Six Flags is stingy with their ice!

Whew! We spent the day at Six Flags yesterday. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "It was 104°F Yesterday! Are you derranged" Well, we are now, primarily as a result of heat exhaustion. We're also under the delusion that having two free tickets to Six Flags, thanks to the Six Flags 6 hour reading club, means we will "save" money. Let's not kid ourselves, we ain't saving Jack! I was born and raised in Arlington, Texas, home of the original, the first, Six Flags over Texas. (For those of you who are not from here, you may wonder, "Why do they call it Six Flags?" Well…it's time fer a little Texas History Lesson. But that can wait until the end of the post.*) So being a native Arlingtonian, I cut my teeth on Six Flags, and there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the park. However, I need to take this opportunity to file an informal grievance with the place after our visit. Holy-Chili-Cheese-Dog, did that cost a heck of a lot of money! It was $15 just to park the car. But, really, what got me was how stingy they were with the ice! After doing some quick calculations, we determined that it would be less expensive for our family to purchase two of the freely-refillable "Souvenir" (God knows why anyone would want to keep one of these things!) cups for $15.00 each, and have them filled with water, than it would be for us to spend the day purchasing water bottles. With five of us and the water bottles costing $3.50 each, we would hit that $30.00 mark pretty fast. So that's what we did. However, after the first fill up, the folks in the little drink kiosks consistently put less and less ice in the cups. Generally, they were less than half full. I assume the employees have been instructed to do this unless asked otherwise. I assume that's because ice is expensive. I also have to assume, based on my observations yesterday, that the employees in the drink stations were instructed to work at a glacial pace, maybe they thought that was a way to make their precious ice last longer. I can not imagine working more slowly than those folks were working. But the stingyness with the ice is truly a false economy, because what happens when you fill my cup with very little ice, is that the ice melts almost immediately. So, I'm just going to dump my now melted ice into the bushes and come back (after standing in an unnecessarily interminable line) and ask you for more. So, basically, by giving me less ice, you are encouraging me to throw it away. Arrghh! At one point, after standing in a line and asking for ice water, the girl said, "Oh you don't want to get water here because it just comes from the sink, you want to go next door to the funnel cake stand." Well, guess what, I have just stood in this line, I can't say as how I'm jumping up and down to go stand in another one! I don't care if her water comes from the sink! (Where else would tap water come from?) I'm blistering hot, from standing in this line for 20 minutes waiting for her to help, at most 3, customers ahead of me, I just want my ice water, I want it now, and then I want to go stand in the shade. Please. Please can I go stand in the shade? Like I said, Whew!

Now, the nice thing is that I got to watch my kiddos' faces light up with elation when riding some of the same rides I rode when I was just their size. Like the Sombrerro, for instance, oh how I love that thing! With a fresh coat of paint, and a scrubbed clean look, it was like a time warp. We rode it several times and I got to sit with each of them in turn. Eleanor giggled gleefully and chattered on about the, "Big Yellow Hat!" I think she was reminded of the one Curious George's friend wears. Reid turned into a limp noodle and let the ride wave him about, loving that flip flopping sensation in his tummy. Kenneth just grinned, his impish little gapped tooth smile just about as wide as a long Texas mile. We didn't get home until late, they were all just completely filthy, I dunked them each in the bath, scrubbed them up, and then tucked them exhausted, but happy into their sweet little beds, and not a single one the least bit sunburned thanks to my diligence. Someday, maybe they'll take their kids there and feel the same way. Hope you all have a wonderful day, and that you are enjoying your summer!

*The reason that the park was named Six Flags is because the areas of the park all represent the Six Flags that have, at one time or another, flown over the land that is now the Great State of Texas. (Although, the last time I checked, the Gotham City flag never flew over Texas.) Those flags are, in order: Spain, France, Mexico, The Republic of Texas, The United States of America, The Confederate States of America and the United States again. You can read more about that here: The Six National Flags of Texas