On a sunny afternoon last week, my brother and I took a stroll over to Six Flags' Great America for some amusement park entertainment. I hadn't been to the park since 2007, and I had decided that it was high time for me to satisfy my roller coaster craving. After breezing through the gate, we headed towards the grey, seven-story building to the east to check out The Dark Knight.
I had never been on an indoor roller coaster, and was curious to see what the ride was all about. After moving through an initial queue, we found ourselves in a media room, where a large video screen showed the mayor of Gotham City issuing a statement regarding the city's crime rate, and how the problem would be solved without the help of Batman. The picture began to jump and strange images appeared, and it became apparent that the newsreel had been hijacked by The Joker. We passed through a corridor and were greeted at a turn by ourselves, that is, we came face-to-face with a "living mirror" that showed us watching ourselves in real-time on a reflection in the wall. As riders waved and twisted to see the mirror mimic their movements, The Joker's head appeared, bobbing and jiggling, on the reflection in place of their own.
Ascending to a dilapidated train station, we hopped onto a four-person cart and sped off into the darkness. Bizarre movements and visuals flashed through my line of sight as we were whipped side-to-side through hairpin turns, entering and emerging from darkness as we climbed up and dropped down hills. At the end of the ride, we staggered back out into the daylight and regained our sense, and the warm weather led us instinctively in the direction of Hurricane Harbor.

We passed the giant blue and yellow funnel, where kids on tubes screamed and splashed their way down from the top of the cone to the pool below. It seemed that a siesta was in order, and I could think of no better place to take one than on the Harbor's river. Within minutes I was lounging on an innertube under a blue sky, floating through waterfalls past giant, water-shooting heads that looked like they were visiting the park on vacation from Easter Island.

After drying off, it was time to stroll the park some more to take in the sights and sounds. Riders on the Giant Drop plummeted breathlessly to the ground only to regain their composure upon stopping. After circling around and soaking up the festivities, the park was nearing closing time, and we decided to take in one more coaster. Our ride of choice turned out to be the Raging Bull, and we stood in line beneath the giant loops as cheering thrill-seekers passed us upside-down overhead. Before we knew it it was our turn to "challenge the Bull", and anticipation mounted as we strapped in and began climbing the giant hill that begins the ride. Soon we were floating weightlessly through loops and turns, as riders on our train screamed and made faces for the camera. The ride came to an end and we made our way out of the park, and I reflected with pleasure while exiting that after 20-plus years of riding roller coasters, they still packed the same thrill for me that they did during my childhood.

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