52 Ancestors: Scary Stuff - Amusement Parks

As a child, I was fortunate to not have too much scary stuff in my life.  But, being that we grew up about 400 miles north of Disneyland and the nearby amusement parks, we were fortunate to have been able to visit several times as we were growing up.  And, depending on my age and the attractions at the parks, some things could be pretty scary!

As I looked through my dad's slides, a wave of nostalgia came over me as I remembered some of those visits and what seemed scary to me.

Of course, Main Street wasn't scary.  In fact, it was always exciting because that meant we were finally inside the park!

And then we'd stand before Sleeping Beauty Castle and get even more excited knowing we were just steps away from fun - or scariness, depending on which ride we were about to climb on.

We liked to look over the bridge and see the stone Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs statues while listening to her sing "I'm Wishing, for the One I Love...."  But that wasn't scary, was it?  Little brother looks a little unsure.

But as we got deeper into the park, things looked a little different. 

I liked the Skyway and Monorail (what a look into the future we had) but that Matterhorn was pretty scary.  But, finally, I built up the courage to take a ride.  Looks like little brother might have been the scaredy cat that day.

Remember the Rocket to Mars?  That could be scary!

Even Fantasyland could be scary - who didn't get a little scared on Alice In Wonderland?  Although looking at this picture, it couldn't have been too scary since Mom was with us and she was definitely not a fan of scary rides.

I'm not sure where this was - maybe the submarine?  SCARY!

For young kids, racing a car must have felt a little scary, even though in our hearts we knew it was on a track and not dangerous at all.  Not sure who little brother picked up as a co-pilot.

Scary, right?

We also used to visit Knott's Berry Farm and I suspect these pictures are from a visit there.

This couldn't have been too scary since Mom was on board.  Wait, I don't see a front of the car - this must have just been used for a photo op which, of course, Dad would have taken advantage of.

This looks pretty tame.

This might not be scary but it could have been a bit overwhelming.  Hopefully I had food in my hand and they weren't trying to eat me.

Amusement parks in those days were really pretty tame and not scary.  I wonder what kids back then would have thought about the Haunted Mansion - now THAT is scary!