The Disney Chicklette has not always been the most daring of riders. Even after surpassing the height requirement around the age of 9 or so, our littlest one was wary of anything that went too fast, ducked, swerved, dipped, or jostled you. I was in my early teens at the time, and was the total opposite. I immediately gravitated toward any ride that pregnant women were cautioned against. On one particular trip to WDW, I was excited to conquer the (then) most famous coaster in the resort: Space Mountain. But since this was a family vacation and I was getting tired of riding everything by myself, I decided she needed to conquer her fear.
"Is it scary?" the Chicklette asked, lips quavering and eyes roaming the bright red lettering that screamed all the ride restrictions and warnings.
"No dummy, it's not scary," I spat back, as only a big sister can. "Read the sign - 'Space Mountain is a roller coaster thrill ride in the dark. It features sharp turns, sudden drops, and high speeds.' It'll be fun - look at all these other kids going on."
"I ...don't...wanna...."
"YOU ARE RUINING THIS VACATION FOR EVERYONE! I bet Mom would loooooove to ride the roller coaster - and she can't because she has to stay with you. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO SELFISH ALL THE TIME???!!!"
My mother jumped in here and reasoned with my sister, explaining that we would all be riding together, she should try it once, etc etc. Begrudgingly, my sister agreed and we got in line.
As we snaked through the queue, which is also somewhat in the dark, my sister's palms became incresingly clammy as she took in all the fake asteroids hurtling overhead. "I'm not gonna like this ...." she kept saying. "Shut up, you're fine," I kept answering. Ah, siblings.
Finally we got up to the loading dock area. All it took was seeing one rocket whoosh into oblivion - she chickened out almost immediately.
This was in the days before FastPasses, and I was understandly peeved that we had waited 30 minutes in line only for it to be a waste. My mother pleaded with me to calm down my adolescent angst and just go on the ride - they would meet me at the exit. "Fiiiiiiiiine," I sighed and off they went.
Although I was near the back of the loading dock, as a single rider, I got on and off the ride almost immediately. 4 minutes later, I raced down the moving walkway to tell my family how totally awesome the ride was and what a total loser my sister was for missing out on it. I walked into the arcade area where the ride empties .... no family. I walked around the entire place, searched every nook and cranny. They were nowhere to be found.
Panic. I left the arcade area, checked the Tomorrowland restrooms (because it would totally be just. like. her. to have to pee when they promised they would wait for me!), searched by the food stand. Nothing. My family had up and left me in Tomorrowland.
Except ... they wouldn't, right? I was a good kid, got straight A's, stayed out of trouble - I mean, I was the one who wanted everyone to go on the ride together. This totally would have NEVER happened if everyone would just LISTEN to me for once! And my stupid little sister had to go and ruin everything AGAIN. WHY IS MY FAMILY SO ANNOYING? GAH!!!!
I'm told that at this point my mother and sister, who had taken their sweet time meandering down to the exit while I had instead raced down and beat them to our meeting spot, then spotted me through the arcade windows, pacing back and forth and muttering to myself.
My mother made the mistake of nonchalantly asking, "What are you doing out here? You were supposed to meet us by the exit."
"I was supposed to meet you?! I WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET YOU?! You were supposed to meet me! And you didn't! You left me here! All alone! I didn't know where you guys were! How could you do this to me?!" I whipped around to my sister: "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Did my sister conquer her fear of roller coasters as planned? No. But I discovered a whole new fear - that of being abandoned in a crowded theme park, left to sleep on the TTA with Tom Morrow as my only companion.
Epilogue: In a cruel twist of fate, my sister chose to ride Space Mountain immediately following this incident, once I had detailed every minute of the ride to her, along with each individual minute's scariness factor. She giggled through the entire ride - "Tee hee! That was so much fun! Not scary at all! Weeeeee!" Mmm-hmm.
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