How to ride a Roller Coaster
This post is dedicated to Kevin because he said that he does not care for rollercoasters and I think that's a shame.
Many people believe that enjoyment of a roller coaster has to do with being scared to death. This is not true. The thrill of a coaster is the speed, the sense of flying, the upside down loop - looking out at the people on the ground. If you are scared to death, you will not be paying attention, you will not really enjoy yourself.
A coaster should be experienced with a sense of total calm. You are perfectly safe - safer on the coaster than in the car on the way to the amusement park. The biggest danger, by far, is related to heart failure on account of being frightened. Don't be frightened.
Keep your eyes open, you don't want to miss anything. When the big loops come up, don't worry about being upside down - just look out at the other rides, people on the ground, or anything but the back of your eyelids. You also can't allow panic to make you loose focus.
When you can experience a coaster with utter calm, keep your eyes open, and pay attention, it will be a whole lot of fun. People riding for the scare will say "I already rode that one" and avoid riding multiple times. Those fully experiencing the ride will want to ride over and over.
Of course some rides still provoke a bit of a scary rush, it becomes a challenge to maintain calm - and the scare is fun too.
Last time I was at Cedar Point, the other guys I was with did not think it was worth riding the Top Thrill Dragster a second time - they were a bunch of losers and I need to go with some real coaster fans. I may have been the only person on the ride with my arms up.
Many people believe that enjoyment of a roller coaster has to do with being scared to death. This is not true. The thrill of a coaster is the speed, the sense of flying, the upside down loop - looking out at the people on the ground. If you are scared to death, you will not be paying attention, you will not really enjoy yourself.
A coaster should be experienced with a sense of total calm. You are perfectly safe - safer on the coaster than in the car on the way to the amusement park. The biggest danger, by far, is related to heart failure on account of being frightened. Don't be frightened.
Keep your eyes open, you don't want to miss anything. When the big loops come up, don't worry about being upside down - just look out at the other rides, people on the ground, or anything but the back of your eyelids. You also can't allow panic to make you loose focus.
When you can experience a coaster with utter calm, keep your eyes open, and pay attention, it will be a whole lot of fun. People riding for the scare will say "I already rode that one" and avoid riding multiple times. Those fully experiencing the ride will want to ride over and over.
Of course some rides still provoke a bit of a scary rush, it becomes a challenge to maintain calm - and the scare is fun too.
Last time I was at Cedar Point, the other guys I was with did not think it was worth riding the Top Thrill Dragster a second time - they were a bunch of losers and I need to go with some real coaster fans. I may have been the only person on the ride with my arms up.
posted by phil at 8:45 PM
2 Comments:
On one of my first trips to Cedar Point, I rode the Corkscrew over and over--probably five or six times in less than 1/2 hour-- because the line was short. Everyone was riding one of the new coasters, The Raptor, which I rode a few times, too. The Corkscrew is a great coaster, even if a bit short, with several of the sideways spirals, which are the reason I like it. No huge drops or super tall hills on this one, but it's got plenty of upsidedowns.
(The same goes for skydiving, by the way.)
Ooh, dedicated to me? Thank you
It's not just roller coasters, though. I'm not really a fan of amusement parks in general.
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