On River Rapids with my friends at Knott’s Berry Farm, smiles were big and expectations were high, as usual for a trip to an amusement park. I was quickly bombarded by the murky, chlorine scented water splashed down my back which left me soaked. Being soaked head to toe for an entire day trip at Knott’s opened my eyes to the real disaster that is amusement parks. Whether you are at the park willingly or begrudgingly, the aftermath of a day at an amusement park is almost always being drained and at least for me, disappointed.
After getting off a ride, the adrenaline is unreal; the addictive chemical would float through my brain for a while. That is until I remembered the roller coaster seats and security bars that I touched, and the hundreds of people who touched it before me. Maybe I’m an irrational germaphobe, but it’s genuinely disgusting how many sticky, sick children wipe their hands on the railing and seats before me. I can reason that maintaining cleanliness when more than 5 million people visit the park every year is unreasonable to expect from the sanitation department, but the overcrowding is impossible to ignore. People are quite literally stuffed into any crevice of any amusement park at any given movement, making it hard to distract me from the real issue: I don’t feel there is enough hand sanitizer in the world to burn off all the nasty toddler germs from my fingers.
The prices on the menu plastered above the cashier, or looking at the tag of sweatshirt prices are unnecessarily high. Having money to spend does not necessarily equate wanting to spend it on overpriced pizza. While munching on the school cafeteria-esque food, I’d kill for a bottle of water. But wait, that’ll be an obscene amount of money too. In Disneyland, a drink that sold for $4.99 in 2020 now costs $5.49. An Angus beef burger that sold for $14.49 two years ago is now priced at $15.49. Inflation is exacerbated in these parks.
Though the price tags are heinous at the best of times and so is the level of cleanliness, I have t o admit, it’s almost worth it for the 30 second thrill of the rides at the park. Looking past the lines that always seem to be 30 minutes to an hour, maybe two hours if you are unlucky, the adrenaline kick is thrilling and never fails to make a burnt out student (or possibly adult) feel alive for the first time since winter break. But, is it worth it?
Whether you enjoyed the day or were too focused on pulling out your Trader Joe’s lavender spray hand sanitizer, everyone leaves in the same condition: exhausted, sunburnt even if you wore a hat, drunk off a chemical in your brain that’ll wear off in an hour and at least $15 poorer because you wanted a slice of pizza. At least you have the memories, right?
