Crazy Upside-Down Inside-Out Gut-Spilling Carnival Rides

The first day we went to Carnival, we didn't go on any rides, we just stared in awe at them. We went to Carnival two more times, and some of us went on them then. The last day, Del Viento came with us and some of them were crazy enough to go on some rides too. Dad and I were the only smart ones in that we didn't go on any of the absolutely insane rides.

The second to last day we were there, Cavan, Mom, and Sophia went on the Kamikaze. The Kamikaze is made up of two large arms with “pods” on the ends. These pods house about 20 seats each. The arms swing back and forth (one arm left, one right) and they continue to swing back and forth, higher each time, pivoting on the large bolt that the arms connect to. Pretty soon, the arms are swinging in full circles, about five circles actually. The next day, Eleanor from Del Viento tried it, and afterwards wished she hadn't. She wizened up and realized her mistake.

Another ride that a lot of us went on consisted of a thick pillar that rose about 20 feet off a raised platform used for boarding the swings. From the top of the pillar thing some sort of circular metal support was mounted on. Chains hooked onto this and held 1, 2 or 3-person swings at the bottom. Cavan, Sophia, Eleanor, Frannie and I went on this and I think we all liked it too.

The Inverter, probably the sickest of the rides, was like the Kamikaze in that you sat in a pod. The Inverter had no roof and way more seats and you rocked back and forth until you made full loops. This had the added twist though, instead of staying tight to the connector arm, the pod swiveled to face the outside when it went up rather than face the inside.

The Jupiter, was probably the second most crazy ride there. It was like the Kamikaze in every way besides the pod (Kamikaze had 2). The Jupiter's pod was one, big, about 20 feet wide, orange drum-like thing. This rocks back and forth blah, blah, blah only the whole time the drum is spinning in circles.

The last ride we went on I like to call the Infamous Purple Music Spinner....thingy. Basically, you sat in a purple cart that could probably squeeze about 3 kids in. It spun you round and round in rough circles with a few small hills. This sounds really nice and relaxing but for me it wasn't. Now I don't get seasick, or motion sick, or carsick, or really anything like that, so spinning in circles didn't affect me, but I could kinda tell it did with others. Cavan had the outside seat and I the inside, and so the entire time I was using every little bit of leverage I could because Cavan thought it was incredibly ANNOYING, that I was sucked to the outside of the seat. The entire thing was decorated with wavy staff lines and little notes. The ride was probably about 15 minutes long.

Now, throughout this post you guys were probably like “What the heck, man! Why didn't you go on any of the upside-down ones?” Well, I'm not “wimpy” or “scared” or anything. I have two good reasons. No, I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of falls, and there were too many Mexican girls swarming around me.* I couldn't reach the rides, let alone go on one.



* See Casey's Carnival Blog Post