Rainbow's End

Written 29/11/11 to 5/12/11

Ok so I've lived about 5 or 10 minutes drive from Rainbow's End, New Zealand's largest theme park, for my entire life, but I'd never actually been there, until a couple of weeks ago...

The day of Friday ?? November began like any other day - searching for clothes to wear, deciding what to eat for breakfast...lol Finally my uncle managed to drag all four of us out the door, and into his car, with Mum giving last-minute instructions all the while. =)

When we arrived, we lined up to be ticked off the list of homeschool attenders, and recieve our wristband-our pass to get on the rides for the day. Homeschoolers had come from all over Auckland, and even a large group from Hamilton! 5 or so school buses also came with eager students. 

This is just a portion of the crowds; to the left were the school groups.

While waiting in line (the first of the waiting we would do that day), I was pleased to meet some friends I hadn't seen in a loooong time! Jarrod also met up with the Campbells', who he was to spend the day with.

Eventually we were allowed inside the park, and wondered what ride we should do first? Uncle Pete decided the Motion Master would be the one, so we proceeded to line up, and finally, enter it. The current video was Journey to the Center of the Earth, and I think Uncle Pete enjoyed it, but Monique, Danielle, and I weren't so enthusiastic. lol The three of us spent a minimal amount of time looking at the screen...

  

Uncle Pete thought it would be good to do a more Danielle-suited ride next, so we proceeded to Cadbury Castle. She and Monique enjoyed the carousel, and I did the Dragon's Flight with Monique, but Danielle deemed it 'too scary.'

After a bit of a walk, Monique decided she would like to do the Invader, so Uncle Pete took her on that. Apparently she did ok until the first rise, then, well, let's just say Uncle Pete was a bit worried about her..

Next up was..um... the Bumper Boats, I think? The waiting in line actually took longer than the ride... Anyway I kinda enjoyed crashing into people...lol

Oh great, my brain's fuzzing out a bit here, but I think we did the Dodgems, had lunch,  then did the Log Flume, before riding the Pirate Ship.

ok random but anyway...lol

Then Monique and Danielle rode the Jumpin' Star (mini fearfall).

Uncle Pete and I did the Gold Rush, while Monique and Danielle waited at the entrance/exit.
We then proceeded to ride the aforementioned Pirate Ship three times in a row, on which I met some friends, so yeah we had fun raising our arms (you are instructed to raise your arms if you feel sick so they can stop the ride, but I seriously wonder how they know if someone's actually sick!), and screaming on the count of three....lol

Uncle Pete (half jokingly) asked if we wanted to ride the Roller Coaster. He looked slightly shocked when I said yes...I'm not really THAT much of a scaredy-cat am I?!? or maybe I am... *grin* I replied that I seriously couldn't go to Rainbow's End and NOT ride it..lol thats one ride I've read about/seen in books since I was little! So yeah I did that a couple of times, managing to sit next to Bernie the second time =)

I then decided I wanted to ride the Invader (I hadn't had the guts earlier in the day when Uncle Pete and Monique did it!). Lol I think it may have been something like what Uncle Pete said - it was getting late in the day and I was freaking out 'cause I hadn't done much!  So yeah I did that with Uncle Pete. and yes it was AWESOME!!!! lol!

Uncle Pete and I did the Gold Rush again, this time with Monique:

Then the Dodgems again for Danielle, and (you're not gonna believe this one!) as I had decided I wanted to ride the Fear Fall, we ran to it, but unfortunately it had closed for the day. Finally, as it was kinda late, I rushed to ride the Invader again, this time sitting next to one of the Holmes girls. =)
Last of all, I raced over to see if the Roller Coaster was still open, but unfortunately the 'closed' sign was out...

And that was the end of our (first ever) trip to Rainbow's End! Tired and sunburnt, we headed home, where we watched Mr Bean's Holiday and Soul Surfer, two cool movies! =)

Until next time,
Bianca =)