While walking down to Shoreline Village, we would constantly pass a large, yellow speed boat that was being filled with happy tourists. It had big, red letters with the name RAINBOW ROCKET. It was bright, it was yellow, and it went fast - Breana just had to go!
Its claim is that it starts out in the harbor and then goes out into the open sea, where it BLASTS OFF and rides on top of the waves at high speeds. It looked like fun, so we decided to do it.
The boat is a open speedboat that seats about 40 people. It's a big boy. You leave Dock 7, pass Shoreline Village, and go near the Queen Mary. I have to admit, the slow part of the harbor tour was by far my favorite part.
Suddenly, you are in open water, away from the harbor. The crew then cranks up the RAINBOW ROCKET and you blast off. You fly over the waves and bounce, up and down, hitting hard. The water sprays up and you get soaked. The crowd screams with delight as you fly across the waves.
It's a lot of fun. If you don't get soaked enough from the Pacific Ocean, the crew comes running out with Super Soaker water guns and drenches the passengers. Okay, it was really funny the first time they did it, but less so the second, third, fourth, and fifth times.
The bumps are pretty severe, so if you have back problems, this may not be the ride for you. Also, it's considered safe for all ages, but it does not have safety belts. I found myself hanging on to Breana, so a 50-pound girl wouldn't go flying out to become shark bait. They swear it's safe, although as a parent, it's my job not to trust their word!
Breana loved it and kept urging them to go faster, faster, and faster. I was a little worried that if we kept going, I was going to lose my lunch. I have to admit I was happy once we got back into the harbor and went back to a nice civilized cruise.
The whole ride only takes about 20 minutes. The kids aboard seemed to all love it. There was a lot of screams and laughter the entire time we were onboard. The crew is full of energy and keeps it fun. I was not fond of getting soaked with the water guns, but others seemed to love it. After the ride they shamelessly try to sell you Rainbow Rocket t-shirts.
This was a fun way to spend 20 minutes. We had different degrees of like for the Rainbow Rocket, but as long as Breana thought it was a cool way to spend part of her day, it made her dad happy!