I'm LovelyChange... and this is my Blog!

Hey, internet stranger! I go by LovelyChange, or lovelychange85, or simply just LC. Here you can find my blog, my exploration photography, and MORE! (Maybe... one day.)

SegaWorld Excursion 2 ½ (18/4/2003)

Back to SegaWorld!

Before I go into details about my third trip, you might be wondering why I never posted a blog entry about the first trip. I forgot to mention it in my last post, but, essentially, I didn’t get very far in...

I had heard a commotion outside and it scared me, so I hid and waited for the noises to stop before leaving the building. However, this third trip went much better than my first two.

So, upon entering, my attention was driven right away to the closet where the giant Sonic statue was.

Actually, one of the rusty shelves had fallen on him since I had left! I felt... guilty. This was a personal responsibility. I figured that me tampering with the closet by forcing entry was probably what caused them to fall.

So, I did the right thing and picked up the shelf. Luckily, it was extremely light. It was also, notably, barely solid... I’m pretty sure it would’ve turned to dust if I had left it a few days longer.

I shined my torch on the statue then. It was even grimier than I remembered...

***

A closer look at the statue, with the torch on this time. See, I learn my lessons.

An even closer look.

The juxtaposition of his happy little smile and the gritty surface it was painted on felt... uncomfortable, to say the least.

I need you to know, dear reader, that I hadn’t so much as touched him so far - only the shelf. I was worried that he might also crumble to dust if I did. So, with a heavy heart, I said my goodbyes (for now) and left the closet, moving back towards the escalator.

If you were one of those lucky chaps that actually got to go to SegaWorld when it was still open, you’d most certainly remember this giant escalator that runs through the entire building, which moved visitors between experience floors. I believe it was called the launch pad... for whatever reason.

I’d seen pictures in the paper of it when it was still functional. It was definitely a shocking sight to have seen it in its current state, compared to then. What was once a glowing, bright, beautiful neon tunnel of color and sci-fi laced euphoria was now what felt like an upwards pit into hell. Guess the lights made a huge difference.

Now, I hadn’t said before, but I actually had to climb this escalator to get onto the floor with the closet and the McDonalds. Kind of slipped my mind. That ground floor climb was not nearly as intimidating as the rest of the way, though, since the deeper I went, the darker it became. If my torch had ever run out of juice, I’d be beside myself with fear.

Yeah, I’ll come out and say it. I’m still scared of the dark! And I bet a lot of you are, too, just too prideful to admit it. Here’s the thing, though: I actually enjoy facing my fears. I like the adrenaline.

With some effort, I climbed my way up the escalator. You know... those steps are really steep when it’s switched off! This led me to the Battle Kart zone. Except, there were no karts, and there were hardly any zones. It was mostly fenced off...

Peering behind the fences was whatever was left of the Sports Arena. I didn’t even know this was a thing, and I could barely make out the sign, but upon zooming in with my lens, it was clear that they had put some kind of Sega sports thing back there. But I couldn’t tell if it was filled with games, or attractions, or what, because it was even emptier than the kart zone.

After looking around for a while, I came down with a nasty cough. Actually... It was probably an asthmatic response. Yeah, my lungs don’t play nice with dust, AND I love exploring dusty places. It’s a great combination, I know.

The dust in here was something else, so it wasn’t a surprise that I was struggling. I guess I’d have to pop over to the shops and find somewhere selling a face filter or mask of some kind. Actually, I know that online ordering is a thing, but to be honest... I don’t even know what website I would go to, to find something like that. If you know, hit me up at my email please!

***

Anyway...

As my lungs were just about collapsing, I decided it was as good a time as ever to call it a night.

As I reached the first floor again, I couldn’t help but feel my attention drawn back to the storage closet.

That poor little guy, all alone in there!

Still coughing like crazy, I peered inside one last time. Actually, I felt like I was disturbing his peace with all the sound I was making.

“Bye, Sonic, I’ll be back soon.”

The silence was only interrupted by my asthmatic fit as I backed out of the closet and quickly made my way back out to the streets.

Did I forget my inhaler? Yes. Will it happen again? Probably not...

If you see a headline that says something like... “local blogger found dead in old Sega amusement center”, well... Now you know!

-LC