We woke up today and headed out for Lagoon. Our first ride of the day was Cannibal. Grandpa decided not to ride. I opted to take the single-rider line, since I thought I could get through quickly and wait with him. Everyone else made it to the front of the line before me, though. They just weren't taking a lot of single riders because they could load so many cars at a time, and rarely had only three. Several of the guys in line near me weren't very happy with this arrangement. I guess they thought the line would move faster. But, I was able to get on as the rest of my family was getting off, so they didn't need to wait for me long.
After another round on Jumping Jeeps, we found our pavilion for the Parry family reunion. I think it was called the Pine Terrace, next to Bombora. It seemed pretty nice. We hung around for a bit before Mom and Dad went back to the motorhome to get games, coolers, chips, and other food. It sure took them a while to get back. During that time, Preston, Max, and Stockton went to Rocket. I stayed with Jorja at the Terrace. We were quite surprised when they beat Mom and Dad back.
We had lunch, went on a couple more rides, and played some games. Mom and I walked to Lagoon-a-Beach with Preston, Max, and Grandpa. We didn't get in the water, but we did scope the area. The others headed off to the motorhome while we were gone. Mom and I kept expecting them to and occasionally requesting via text that they come back, though it was a long time before anyone did, and then it was Stockton to drop off Grandpa's crock pot and some hot dogs.
Mostly, I hung around the terrace and did a lot of writing on Google Docs. I'd asked Mom to go on Spider with me. First, though, she talked to some of her relatives for a long time. Then she cooked the hot dogs Stockton brought, and we agreed that she probably shouldn't leave them in the middle to ride rides instead. Finally, after a couple of hours, we did go see Spider- only to be greeted by a very long line. That's one thing about Overstock Lagoon Day: It ruins lines for you.
I ended up going to the motorhome myself for another hour or two. While I charged my phone, I watched Stockton play "Bowser's Inside Story" (until he accidentally jolted the DS against the table and froze the game long after his last save point) and a high favorite of ours, "Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time".
I returned to the park in the late evening, but before Spider with Mom, I waited in line with Anne to ride Dinosaur Drop. That took awhile; they had to call over a couple different people to look at the controls. Anne loved it, though. That ride is always nice.
Mom and I finally had our chance to ride Spider once we made sure Matt, Sam, and their kids were all together (Jeff enjoyed the gentle boats). Much shorter line at that time of day! Mom really wanted to go on another ride before leaving the park, so I reluctantly agreed to go on Rocket with her, even though it's not a ride I find enjoyable.
On our way there, we passed Matt and Sam at the kids' bumper cars. That was an experience, to say the least. The employee had obviously about reached his limit, and didn't recite the safety instructions or even check to ensure everyone was buckled in! Even with parents calling out for him to do so, he started the ride anyway. Belts dragged on the ground, and I was worried someone would run one over and either tear it up or jolt a car. That didn't seem to happen, though. And my favorite part was when a couple of kids pinned a younger boy's car against the wall and leaned over to help him buckle in. Seemed like Friendly Cars more than Bumper Cars!
Mom and I enjoyed three rounds of this, then moved on to Rocket (Blast-Off). When that was done, we cleaned up the pavilion. Anne was quite sad when everything began shutting down and the lights went off. She enjoyed Lagoon a lot, and kept telling us so. Good to know!
