My Dad took me to an amusement park, treated me to bumper car rides and said that was his favorite ride as a kid. (I think that might be the last time my father and I agreed on anything. )
That was during the Eisenhower Administration. I continued to enjoy bumper-cars, though doubt if I ever rode them during Nixon, Ford, Carter, or Reagan Administrations. During the Bush, Sr. Admin. I asked the young future Mrs. Septimus to ride with me, but she said she was too grown up for that! :smack:
Now is the annual Festival for the Local Spirit Queen in our little town, and this is a little town with pretension of grandeur! They even set up bumper-cars this year, and I rode with both kids and a nephew. (Mrs. Septimus sitting it out again.) Tickets were only 60 cents apiece, but we went through a lot of tickets! There was no one else playing as old as septimus, but some half my age started playing when they saw me.
These festivals no longer have dance concerts (knives and guns wielded by jealous teenage boys were causing too much trouble), so many teenagers stood on the rim of the bumper-car lot dancing to the loud jivey music. The more daring boys stepped down into the rink to dance (adding to the fun, since bumper-cars is about dodging obstacles!) We might go back tomorrow.
(I hope this was mundane and pointless enough. :dubious: )
I tried bumper cars when I was a little kid but could never get into it. It always seemed like there were far too many cars in the space provided so it was impossible to move around. Bumper boats are another story. Love those! All the fun of bumper cars with the additional chance of drowning!
You had bad luck - I agree that an over-crowded bumper-car rink can take all the fun out of it. Properly rigged, though, bumper-cars are far more fun than the boats - they go faster!
Bumper cars are fun, sure (I remember when they used to call them Dodge’Em Cars), but for my money, you can’t beat a good Tilt-A-Whirl or Spider Octopus.
It might not come around anymore but the travelling carnival that sets up in an empty lot near Pentagon City and other places in northern Virginia probably has 'em. The Arlington County Fair might. Otherwise I think you need to visit Ocean City, you should find some there.
No, sir, neither mundane nor pointless. However, as there is not currently a dedicated forum for Threads That Make Oak Smile (TTMOS–catchy, ain’t it?), this was a good forum to post it. I probably haven’t thought about riding bumper cars in 30 years.
They really need to have an adults-only night at the traveling carnivals sometimes. I’d like to ride the bumper cars, and maybe steal a kiss at the top of the Ferris Wheel again…
Bumpers are far from pointless. Properly used they could keep more people off the roofs of tall buildings. My favorite are at Knoebels Amusement Park (do a YouTube search on Knoebels for some of the action there) which runs the Ike-era Lusse cars. Its like hitting people with actual cars!
My grand daughters and I went on the bumper cars a number of times last week when we visited Seaside, Oregon. First time I had done that in years. If I had the money, I would like to have my own personal bumper car setup.
Jumpin’ Jesus on a pogo stick! Everybody knows that bumper cars are about bumping into things. Why the hell do you think they call them ‘bumper cars’, anyway!?
I had no idea how much I loved bumper cars until I finally got to try them as an adult. Whenever we go to Cedar Point, I tell the kids to find me either on the Carousel or on the Bumper cars. I could spend all day smacking into people!
I enjoy driving at high speed into a pack, but steering “skillfully” and finding a hole to squeeze through!
But enough teenagers are out to get septimus that I’m not deprived of the pleasure of being bumped!
We’ve not yet decided if we’re going back tonight. Mrs. Septimus thinks the rival teen gangs brought out their knives after we left. I’ve never seen such a fight, and wonder if Mrs. Septimus is just trying to keep me from having too much fun. :dubious:
There are some parks (I won’t mention Waldameer by name) who tune their bumper cars down so slow that you can’t ramp up - you don’t bump so much as stick together for a moment or two. Among the amusement park clubs (such as DAFE, ACE or Coaster Zombies) we tend to call such rides “Excuse-me Cars”.
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