What I realised about the characters at the Gold Saucer

Most of them missed out on their adolescence or had it taken from them.

Yuffie - already a child soldier

Cloud - friendless since sometime before Tifa's mom died, child soldier since 13, comatose in the last 5 years

Aerith - practically friendless since childhood (dunno what sorta fun she ever had with Zack)

Tifa - friends all moved away once they turned 13, only hung out with old people and her dad until she lost her home at 15, then spent the following years slaving away in debt bondage in the slums (Traces of 2 Pasts)

Really puts a different perspective when viewing their behaviors at the amusement park. And thus for the first time, I didn't find Yuffie annoying or cringe during her date scene, when she and Cloud acted out like actual kids. Such a bittersweet undertone.