started working there to build up the nerve to eventually go on the ride themselves.
I hope someday soon to go to Tokyo Disney Land, would be my first ever Disney Land. Finally I can meet Micky Mouse and ask him all those questions I have wanted to since I was a child. Like whether he has considered DNA testing to make sure Mini isn't really his sister as they do look suspiciously alike. And of course I can have a tantrum when they don't let me meet Bugs Bunny (he is Warner Brother's not Disney). If you have any other suggestions for things to do to annoy the staff at Disney Land then why not leave a comment.
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