Published: 29 Sep 2022

From Previous Chapter:

It had been a very long day for the traveler’s and Mr. Ken told the boys not to stay up watching the television. He told everyone they would meet in the lobby at ten in the morning and go out for breakfast and then head out to the park for another day of fun.

The boys were up in the rooms by 9:30, whereas the adults were enjoying a few adult drinks in the hotel’s bar before they headed up to their hotel rooms. When they arrived, the boys were in bed and fast asleep. Then they too were soon in bed and asleep, as well.

At breakfast that next morning, the boys said they all got a good night’s sleep, but complained that even after almost eleven hours of rest they still felt tired. Mr. Wayne told them they’d all gotten up at o’dark thirty the previous day, had a three-hour flight, lost an hour as they traveled east, which affected their circadian rhythm, and then they ran all around the amusement park for seven hours.

The Estate Master told them their body wasn’t used to all that abuse, and it would probably take until Wednesday or Thursday before their body felt ‘normal’ to them again. He told them not to overdo it the next few days. The boys all looked at one another and then laughed that they would slow down over the next few days.

Mr. Ken asked the boys if they were going to break up into the same groups as they had yesterday. But Mr. Dan said he was going to change places with Mr. Wayne, so he could enjoy the bigger rides, too.

The Covers arrived at Fantasy Fun Park just before one o’clock and Mr. Ken asked them to be back at the operations building by seven o’clock. He told them he wanted them there so they could stop and have a good meal before heading back to the hotel to pack.

The group headed over to the FFF Pass Sales Booth who knew to issue them each their own Fastest Pass for the day as they had yesterday. Once they all had their individual passes, they broke up into the two groups and then headed into different directions.

Billy asked Mark which rides he wanted to ride, now that he knew what the park offered. Mark selected a few of the tamer ones to begin with, but as the day wore on, he began to try the ones Billy convinced him to try the previous day.

When he rode the Galleon, he decided to ride with the twins in the uppermost seats. When he came off the ride, he was smiling ear-to-ear, and he told Billy he was beginning to ‘face his fears’.

Mark did that to many of the other rides. He eagerly rode the Tomahawk and he even rode on one of the outer seats. He went back to the Octopus and eagerly rode that one, the Tilt-A-Whirl, the Scrambler and the train. He also rode the other two new rides, the Surfer Wave and Super Flyer, and he enjoyed them both.

But there was a ride that was gnawing at him in the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to ride it or not, and he didn’t want to mention it to anyone, at least, not just yet. But he knew he needed to decide to ride it, or not, before they had to meet back at the operations building.

The two groups passed one another a few times as the park wasn’t so large that they shouldn’t have. They did exchange tidbits of which ride was best and where they were headed to next. They then continued on to their next ride.

Mark’s group did come to the Faster Up ‘N’ Down for the third time and the first two times everyone, but Mark, rode it. Even Billy tried it and found that his insides didn’t hurt too much, but he didn’t ride it the second time around.

This time Mark decided he wanted to ride it. He told Mr. Dan that he needed to ‘face his fears’ and he asked him if he would sit next to him. Mr. Dan readily agreed to the boy’s request. Billy was surprised the boy would want to try the ride that would shoot him straight up 150 feet and then let him free-fall the same amount.

Everyone, but Billy, took a seat on the ride and when everyone was belted in, the ride operator got the OK from the ride attendants and he set the pressures and before the Cover’s knew it the seats were shot up the 150-foot tower.

Mark didn’t know what to think as he found himself racing straight up the tower faster than he ever felt before. The seat assembly bounced a few times, then it rose to the top. There, Mark got a good view of a section of the park. But, before he knew it, there was a hissing of air and then the seat assembly free-fell back down toward the ground where they also bounced up and down a few times before settling to a stop.

“Why didn’t I ride this yesterday?” Mark said out loud to no one in particular.

Billy heard him and told his little ‘brother’ that he’s at that age where he isn’t sure of what he likes and doesn’t like, and that he needs to try things to know what he can handle right now as a ten-year-old.

Mark asked his ‘big brother’ what if he didn’t like the ride. Billy told him he could wait to ride it again when he got older, or to ride it some more to get used to it, but after he rode something, he knew what other rides similar to it would be like.

Finally, it was getting late and Mark told Mr. Dan that he wanted to ride the Comet. The boy told the man that he heard the people screaming when they went up and down the hills, but they came off the ride laughing and he wanted to know why.

Mr. Dan told him he would gladly ride the Comet with him and that they would ride in the middle of the train, so he would get a general idea of what the ride was all about. The man then told Mark that the front and the back seats gave the rider a completely different experience and he wasn’t ready for that on his first ride.

By the time Mark was ready to ride the Comet, all of the Covers had the same idea to ride the roller coaster as their last ride of the day. They were all surprised that Mark was also riding it. Mr. Ken and Joseph Shartz were out in the park and the park’s owner noticed his group waiting to be called to load the train, so he walked over to them and asked if he could join them.

When their turn came, the Cover group walked up the Exit, but the ride attendant told Mr. Ken he didn’t have a Fastest Pass and he couldn’t ride. Mr. Ken smiled and told the person he was doing his job very well, but, as the owner of the park, he was making an executive decision and he was riding with his ‘sons’.

The ride attendant was now perplexed at what he just heard. He had no idea who the man was, so he called the ride supervisor on the two-way radio and was now holding up the coaster train. The ride operator called for him to let the people through, but the attendant told him there was a person in the group who was not authorized to ride.

Mr. Shartz saw there was a problem at the top of the Exit, so he hurried up there to see what the problem was. When he arrived, he heard the argument between the ride attendant and the operator that there was someone trying to game the FFF Pass system by saying he was the park’s owner and would be riding with that group.

The people in line were getting restless and wanted them to dispatch the coaster train, so they could finally ride, as well. Mr. Shartz went over to the two people arguing and told them that Mr. Thomas was indeed the park’s owner, and they should have known that as his picture is on the bulletin board, down in the operations building.

Mr. Shartz motioned the ten people over to load into the coaster train. They took up the first two cars and the first seats of the third. The people in line were even more pissed they’d done that, after having to wait almost eight minutes for the decision to be made to let those ten people load onto the coaster train.

Mark was apprehensive as the coaster train rolled down a slight incline and then caught the chain that would pull the train to the top of the first hill. Mark looked around as the coaster train rose up the 110-foot hill. He loved that the lights were coming on in the park and making it look so festive.

While that was going on, Mr. Shartz was telling his ride operator and two attendants they better remember who that man and those boys were, as they will be back in the future and they better not be treated like that ever again. And, he told them they better tell their friends the same thing.

As the coaster train crested that first hill, Mark tensed and grabbed Mr. Dan’s hand and the safety bar as he saw the front of the train begin to fall over the hill. Mark screamed all the way down the hill, up the next hill and down the second one. It wasn’t until he went up the third hill, when the coaster had let off some of its speed, that the youngster began to relax.

Mr. Dan felt the blood rush back into his hand when Mark let go of it. He smiled to himself and watched as Mark was beginning to enjoy the ride. The train went up and down a few more hills before it reached the end, went around a curve, then headed back to the station.

Mark was now thoroughly enjoying the Comet roller coaster. He was also happy he had decided to finally ride it. He was especially glad he was at the park with his ‘big brother’ and not his mom, who would have told him that he would be scared, for the rest of his life, if he rode that roller coaster.

Mark loved his mom, but she always went off the deep end when it came to keeping him safe. When they went to amusement parks, he could only ride things that went around and around and didn’t get high off the ground. Here, with his foster family, she wasn’t looking over his shoulder and keeping him from ‘facing his fears’.

The return hills had the boy rise slightly out of his seat and he looked to Mr. Dan to see if that was normal. The man told him it was called ‘air-time’ and coaster enthusiasts loved roller coasters that gave that to them. Mark smiled at hearing that.

When the coaster train arrived back at the station, everyone was laughing and whooping and hollering, including Mark. The Covers got out of their seats and headed towards the exit. As they did that, the ride attendant apologized to Mr. Ken for not believing he was the park’s owner. Mr. Ken thanked him for coming to him and saying that and hoped he would still be working there when he came back. They shook hands and the park’s owner caught up with his group.

After dinner that evening, Mr. Ken told everyone to pack and they were to meet down in the lobby by eight o’clock, so they could load the limos and head over to the airport. He told them their flight was scheduled to leave by 9:30 and they had a 90-minute, or so, flight to their next destination. He also asked the boys not to stay up too late.

Even though they got to bed at a decent time, the Cover boys arrived down in the hotel lobby pulling their bags and yawning at the same time. The last two days had been busy ones and they weren’t used to all that running around.

The limos were outside waiting for them, so everyone took their bags outside and the drivers began to load them into the vehicles. When Kyle had passed his bag to the man, he asked ‘dad’ Ken if he had time to grab a muffin and a carton of milk that he could take with him. The man told him to hurry. Matthew and Mark followed suit.

At the airport, ‘Dad’ Ken told everyone to drain their dragons before going through security. Since this airport wasn’t as large as Austin-Bergstrom it didn’t take as long to be cleared to load onto their air charter aircraft and be seated. And before long the travelers found themselves flying onto their second stop, Mountain Top Amusement Park.

After their ride to the airport and their flight time, the Covers arrived at their next hotel around twelve noon. Mr. Ken was pleased they had four rooms and this time he had Bill, Eric and Charles share the extra room to the chagrin of Robert, who was staying with his dad this time. ‘Dad’ Ken explained to the boys that he was going to move the boys around and for them to just go with the flow.

After the travelers found their rooms and unpacked some of their clothes, they met down in the lobby. They loaded into their transportation and went out for lunch before they headed out to the amusement park. That gave their stomachs time to digest their meal.

Ben Walthers, Mountain Top’s operations manager, was waiting for the owner of the park and his entourage to arrive. He greeted them warmly, and Mr. Ken introduced Dan Fischer and Mark Golderson to him. Ben then had someone take all of the adults and boys over to the FFF Pass Booth to get them their Fastest Passes for the day.

As the travelers broke into two groups, as they had at Fantasy Fun Park, Mr. Ken and Ben sat down and talked about the new President of Three Finger Entertainment’s eagerness to get moved and settled into his new job. They also discussed how his family was getting ready to move and when they planned to house hunt and then make their move.

Ben Walthers told the park’s owner they were planning to travel to his area next week to search for a home and would probably move around the end of September or middle of October depending on the settlement date of their home. Mr. Ken was pleased his new president was moving along and would be in place by Thanksgiving.

Mr. Ken did tell Ben about the new ride he had ordered for all of the parks and that it would be installed during the fall and winter to be ready for the park’s spring opening. The two men discussed the new ride and that Ben would hit the ground running and would be responsible to make sure the installations went smoothly when he took the reins as President of Three Finger Entertainment, LLC.

Just as at the last amusement park, Mark didn’t know which ride he wanted to try first. He and his ‘big brother’ walked to the first one they came to, and they rode it. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it got Mark started in getting himself ready to ride the bigger rides at the park.

The younger boys did come to the three new rides later that afternoon and they all got on them. Flying Around Town was the signature lay-down 2 passenger gondola that let the riders experience the sensation of free flight with a wave-like oscillating motion. This kite flyer model was the 16-gondola capacity model which held 32 people per ride.

Mark liked it. He and Billy rode together and they talked about it as they rode. The youngster told his older ‘brother’ how it was just like the Super Flyer they rode at Fantasy Fun Park. Billy told his younger ‘brother’ that Mr. Ken had bought the same ride for his three parks, but called it something different at each one.

The younger boys also rode the Ferris wheel. It wasn’t anything spectacular. It was just the standard height Ferris wheel, found at many amusement parks that rose up to a height of about 100 feet. Mark liked it because he could see much of the park from its highest point.

The boys also rode the Scrambler. They mixed up the seating arrangements, but they made sure that Mr. Wayne and Billy weren’t in the same seat. Mark did make sure he rode with one of them though.

When they rode the Octopus, Billy told Mark he knew what to expect and he needed to ride it with one of his other ‘brothers’. So, Mark and Matthew got together and rode the ride. After he’d gotten off, the newest Cover thanked his ‘big brother’ for making him realize he could do some rides without having a bigger person ride with him.

The boys liked riding the Himalaya. It went fast, both forwards and backwards, and they played music and blared sirens and other loud horns during the ride. Billy remembered how you got squashed into the seat as you went around, so he begged off riding it. He told them he didn’t want to hurt his insides.

This time Mark buddied up with Kevin and Matthew, while Kyle rode with Mr. Wayne. When the boys came off the ride they were laughing and giggling at how fast the ride went in both directions and how much they enjoyed that.

As they came up to the Skateboard, Billy told Mark that the ride was exactly like the Surfer Wave they rode the other day, but this one was designed to represent a skateboard in a skate park. The boys got on it and they enjoyed the painted skateboard as it went back and forth on the track as it also spun around representing them skating in a bowl.

After that ride the boys rode a few other rides in the park. They did pass by the wooden roller coaster that the twins wanted to walk to the top of the last time they were there, but the insurance regulations wouldn’t allow them to. They then decided to ride it, so everyone, but Billy and Mark, rode it. Those two Covers waited at the exit for them.

It was getting late, and they wanted to ride The Hatchet before they had to meet up with ‘dad’ Ken, so they quickly walked over there and used their Fastest Passes. Mark looked at it and saw it was just like the Tomahawk he rode at Fantasy Fun Park and he eagerly waited his turn.

When it was their turn, Mark, Billy and Mr. Wayne got in the same row opposite the twins and Matthew. They got strapped in and the ride attendant came by to check their restraints and before long the ride began.

Mark couldn’t believe he was riding something that would not only take him upside down but over the top at 70 feet high in one direction and then reverse direction. When he got off the ride, the smile he wore was ear-to-ear.

At dinner that evening, Mark couldn’t stop telling his foster dad how much he loved riding all the rides at the two amusement parks he’d taken him to, and he was going to get to do it all over again tomorrow.

The youngest foster boy added that his mom and dad would never have allowed him to do anything like that if they’d been there, and now, he couldn’t wait until his dad joined them on Friday and sees him riding all these rides.

The travelers met in the lobby at ten the next morning and they headed off to get some breakfast. The boys didn’t want an elaborate sit-down meal. They just wanted some hand-held fast food they could eat as they drove out to the amusement park. They wanted as much time in the park as they could get, to enjoy the rides.

On their ride out to Mountain Top, the twins told Mark some more about their first trip there. They told him how it rained and these two men, Bill and John, took them on a lights-on walking tour of Ghoul World, the park’s haunted, dark ride.

The twins told their youngest ‘brother’ how they saw how the ride cars followed a track and when it rode over a sensor a scary character would activate. They told Mark that it was something they would always remember as they never ever saw anything like that and after the tour, they were allowed to ride it, twice.

When the Covers arrived at the park, they headed to the FFF Pass Booth to receive their Fastest Passes. Of course, Mark wanted to head directly over to Ghoul World, so he could see what the twins were talking about. Mark, for some reason, had missed it as he walked the park the previous day, and now he just had to see what that ride was all about.

Mark and his ‘big brother’, Billy, rode the same ride car through the haunted dark ride. Mark was startled a few times when the characters came out of their hiding place as the gondola rode over a sensor. The youngster grabbed Billy, who laughed, as he’d ridden the ride when he was there after school was over and sort of knew what to expect.

The entire group rode Ghoul World and they all waited for everyone to finish before heading on to other rides. And since this was Mark’s first time there, they let Mark choose where to go next. The newest Cover chose to go on a roller coaster as long as Mr. Dan rode with him.

The group was surprised Mark would choose a roller coaster, and they were all happy he had. Mr. Dan was also glad the boy did, as he was also enjoying riding the bigger, thrill rides.

Mountain Top had a mine train roller coaster called, Through The Mountain, that was considered a family friendly ride. It didn’t have a very high first hill but did have lots of turns and twists. The coaster trains were boxy and looked like mine cars as they followed the track that went through tunnels and around big boulders.

After the ride, Mark told everyone he needed to ride that one to get his courage up to ride the bigger ones next. And that was where they headed. But they didn’t go to the biggest coaster. They stopped at another family type coaster called Mountaineer.

This wooden roller coaster was about 80 feet high and just over 3600 feet long with hills and valleys that had twists and was considered an out-and-back.

This time, Mr. Dan had Mark ride further up front as compared to riding in the middle of the Comet at Fantasy Fun Park. This roller coaster wasn’t going to be as intense as the Comet, so Mr. Dan felt Mark could handle the faster speed and the air time one felt as they went over the top of the first hill.

At the end of the ride, Mark thanked Mr. Dan for riding with him and then asked him if he would ride the biggest roller coaster with him, too. Mr. Dan smiled, and told the boy he would love to. So, all the Covers walked over to the biggest wooden coaster Mountain Top had.

Mark looked at it and asked himself if he really wanted to ride it. This roller coaster was only a little taller than the Comet at 120 feet high, but it had a 90-foot first drop and it went on for 5050 feet. But the youngster decided he’d built up his courage to do this and he activated his Fastest Pass with his ‘brothers’ and he waited his turn.

When Mark came off the Mountain Run wooden roller coaster, he couldn’t contain his exuberance. He’d done something he didn’t think he could do and he was so proud that he’d conquered his fears of height and speed.

All of his ‘brothers’ were happy for him, but his ‘big brother’ was the proudest of his little ‘brother’ that he picked him up, twirled him around and hugged him for doing that. Billy told Mark that as he got older, he would be able to do more and more now that he knew he could face his fears.

The Covers continued to ride the rest of rides there at Mountain Top. Eventually, ‘dad’ Ken came out and rode with his ‘boys’. Of course, the boys clamored for him to ride with them, so the man opted to ride with different boys on the different rides.

When they rode on the Pirate Ship, Mr. Ken rode in the upper most seat with a twin on either side of him. The boys whooped and hollered as the ship swung higher and higher and they rose out of their seats.

When the group rode the Swings, everyone took a swing seat close to ‘dad’ Ken prior to the ride starting. They all talked to one another as the ride went around-and-around and how much fun it was that their ‘dad’ was finally out in the park riding the rides with them.

When it came time to ride the Bumper Cars, the boys couldn’t wait to gang up on ‘dad’ Ken, Mr. Wayne and Mr. Dan and bump into them over and over. The men didn’t just take it. They too would gang up on one boy then another just to let them know what it was like.

They even rode the new rides Mr. Ken had installed. Mark made sure he rode next to Mr. Ken on the Hatchet. The youngest Cover was beginning to enjoy riding the larger rides as long as he had an older person along with him. After that, it was time to ride the roller coasters.

Mark asked if they could start at the smaller coaster first and then work their way up to the bigger coasters as he had before. Mr. Ken said he had no problem with doing that, so that is what the group did.

They headed over to the family friendly mine train, Through The Mountain. Kyle rode with Mr. Dan, Matthew rode with Mr. Wayne, Robert rode with his dad, Eric and Charles rode together, Mark and Kevin paired up, and Billy rode by himself.

The roller coaster with its boxy mine cars went up the slight incline and then proceeded to follow the track that went through tunnels and around big boulders as it made lots of turns and twists. The boys laughed as the coaster traveled through its run.

The group then headed over to their next roller coaster, Mountaineer, another family coaster that was only 80 feet high and just over 3600 feet long with hills and valleys that had twists and was considered an out-and-back. Many younger children, Mark’s age, gained their confidence in riding on this size coaster.

When they all met at the exit of Mountaineer, the Cove group then headed over to Mountain Run, Mountain Top’s largest roller coaster. Mark had ridden it with Mr. Dan, but this time he wanted to ride it with Mr. Ken.

The 120-foot-high coaster still intimidated Mark, and he wanted someone strong to sit with him as he rode Mountain Run. Robert and Charles also wanted to ride with their dad, but Mr. Ken told them he needed to ride with Mark first, and that he would ride with them afterwards. Both teens smiled at hearing that.

Mr. Ken had Mark sit in the middle of the coaster train so the boy wouldn’t be too scared from being seated in the front or back. Even still, the ten-year-old was a bit anxious at the 90-foot first drop and he still grabbed Mr. Ken’s hand as they went over it, but after that he relaxed as the train continued through the rest of the 5050 feet of track.

Mark thanked his foster dad with a hug for riding that coaster with him. Mr. Ken graciously accepted the hug and told the boy he’d do it anytime the boy wanted to ride that coaster.

Mr. Ken then called out to Robert to join him so they could ride the Mountaineer together. The ride attendant wasn’t going to allow them to ride, without going to the exit and reactivating their Fastest Pass. But the ride operator called the teen over to him and told him that the man was the park’s owner and to just let him get on the train.

Mr. Ken and Robert rode the coaster that time and when it was over Mr. Ken called Charles to join him on the next train and then they rode it, too. The rest of their group waited for them at the exit.

When his last ride was over, Mr. Ken sent Charles to catch up with the group and then he went over to the ride operator. The park’s owner thanked him for not letting the ride attendant make a scene there on the station platform and then he shook the teenager’s hand. The teen smiled and thanked him for talking to him and then the two went their separate ways.

Before they left the park, Mr. Ken did talk with Ben Walthers about what happened at the Mountaineer. He told his operations manager the ride operator knew who he was and did the right thing by not letting a scene occur on the platform. The park’s owner told Ben he needed to make sure the employees knew who he was.

Ben Walthers said he’d make that a priority, and he’d make sure his assistant ops manager also knew as he would ultimately be responsible when he left for his new job as President of Three Finger Entertainment, LLC. Ben then told Mr. Ken that he was already looking for another person to start training as an assistant operations manager.

Mr. Ken smiled at hearing that and then asked Ben if he was sure his assistant operations manager was up to the task of handling his new responsibility as the park’s new operations manager. Mr. Ken told the man that one of his responsibilities as President of Three Finger Entertainment, LLC would entail having the right people running all of the amusement parks.

Mr. Ken then added that Jason Zimms, his park administrator at Crystal Lake, and Joe Shartz’s assistant operations manager at Fantasy Fun Park, had not only helped with the new renovations there, but had been tapped to inspect both Edgewood and Crystal Lake and make his personal recommendations to him as to whether he should buy them or not.

Mr. Ken told his new president that the man did an awesome job for him in doing both tasks, and was proving himself a worthwhile asset in his organization there at Crystal Lake. He then mentioned to Ben that he wanted to see him be the next in line for a full operations manager position at his park if his assistant wasn’t up to the job, or if he ever bought another park. Ben nodded and knew exactly what that meant.

The group grabbed dinner before they headed back to the hotel. As they ate, they talked about that portion of their trip. Mark told how he’d never been on that many rides at any one time and that he was having the best vacation of his life, and it was even over yet. Everyone laughed.

After dinner, the boys packed their bags, leaving out the clothes they would wear tomorrow as they traveled to Discovery Kingdom. The adults did the same, but they also met down in the hotel’s lounge for a few adult drinks, as Mr. Dan would be leaving them tomorrow. The travelers slept well that evening.

The saga of Three Finger Cove continues. Let Chowhound know you are reading his story: Chowhound at CastleRoland dot Net

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