Bumper Cars
As a kid, at
the Jersey shore, I loved the amusement park.
Just about every large boardwalk on the shore has a small amusement park. They have ski ball, pinball machines, a
merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl and other rides. The ride I liked the best was bumper cars.
Bumper cars
was the most expensive ride at the park I went to. Fifty cents!
When you consider you could get into a double feature movie for thirty-five
cents, or buy a pack of gum for a nickel, fifty cents was a big investment for
a three-minute ride.
But for a
kid too young to drive a car, it was worth fifty cents to speed around a track
and bang into other cars, driven by people you generally didn’t even know. If there was a cute young lady in another car
all the boys would gang up on that car.
Clearly blasting one’s bumper car into another again and again would be
the catalyst to an exciting romantic relationship.
Well that
never worked out, but it was great fun blasting another car, spinning it around
and banging it head on and not allowing it to move.
A few years
ago I took my then very young son for a bumper car ride. While waiting in line for an open car, I read
the “Bumper Car Rules.”
My reaction
was “Bumper car rules? There are no rules in bumper cars!” But oh, yes there are now.
Some of the
rules made sense:
Stay in the car until the ride stops
Keep the bar down at all times
Keep your hands and feet inside the
car
Do not hit another car head on
You must be over 43 inches tall…
WAIT! DO NOT HIT ANOTHER CAR HEAD ON!! WTF?
Bumper cars is
all about hitting the other cars, and head on is the best way to hit them. The name of the ride is BUMPER CAR, and they don’t want you to bump other cars?
Oh, you can
tap them, give them a glancing blow, even push them a little, but “DO
not hit another car head on!” And they were serious. While we were waiting, they stopped a ride
and warned someone about bumping head on.
My son
enjoyed the ride. He thought avoiding
collisions was fun. Me, I’ll never waste
another fifty cents on this ride (five dollars now).
A bumper car
ride where you can’t bump other cars?
What’s next,
no tag at school recess?
I'm with you on this one, no bumping kind of defeats the purpose of the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteThat's preposterous! It's like not allowing a book about coffee tables on a coffee table!
ReplyDeleteI always seemed to get into some tangled up mess that I couldn't get myself out of with lots of cars around me; didn't do much bumping any which way, especially not heads on. I preferred the gentler rides like the carousel :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Not much fun, then! Why the heck don't they change the name if bumping isn't allowed?
ReplyDeleteCome on joeh; it's only head on bumping you can't do. You can still bump from behind and bump sideways.
ReplyDeleteI never got a chance on the bumper cars, the crowd of boys waiting for them was just too big to fight through.
Actually, they have banned tag at some schools, it's damaging to the children's psyche to be "it". Also, some kids tag others too hard.
ReplyDeleteBumper cars were fun unless someone ruined your ride by making sure you couldn't move at all. Then it became boring.
My most hated ride! I guess we are opposites. I didn't see the fun of whiplash.
ReplyDeleteMore like no recess. I worked for a school board who considered 15 minutes of silent reading a day a total waste of instructional time. Read at home if you must, but certainly not in school, We will not pay teachers to watch children read. Or, heaven forbid, model that be reading themselves.
ReplyDeleteI loved bumper cars. Bumper cars in a pool at a water park -- the best!
I've never had the pleasure (or displeasure) my preferred ride was the tilt-o-whirl.
ReplyDeleteI loved bumper cars. I rode them a lot and I did all the head on crashes I could do. That's why they call it bumpers cars. Kids aren't allowed to have good old fashioned fun like we did. They might get hurt.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
At least they didn't make you wear a seat belt & a helmet, did they?
ReplyDeleteThey are going to have to change the name to 'glancing blow' cars. I can sort of see it though...I mean,....one good jolt and you've got whiplash.
ReplyDeleteGee that was a fun ride wasn't it? Not sure about the nudging version today. Guess too many lawyers got in the mix.
ReplyDeleteYou can't hit another car head on AND it costs $5.00? They should't be allowed to call them bumper cars.
ReplyDeleteI know these are a lt of fun but when I was in a bumper car at Seaside, Oregon, a kid rammed me good, hurting my back for a few weeks. Now I stay away from them.
ReplyDeleteBut don't you now feel kinder, gentler, and much more politically correct? ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger I love pin pals. One thing I wasn't good at is operating the bumber boats.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
opps...pin pall not pin
DeleteNo headon collisions? That's not right.
ReplyDeleteR
Five bucks for bumper cars? That's what's wrong with the world!!!
ReplyDelete