However, roller coaster rides are the perfect lightning rods metal objects that are usually the tall

It is time for another addition to my list of Things That Tick Me Off an occasional ranting about something I encounter that drives me to distraction or dismay in everyday life. This week s cathartic event was a trip on Sunday to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia to celebrate the birthday of one of my kids. Around four, the park experienced bad weather. nags head nc vacation rentals The rejection of the park however nags head nc vacation rentals proved as unpredictable as the storm.
In the late afternoon, nags head nc vacation rentals it began to rain at the park with the appearance of some dark storm clouds. The park announced that it would partially suspend operations, including rides, due to bad weather. At the same time, it announced that it was shutting down the trams to take people to their cars. Given the huge parking lots, shutting down the trams effectively nags head nc vacation rentals means for many people being unable to leave the park. I can understand shutting nags head nc vacation rentals down the trams for the protection nags head nc vacation rentals of drivers and staff. However, this continued even after the sun came out and rain stopped for over an hour. We were never told that the trams and parking services had re-opened. People walked around feeling nags head nc vacation rentals trapped in the park and staff could not say when the trams would reopen even after almost an hour of sunny weather. (The announcement system nags head nc vacation rentals seems to be operated on a pretty casual level. The night before we were told the park was closing in 15 minutes when it was closing in an hour and fifteen minutes). At a minimum, people should be informed when the trams were operating again. nags head nc vacation rentals There was a feeling expressed by many that they were at the roach motel where you can check in but you can never check out. I am not saying that this was an intentional act to keep people in the park eating and buying merchandise. I honestly assume no one felt they had to inform people that they could now leave by way of the trams (they could always walk on their own), but for those who are not as able to walk the long distance to their cars, it is a bit unreasonable to ask them to walk across the huge park to find out if the trams are operating.
Still I can understand the necessity of caution and, as a torts professor, I respected the need to put the safety of everyone first. After another hour of so, it began to thunder again with light rain. As lightning appeared with increased thunder, I decided to get our family out of the park and call Busch gardens a bust. It was then that my kids noticed that all of the rides had resumed. The parents were astonished. Of course, the kids insisted that the park would not have reopened the rides if they were not safe. Yet, to the amazement of the adults in our group, we watched as roller coasters like the Loch Ness and the Griffin continued to operate with loud thunder claps and visible lightning around the rides. I was flabbergasted. After about thirty minutes of lightning, another announcement was heard saying that the park was again temporarily suspending some operations due to weather. I did not hear the rides after that point but we were leaving. (By the way, the trams were again operating but we only found out by walking out of the park).
I should note that, while the birthday was a bust and we were out hundreds of dollars, I do not blame Busch Gardens. It cannot control the weather. Moreover, despite the ridiculously high prices for everything in the park, I think Busch Gardens nags head nc vacation rentals has improved. A few years ago, we found people working the park to be pretty rude and snippy. Now, the staff is much changed nags head nc vacation rentals and very helpful and very friendly. The park is very clean and the rides are a lot of fun.
Moreover, amusement parks still remain one of the safest recreational activities due largely to the attention to safety shown by companies. Each year an estimated 1.7 billion nags head nc vacation rentals rides are taken by nearly 300 million people. Yet, from 1994 to 2004, we have seen an average of just four deaths per year on rides .
However, roller coaster rides are the perfect lightning rods metal objects that are usually the tallest structure for miles. Not surprisingly, they are often hit by lightning. ( here and here and here and here ). The greatest danger is often killing the motor or electrical system leaving people stranded. There is also the low chance of a close hit to a car an extremely low probability but one with a high potential for injury.
The decision to resume nags head nc vacation rentals riding in the midst of thunder claps and lightning was a remarkably reckless act in my view for a major park. Ironically, while shutting down the trams (and thereby keeping most people in the park), the officials decided to eventually let the roller coasters operate. So, the park kept the little gondola cars grounded nags head nc vacation rentals that take people from one area to another. Other small rides were also kept closed, but not the huge roller coasters themselves. Indeed, nags head nc vacation rentals the big rides were closed when the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. They then resumed with the start of thunder and lightning.
Frankly, the day itself seemed doomed from the start for us. We stayed the night in a suite at the Holiday Inn Suites on Access Road in Williamsburg and woke up to find our hotel room flooded from a leak near a window. It was not a good night frankly with the wet floor and damp smell. However, it was so late that we did not call down since the kids were sleeping. When we returned from the park, the room smelled even worse like the inside of a gym shoe and the hotel had put a fan to try to dry the room. As I called down to speak to a manager to see if we could switch rooms, the manager Geoff was already knocking on the door. To his credit (and that of Holiday Inn), they moved us to a new and better room and even sent up a plate of cookies and milk for the kids. Geoff and the staff could not have been nicer. Thus, it is possible to face bad weather and still show an overriding nags head nc vacation rentals concern for your guests. We would not hesitate to come back and stay at the hotel. (I will also note that once again the Holiday Inn offers free wifi and free breakfasts for kids under 12 while higher end hotels continue to nickel and dime guests for every possible convenience). We had a swim in the pool and pizza in the room and did not feel quite as bad about the Busch Garden disaster.
As a complainer nags head nc vacation rentals I would share your expressions. As a former grammar school teacher I would comment that pronounce, grammar, tense and spelling are lacking in the article in the second full paragraph. After that I sped read the thing and got the gist. Places like Busch Gardens are for chumps. Had one taken the brats to a large art museum the rain in Spain would have stayed in the plain and it is not all that difficult to get from the door to a parking lot. Picasso and Van Gogt are just as entertaining to a kid as some ferris wheel. You can feed them in there and they will not be served hot dogs. Washington DC has a lot of artful venues.
One point: That Superman Ride of Steel Gets Struck by Lightning is obviously faked. (I say this having once taught physics to undergraduates.) I assume you knew that your posts are sometimes playful, and the video is quite entertaining. Of course actual nags head nc vacation rentals strikes happen all the time, just not like that.
I m conflicted about your Holiday Inn experience. I used to travel for work and had several nags head nc vacation rentals truly horrible experiences with HI including finding nags head nc vacation rentals fleas in my bed being dismissed by the management and arriving at 1AM to find my guaranteed late arrival nags head nc vacation rentals room had been rented. They found me a room in a place across the street in what turned out to be a sleazy, hooker filled flop house (doors opening closing as johns came went). But HI billed me for the room I had to fight for weeks to get them to refund my room.
It s been 10 years since I ve stayed in a Holiday Inn, despite the fact that I travel frequently. During my final experience EVER with that chain, in Jacksonville, FL, I checked in to discover a revolver nags head nc vacation rentals in my bedside table (which I refused to touch in case it had been used in a crime). Worse, there were bodily fluids (of a sexual nature) on top of the comforter. I almost tossed my suitcase onto that mess.
I am always irked when I stay at higher end hotels, I get nickeled and aimed (actually it is more like ten and twenties) for amenities, when I am paying a vast premium to begin with. More and more I make alternate choices, not because I cannot afford it, but because I feel abused.
Outrageous fees and prices inside parks (and ball stadiums and elsewhere) are far to common and again in my mind abusive. Why is a bottle of water $6.00 inside a ball park, or amusement park. When it is $2 in a conveneice store (a rip-off even there) and $0.30 sense at retail in a grocery store, let alone the wholesale bulk cost these places pay.) It irks me because these places are venues that suspend the laws of competition because they are limit access, then once within people are abused. We accept it by and large, but to me that does not make it right. I more often vote with my feet and avoid them, when I otherwise nags head nc vacation rentals would participate.
One of my favorite stories was going to an Anaheim Angels game some years ago on a very hot summer day. I was with my buddy and his two parents in their eighties. As we go to the gate, the guards confiscated the water bottles from my friends elderly nags head nc vacation rentals parents, even after we pointed out the blistering hot weather, and the health concerns. They told us the party line BS that is was for safety. Very nice. Once we got in, they were selling the same brand and size waters inside. Thanks Disney.
We go basket ball games at the Staples Center. That is another microcosm of abuse. The costs of products and services inside is not what might be deemed fair and reasonable, not even what is just abusive. They seem to be correlated to ride the razors edge just short of infuriating you and having you walk out and never return.
The weather in Central-Eastern Virginia was in flux this weekend. It rained Saturday morning but by 11:00 a.m. the sun was out, it was 91 degrees, and I was working in the yard a