My day at the amusement park

Yesterday I accompanied 35 eleven and twelve year olds to a close-by amusement park for a physics field trip. My group was very balanced. We had three girls and three boys plus myself and a male Year 11 physics student.

Contrary to my misgivings the night before (which I wrote here), I actually enjoyed the day. We had the most gorgeous autumn weather. Clear sky, little wind and warm enough to take our jumpers (non-Aussies read - sweaters) off in the sun. The kids were pretty fun too. A few confessed they'd been a bit scared, but contrary to their expectations enjoyed the rides. Even I eventually went on the Cyclone rollercoaster and enjoyed it. I screamed, though it wasn't as scary as the Thunderbolt one I rode at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast when I was in high school. It had two vertical loops and a lot of speed (apparently 84km/hr).

We had a lot of fun on the bumper cars, even though the kids poo-pooed that to start with.

This massive ship-swing, I was more than happy to only watch. Also anything that went round and round.

We went through two Haunted Houses that were hardly scary at all. If there had been more sudden sounds and things jumping out at you, then it would have been scary. However one of the girls held my hand and kept her eyes closed through the whole of one and refused to do the second!

The hardest part of the trip was getting the kids to stop in the midst of the fun and consider the science. Our collective ignorance was fairly high. When we sat down at lunch time, we took a closer look at the questions they had to answer. Most of them hadn't even thought how the roller coaster got up the big slope at the beginning or how it stopped at the end. And as to why they didn't fall off the track in the cork-screw, most were totally mystified. One suggested air resistance. Some swore that the carriages were attached to the track! I knew a little more than that, but lacked the intricate knowledge to explain it well. Thankfully I'm not their teacher and could always say, "Ask your teacher."

I'm not happy that while our group was twice stopped by the teacher and their booklets were checked to see if they were making progress at filling it out, somehow my son or his group managed to slip under her radar. I sat next to him on the train home and he hadn't touched his booklet all day. I wonder what happened?

I have a lingering impression about Japanese parks in general; zoos, amusement parks and the more everyday kind-of park with playground equipment. Most of them seem old. Not particularly un-kept, but a little bit ancient. Like they were built for a previous era. I wonder why? The other thing they all have in common is the capacity for massive crowds. I think I know about that, we try to ignore the fact that we live in close proximity with 30 million other people, but sometimes you just can't ignore it. Thankfully hardly any of them were there yesterday and we almost never had to wait in line.

In reflection I would have been more comfortable doing an excursion that dealt with physiology and anatomy, but it wasn't too bad. Particularly because I didn't have to fill in a blue booklet demonstrating the physics I knew!