The magic is still there

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FACEBOOK.COM/ENCHANTEDKINGDOM.PH

THE AUTHOR riding the Enchanted Kingdom’s Space Shuttle. — FACEBOOK.COM/ENCHANTEDKINGDOM.PH

By Joseph L. Garcia, Senior Reporter

AFTER EVERYTHING I’ve tasted in the years between my childhood visits to Enchanted Kingdom to my 30s, I thought the theme park, built in 1995, would get stale. Not a chance. On a trip to the Sta. Rosa, Laguna, theme park last month, I learned how nice it was to revisit places that brought us joy in childhood (and especially now with adult wallets).

The theme park, I am glad to note, has changed little, save for a few new rides: they have the new EKlipse, a ride with rotating arms, and Agila The EKsperience (think Soarin’ Over California in Disneyland, but set here; due to time constraints, we did not try this ride). They also reopened the Wheel of Fate, the old-fashioned Ferris wheel taking riders up 130 feet to offer a view of the park (which, due to the same reasons, we were not able to ride).

Enchanted Kingdom gave me all-day passes, and along with my friend Alyssa and her 10-year-old daughter Lia (an alias), we all went to the very back of the park for the Jungle Log Jam, a water ride that lifts a log that seats four up a slope followed by a drop into water that splashes everyone inside the car. This was Lia’s first “big girl” ride, but we noted that there are now seatbelts in the ride (our high school memories are now hazy, but we don’t recall using them as teens). After the climb and the splash, Alyssa hastily wiped her face because of her worry about the water’s purity. But as we were laughing as we disembarked from our log, we concluded we had a pretty good time (except for Lia, who resisted going on the next ride).

It was the Space Shuttle: in our teen years, it was seen as a rite of passage to ride on this rollercoaster that turned guests upside-down six times, forward and backward. We actually lost count how many times we were flipped by the ride, and our only real memory was screaming our heads off. Alyssa was the same girl I sat with on this ride as a 14-year-old, and we noted both with some satisfaction that now in our 30s, we could still do the Space Shuttle (but not anytime soon again). Another girl I knew, who was also at the park, approached me afterwards and asked if I was the one screaming all the R-18 expletives during the ride (I was). Well, I wasn’t allowed to back then, but who’s going to tell me not to, now?

Another thing I did that I didn’t do back then was get my pictures from the rides. They were expensive then, and they’re still expensive now (P350 for each photo! One can access them digitally through a QR code provided with each photo, but still). No longer tied down with a limited allowance, I asked before getting on any ride where the cameras were so I could prepare and pose. I’m glad to know that I can hold a pose on a thrill ride.

After riding the relatively tame childhood classic Roller Skater (as a favor to Lia — due to the ride’s popularity with the younger crowd, we were in line for more than an hour), Alyssa and I promised to join Lia in something more thrilling: the EKstreme, a drop ride that takes one 40 meters up in the air while strapped in one’s seat, before going on a fall at 76 kilometers per hour. We were not able to ride this when we were younger, so there was no familiar feeling to lean back on. The cameras captured our suffering: my lips were pursed tightly on our ascent (I developed a discomfort with heights after high school), then the various photos showed my initial gasp then scream as we dropped, then my face scrunching up waiting for our descent, then a whistle of relief while clutching the black pearl necklace I hid under my shirt (for safety reasons).

Taking out my pearls, we decided on something we thought would be more calming: the new EKlipse, the ride with the rotating arms with a gondola on each end. The theme park’s website says the ride was designed by Italian company Zamperla, and takes one up 36 feet in the air. We were wrong about the ride’s calming quality: the ride’s spin offered us a screaming view of the park at nighttime, not to mention more than a few minutes just dangling up in the air. Of course, after the ride was over, we shook ourselves off and figured it was really great fun (though not to be repeated soon).

Alyssa took Lia to the Grand Carousel for something really calming, then went to the Rio Grande Rapids, another rite-of-passage ride from our teens. On a circular boat, a party is taken through a rushing “river,” and waterfalls and the inevitable splashes are designed to give one a good soak. Since guests emerge from the ride dripping wet, the theme park has installed dryers (that we swore were not there 20 years ago, in 2006), but they cost about P200 to use — and at that point we had already spent thousands on ride photos. Alyssa whispered that she knew a better way to dry off: the Flying Fiesta, another classic. One rides in a giant swing that takes your legs high off the ground, but spins at a less-thrilling pace.

By the time we got off the ride, it was 8 p.m. and the park was closing, so it was time to go home.

I’m glad to note that after everything we’ve been through since high school, our bodies and spirits can still withstand everything Enchanted Kingdom can throw at us. The rides gave us wholesome highs and brought out an innocence that we’d forgotten was still there. If we remember correctly, the park’s old tagline was “The magic is here,” but it has since changed to “The magic lives forever.” We’re inclined to agree.