Speaker 1: Imagine someone asks you to test out a brand new
Speaker 1: roller coaster and help make it even better. What would
Speaker 1: you change? Bigger drops, faster turns, more loops. Now, imagine
Speaker 1: the person they asked was actually afraid of roller coasters.
Speaker 1: What would the new roller coaster look like? Then? Well,
Speaker 1: we're about to find out in today's story called roller
Speaker 1: coaster tester. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: Hello, ol, story time is really not a boring time. Rabbi,
Speaker 2: stand and you'll be fine.
Speaker 1: Follow the whole storyline. Hello, ol story time?
Speaker 2: Might you laugh at least one time?
Speaker 3: All story time?
Speaker 1: This is the story of that lousy, miserable, no good
Speaker 1: summer carnival and all of its lousy, miserable, no good rides.
Speaker 1: Well that was so Daphne felt about it. Anyway, Every
Speaker 1: summer when the carnival rolled into town, all the other
Speaker 1: kids would cheer, yay the carnivals here, best week of
Speaker 1: the whole summer. Daphne, however, couldn't think of a single
Speaker 1: nice thing to say about it. And since she'd been
Speaker 1: taught that if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't
Speaker 1: say anything at all, she simply pretended she never learned
Speaker 1: that lesson and said all kinds of lousy, miserable, no
Speaker 1: good things instead. Can you believe these people coming to
Speaker 1: our town with their roller coasters and their Fairess wheels
Speaker 1: like anyone would care? And how has no one notified
Speaker 1: the police about the bumper cars? Since when is it
Speaker 1: okay to crush into other people's cars on purpose? But
Speaker 1: the kids in Daphne's town liked riding on roller coasters
Speaker 1: and ferris wheels, and Sergeant Jeffries of the police department
Speaker 1: love nothing more than taking his daughter on the bumper
Speaker 1: car ride. The bigger issue, of course, was that when
Speaker 1: the carnival was in town, there was no one around
Speaker 1: to play with. Sorry Daphne, my parents are letting me
Speaker 1: spend the entire day at the carnival today. Sorry Daphne,
Speaker 1: I've saved enough money to buy a garbage bag full
Speaker 1: of cotton candy, and you probably don't want to be
Speaker 1: around me after I get through all of that.
Speaker 3: Sorry Daphne. I know I was just there yesterday and
Speaker 3: the day before yesterday and the day before the day
Speaker 3: before yesterday, But it's crucial that I go today tomorrow,
Speaker 3: and the day after tomorrow and the day after the
Speaker 3: day after tomorrow, and so for Daphne, the worst week
Speaker 3: of summer also happened to be the loneliest.
Speaker 1: Even her parents always seem to be busy that week, Dad,
Speaker 1: can you play with me?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: Sorry, kidd Oh, I'm doing this thing later. It's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to explain a lot of ups and downs. Ah, Dad,
Speaker 1: even you like going on roller coasters? Why does everyone
Speaker 1: like these annoying rides so much? It hadn't made any
Speaker 1: sense to Daphne last summer or the summer before that,
Speaker 1: and it probably wasn't going to make any sense to
Speaker 1: her this summer either. Except this summer, Daphne had a
Speaker 1: plan this summer. There wasn't going to be a carnival.
Speaker 1: Well there was. Daphne was just planning on pretending there wasn't.
Speaker 1: If everyone else wanted to spend a whole week talking
Speaker 1: about roller coasters and cotton candy, fine, Daphnie was going
Speaker 1: to act like the carnival didn't exist. Oh did someone
Speaker 1: just say something about the carnival. That's weird. I couldn't hear.
Speaker 2: And what was that?
Speaker 1: No one is going to be around for the next
Speaker 1: seven days. Well that's okay, I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: around for the next week either. But that's when Daphne
Speaker 1: was told she was too young to travel by herself. Oh, mom,
Speaker 1: what do you mean I can't fly to Paris? It's
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Aren't most kids traveling around the world
Speaker 1: by themselves by now? And Daphne couldn't even walk to
Speaker 1: the library without someone stopping her to talk about the carnival.
Speaker 1: So much for trying to pretend the whole thing didn't exist.
Speaker 2: You there, person who looks like a kid, have you
Speaker 2: heard about the carnival that's coming to your town?
Speaker 1: Carnival? What carnival? There's no carnival coming to town. Daphne
Speaker 1: felt this was the most ridiculous question to ever be asked.
Speaker 1: Of course, she had heard of the carnival. Who hadn't.
Speaker 1: You must be talking about the carnal worst thing about Summerval. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've heard of it. Wish I hadn't. Daphne didn't know
Speaker 1: it yet, but the person asking was none other than
Speaker 1: one of the carnival's top organizers. Kid, are you telling
Speaker 1: me you don't like the carnival? You're a kid and
Speaker 1: you don't like the carnival? Are you sure you're not
Speaker 1: a grown up who just looks like a kid. Daphnie
Speaker 1: was already feeling so over with this conversation. Ma'am, I've
Speaker 1: got a library to get to. Gonna need a lot
Speaker 1: of books to read over the next week since I'm
Speaker 1: not allowed to fly to Paris. The carnival organizer pleaded
Speaker 1: with Daphne to stay. What have you helped us, the
Speaker 1: woman asked. Our job is to build a carnival that
Speaker 1: kids can't wait to come back to. So if there's
Speaker 1: a kid out there who doesn't like it.
Speaker 2: I want to know why.
Speaker 1: Daphnie had always said this carnival needed help. She'd just
Speaker 1: figured that helped looked like a one way ticket to
Speaker 1: the moon, the part of the moon where people sit
Speaker 1: around all day talking about toenails. So you're saying you
Speaker 1: want my help. Huh, Well, i'll help you, but only
Speaker 1: if you're ready to make some pretty big changes. You're
Speaker 1: gonna need to be willing to turn your carnival uh
Speaker 1: into a carnal. Yeah. The organizer said she was prepared
Speaker 1: to do whatever it would take, so she invited Daphne
Speaker 1: to where the carnival was being set up, even though
Speaker 1: the carnival still didn't open for several days some of
Speaker 1: the rides were still under construction when they arrived. Welcome
Speaker 1: to this year's carnival, said the organizer. Of course, it
Speaker 1: will look a lot better after everything has fully been
Speaker 1: put together, and hopefully, with your help, it will be
Speaker 1: our best looking carnival. Yet. Let's start with our most
Speaker 1: popular ride, the roller coaster. The organizer expected Daphne to
Speaker 1: suggest keeping this ride the same. Didn't all kids love
Speaker 1: riding the roller coaster? Or From the moment Daphne got
Speaker 1: strapped into her seat, all she did was complain. First
Speaker 1: the seat wasn't comfortable enough, Then the safety harness was
Speaker 1: too harnessy. But things really went downhill once the ride
Speaker 1: started moving. Roller Coaster operators were used to hearing screams.
Speaker 1: That was kind of the whole point. Roller coasters were
Speaker 1: suppose to be thrilling, maybe even a little terrifying. Usually
Speaker 1: those were happy screams. The ones echoing out of Daphne's
Speaker 1: cart sounded like the world was coming to an end.
Speaker 2: Get me off of this thing.
Speaker 1: What are you trying to do to me? I'm gonna
Speaker 1: call the police on you. This thing deserves to be
Speaker 1: in roller coaster jail. Daphne's hair was sticking straight up.
Speaker 1: When she got off the ride, she knelt down to
Speaker 1: kiss the ground and stayed there for a moment longer
Speaker 1: until the dizzeyness passed. Soon began the organizer. I'm guessing
Speaker 1: we have some changes to make? Do we some changes?
Speaker 1: Said Daphne. We need to make all the changes. That
Speaker 1: ride was terrible. What was the point in going all
Speaker 1: the way up to the top only to come racing
Speaker 1: back down again? And those loop to loops in spiral turns?
Speaker 1: Like what were you trying to have me lose my lunch?
Speaker 1: The organizer took out a notepad and started writing all
Speaker 1: of this down. Daphne gave her plenty of ideas on
Speaker 1: how to make the roller coaster better. See this, this
Speaker 1: is the kind of feedback we're looking for, Daphne. We
Speaker 1: want this to be something every kid looks forward to.
Speaker 1: The next ride was the Faires Wheel. Daphne looked offended
Speaker 1: even being asked to try this one, a great big wheel, Like, seriously,
Speaker 1: didn't you know the wheel was invented by a caveman? Like,
Speaker 1: let's go with the times already, we can do better
Speaker 1: than a wheel. She also suggested the Pirate Ship ride
Speaker 1: would be a lot better if instead of swinging back
Speaker 1: and forth, it just didn't swing at all. And the
Speaker 1: tiltal world certainly didn't do it for her. That thing
Speaker 1: was far too tilty and much too whirly. She also
Speaker 1: had plenty to say about the Merry go Round. Those
Speaker 1: fake horses really needed to chill out a little bit. Well, Daphne,
Speaker 1: you've given us a lot to think about today. My
Speaker 1: team and I are going to be up all night
Speaker 1: figuring out how to use your ideas to make this
Speaker 1: year's carnival even better. Thank you, Daphne. We can't wait
Speaker 1: to see what you think on opening day, just three
Speaker 1: days away. Remember, Daphne remembered, all right, it was all
Speaker 1: anyone ever talked about. But now, for the first time ever,
Speaker 1: she couldn't stop talking about it either. After all, she
Speaker 1: just helped turn the world's most boring carnival into what
Speaker 1: was surely going to be the greatest carnival ever. Three
Speaker 1: more days until the carnival. Everyone, did you know that?
Speaker 1: Have you heard about it? Have you marked it on
Speaker 1: your calendars? Make sure to invite your cousins, your neighbors,
Speaker 1: your neighbors cousins, and if your dentist has neighbors or cousins,
Speaker 1: invite them too. The carnival is coming. The carnival is coming.
Speaker 1: No one was used to hearing things like this from Daphne.
Speaker 1: Wasn't she usually the one telling everyone the carnival had
Speaker 1: decided to skip their town and head straight to the moon. Daphne,
Speaker 1: does this mean you're actually going to the carnival this year?
Speaker 1: Daphne looks shocked that someone would even ask, friend, tell me,
Speaker 1: do birds have wings? Do trees have leaves? Is butter
Speaker 1: the only acceptable thing to put on your pasta? The
Speaker 1: answer to all those questions, of course, is yes. Even
Speaker 1: if I wake up with the world's worst stomach bug,
Speaker 1: I'll be there. Her friend grimaced. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: roller coasters and stomach bugs are a really great combination.
Speaker 1: I think we'd all appreciate if you just stayed home. Luckily,
Speaker 1: for everyone, Daphne hadn't had a stomach bug in nearly
Speaker 1: three years. On opening day, Daphne was the first person
Speaker 1: to line up for the carnival. And don't any of
Speaker 1: you even think about trying to cut in front of me.
Speaker 1: I've been waiting here since four in the morning. When
Speaker 1: the gates finally opened, Daphne couldn't decide where to start first.
Speaker 1: Everything looked so enticing. She was about to walk over
Speaker 1: to the bumper cars when a few of her friends
Speaker 1: grabbed her by the arm and led her over to
Speaker 1: the roller coaster. Unfortunately, there was a big sign telling
Speaker 1: them that the roller coaster was closed. Turns out they
Speaker 1: needed a few extra days to finish getting it ready.
Speaker 1: Daphne had a feeling she knew why her new roller
Speaker 1: coaster would be worth the wait. Her friends led her
Speaker 1: over to the Teltal World. I love this ride, one
Speaker 1: of them cheered. I love how dizzy makes me feel.
Speaker 1: No one was feeling dizzy after riding on this tiltal whirl.
Speaker 1: In fact, calling it a tiltal whirl felt a little dishonest,
Speaker 1: and neither tilted nor whorled. It mostly just spun around
Speaker 1: in such slow circles you had to keep checking if
Speaker 1: it was actually moving. Daphne loved it, her friends not
Speaker 1: so much. Well, I think you guys are going to
Speaker 1: love the new Ferris wheel. But what was once a
Speaker 1: giant wheel that would lift you high into the sky
Speaker 1: was now just a triangle no larger than three feet
Speaker 1: high and sitting on the ground instead of going around
Speaker 1: and around. Kids were invited to climb or jump over
Speaker 1: the small triangle and get this, they could do it
Speaker 1: as many times as they wanted. For some reason, though,
Speaker 1: the lineup for this ride was very small.
Speaker 2: This has to be the most boring thing I've ever done.
Speaker 2: At least we know the bumper cars will be fun.
Speaker 2: The bumper cars may have been fun if the cars
Speaker 2: didn't automatically break every time became close to bumping into
Speaker 2: another car. Also, having airbags on these little toy cars
Speaker 2: really necessary. But the whole point of bumper cars is
Speaker 2: to bump into the other cars. It's like they've changed all.
Speaker 1: The riots here to make them for scaredy cats. That
Speaker 1: was the moment Daphne realized the truth. The carnival rides
Speaker 1: had never been the problem. Daphne had simply been scared
Speaker 1: of them. She was the scaredy cat. Not wanting her
Speaker 1: friends to realize she'd been the scaredy cat all along,
Speaker 1: Daphne joined right in on the complaining, Yeah, guys, totally,
Speaker 1: what a bunch of lame changes they've made here. Wait
Speaker 1: to ruin a good thing, Am I right? Daphne didn't
Speaker 1: want to be the reason the entire town stopped liking
Speaker 1: the carnival. She needed to find the organizer and make
Speaker 1: this right. Daphne, the organizer said, I was hoping i'd
Speaker 1: bump into you today. Oh sorry, not bump safely, come
Speaker 1: within close contact with you. Daphnie gave an awkward laugh. See,
Speaker 1: that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about.
Speaker 1: It turns out some of these changes maybe weren't the
Speaker 1: best idea. This time, it was the organizer who laughed, Daphne,
Speaker 1: did you know we've had more people through the gates
Speaker 1: today than ever before.
Speaker 2: It's a record.
Speaker 1: Everyone's talking about the new rides. I haven't yet heard
Speaker 1: what they've been saying, but I'm sure it's all been great.
Speaker 1: Daphne couldn't help but think that the only difference was
Speaker 1: that a certain scaredy cat had decided to show up
Speaker 1: this year. But miss, what if, let's say, all the
Speaker 1: people here decided not to come back tomorrow. As Daphne
Speaker 1: was saying this, she could hear a small child off
Speaker 1: in the distance complaining to his mother.
Speaker 2: This cotton candy taste like Grandma's boiled cabbage. How did
Speaker 2: they even manage to ruin the cotton candy too. The
Speaker 2: low sugar cotton candy recipe had seemed like a better
Speaker 2: idea a few days ago, Daphne said the organizer. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be surprised if we have even more people here tomorrow.
Speaker 2: After all, tomorrow's the day we reveal your brand new
Speaker 2: roller coaster. Daphne had almost forgotten about that the carnival's
Speaker 2: most popular ride, and she had ruined that too. Daphney
Speaker 2: hurried to the one place she actually enjoyed spending time
Speaker 2: during Carnival week, the library. The library was great because
Speaker 2: I had books on just about everything, and once again
Speaker 2: it didn't disappoint. Daphne found a book all about the
Speaker 2: world's best roller coasters and began flipping through the pages.
Speaker 2: Every single one looked terrifying, but she reminded herself that
Speaker 2: that was the point. Roller coasters weren't supposed to be relaxing,
Speaker 2: they were supposed to be thrilling. As she studied each one,
Speaker 2: Daphne started making notes double loops, spiral turns, tracks that
Speaker 2: suddenly sent riders backwards. None of it looked like anything
Speaker 2: she'd want to ride, but for the first time, she
Speaker 2: could see why someone else might She hurried back to
Speaker 2: the carnival before it closed for the day, and marched
Speaker 2: over to the workers who were putting the finishing touches.
Speaker 1: On the roller coaster. Hey, team, so I'd just like
Speaker 1: to show you a few small modifications I need you
Speaker 1: to make before tomorrow. Daphne showed the worker the diagram
Speaker 1: of the new and improved roller coaster. Kid, there's no
Speaker 1: way we can do all of that before tomorrow. Besides,
Speaker 1: this is what the organizer has asked us to build.
Speaker 1: Apparently this is the kind of riots kids are into
Speaker 1: this year. Daphne stared at the flat track. The only
Speaker 1: time it went up was over a tiny little humpet,
Speaker 1: but the size of a basketball. The turns were wide,
Speaker 1: the twists were gone. Even a baby would have been
Speaker 1: yawning on this thing. Oh boy, said Daphne. This town's
Speaker 1: not going to be happy when they come back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: The carnival's ruined, and it's all my fault. Daphne could
Speaker 1: already hear the groans. The organizer thought she'd built the
Speaker 1: perfect roller coaster, but there was nothing thrilling a better
Speaker 1: roller coaster that barely coasted. That night, while lying in bed,
Speaker 1: Daphne took another look through the roller coaster books she'd
Speaker 1: borrowed from the library. If only she'd thought to give
Speaker 1: the organizer a few of these ideas she got to
Speaker 1: help make this the best carnival. Just then, Daphne's little
Speaker 1: brother suddenly popped up beside her bed, whant to see.
Speaker 2: A cool trick. I can touch my nose with my tongue. Well,
Speaker 2: not all the way, but I can get about halfway there,
Speaker 2: pretty close, right, dude, Daphne jumped, Why did you creep
Speaker 2: up on me like that?
Speaker 1: You scared me? Daphne froze. Wait, you just scared me.
Speaker 1: A grin spread across her face. That's it, That's exactly
Speaker 1: what this roller coaster needs. Her little brother slowly lowered
Speaker 1: his tongue. You're weird, you know that. Daphne raced over
Speaker 1: to her desk, swiped everything onto the floor with one
Speaker 1: giant swipe of her arm, grabbed a pencil, and started
Speaker 1: sketching a new idea. In the morning, Daphne was the
Speaker 1: first in line once again. She smiled when she saw
Speaker 1: how many people had come back for day two. She
Speaker 1: also knew that if her plan didn't work, there might
Speaker 1: not be many people coming back for day three. Even
Speaker 1: though she was first through the gates, Daphne gave up
Speaker 1: her seat on the roller coaster for someone else enjoy
Speaker 1: the ride. She called. The passengers were already complaining, this
Speaker 1: thing looks different from last year's roller coaster. Yeah, another
Speaker 1: kid muttered, it looks boring. Just you eight, Daphne whispered
Speaker 1: to herself. The ride started moving forward, very very slowly.
Speaker 1: More groans could be heard from the passengers. Then, seemingly
Speaker 1: out of nowhere, a giant gorilla leaped out beside the track. Well,
Speaker 1: not an actual gorilla, it was Daphne wearing a gorilla costume.
Speaker 1: One of the riders glanced over and yawned. Daphne wasn't worried.
Speaker 1: This was only the beginning. She reached into her pocket
Speaker 1: and pulled out a tiny remote. With the press of
Speaker 1: a button, spooky ghost sounds began playing through a hidden
Speaker 1: speaker under one of the roller coaster seats. Unfortunately, everyone
Speaker 1: just assumed it was somebody's ring tone. Can whoever's phone
Speaker 1: that is please turn it off? One of the riders groaned,
Speaker 1: it's making it harder to fall asleep on this boring ride.
Speaker 1: Daphne frowned. She was about to move on to her
Speaker 1: third scare tactic when she remembered she didn't have a
Speaker 1: third scare tactic. She had really been expecting more from
Speaker 1: the gorilla costume. Well, she sighed, I guess that's it.
Speaker 1: Then Carnival ruined. But when she looked back up, she
Speaker 1: could see the expressions on the people's faces had changed.
Speaker 1: These were the faces of people having an actual thrill ride.
Speaker 1: She then realized why the roller coaster was heading straight
Speaker 1: toward an unfinished section of the track. Oh no, she exclaimed,
Speaker 1: I have to help these people. Without time to change
Speaker 1: out of the gorilla suit, Daphne ran over to the
Speaker 1: unfinished part of the track. She only had seconds to
Speaker 1: do something. Time to harness the power of gorilla strength,
Speaker 1: she said with great confidence. She then put herself in
Speaker 1: the path of the ride and pushed with all her
Speaker 1: might to stop the carts before they reached the gap
Speaker 1: in the track. It probably helped that the roller coaster
Speaker 1: was moving at roughly the same speed as a turtle.
Speaker 1: Daphne smiled. She had saved the day, or so she thought.
Speaker 1: As soon as she moved out of the way, the
Speaker 1: passengers began rocking the cart toward the gap. They fell
Speaker 1: through the opening and down to the ground, which was
Speaker 1: actually no more than a two foot drop down to
Speaker 1: the soft, grassy landing below. Before Daphne could check to
Speaker 1: see if everyone was okay, she heard people cheering from
Speaker 1: their seats. Oh yeah, that was the best ending to
Speaker 1: a roller coaster I've ever seen. Well thrill. The roller
Speaker 1: coaster operator came rushing over. Oh my goodness, I'm so
Speaker 1: glad everyone's okay. We followed the plans to a tee,
Speaker 1: but it was almost like the whole thing was designed
Speaker 1: by a kid. The organizer had also come over, and
Speaker 1: it was assuring everyone the roller coaster would be safely
Speaker 1: fixed at once, but Daphne told her not to bother. Ma'am.
Speaker 1: Everything I told you was the opposite of what a
Speaker 1: good ride should be. The slow, gentle rides might be
Speaker 1: fine for me, but they're not very exciting for everyone else.
Speaker 1: The organizer wanted this to be a carnival for everyone. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe we need both kinds of rides, some for the
Speaker 1: little scaredy cats like you and some for everyone else.
Speaker 1: But as far as the cotton candy, I think we
Speaker 1: should just stick with the normal kind. I tasted some
Speaker 1: of that other stuff, and it really did taste like
Speaker 1: boiled cabbage. Once again, Daphne told the organizer not to
Speaker 1: bother ma'am, even though the wimpy rides are better for me.
Speaker 1: I just don't think I'm really much of a carnival person,
Speaker 1: and that's okay. I have other things I like doing,
Speaker 1: like hanging out of libraries and designing new rides. I've
Speaker 1: already got some awesome roller coaster diagrams to show you
Speaker 1: for next year's festival, totally thrilling stuff, you know, for
Speaker 1: the weirdos that are into that sort of thing. The
Speaker 1: organizer frowned. Next year, Oh, I'm sorry to say, but
Speaker 1: due to a scheduling conflict, we've had to skip your
Speaker 1: town next year. The organizer was surprised us, Daphne looking
Speaker 1: so happy. Wait to go, lady, You're finally taking your
Speaker 1: carnival to the Moon. That's fantastic. Those Moon people are
Speaker 1: absolutely gonna.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 3: The end.
Speaker 1: That's the story. And for your question of the week,
Speaker 1: how could I not ask what your favorite ride is?
Speaker 1: Thanks to Daphne and showed out to Ava and Owen
Speaker 1: from Washington State, Asha from Indianapolis, Indiana, Wayne Collins from Dubai, Jordan,
Speaker 1: Chase and Jackson with an ex from San Juan, Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: Leonora from Liverpool, Claire and Wit from Atlanta, Georgia, Hobian
Speaker 1: Miles from Washington, Roomy and Marlowe from Dubai, and Addie
Speaker 1: from Vancouver Island. Thanks so much for listening and I'll
Speaker 1: catch you on the next one.