It’s another holiday in the U.S., so I’m switching up the order of things this week and sending out the discussion thread to everyone. What’s your most memorable amusement park experience? My fourteen-year-old, Betsy, and I went to Kings Island Thursday, which I wrote about in the newsletter coming out tomorrow. As we made our way through different rides, the bored teens running them would make random references to a shed. Don’t go in the shed. The shed is boring. Forget about the shed. We had no idea what they were talking about. Then, on a random roller coaster (I won’t spoil which one) we ended up in a shed. Correction: THE shed. A bunch of unrelated rides had secretly been contributing to the lore of a surprise haunted house. Who expects the train conductor or the guy running a Snoopy-themed roller coaster in the kids zone to be in on the jump scares in a totally different part of the park? That was my most memorable ride experience. What’s yours? Sound off in the comments.
My most memorable park experience was when I was 5, also at King's Island. We were on our way out, and on a whim, my dad wanted to try the ring toss carnival game. It was 5 rings for $1. He threw the first 4 really trying to aim and nothing happened. He gave up on the 5th one and just tossed it and won a 5ft tall teddy bear. Luckily he had some rope in the trunk from moving something else because MY new teddy bear didn't fit in the car. My bear made it back to Louisville as if it had been hunted. He's still in my parents' house because he doesn't fit in my apartment in Los Angeles.
Same thing happened to me back in 1967 when I went to the Illinois State Fair with friends after we graduated from h.s.. My buddy did the ring toss and on the last nickel he hit the target and won me that same kind of big tall and chubby teddy bear. I kept it until our 2 kids wore it out and probably finally begrudgingly threw it out in the '90s. I really don't know how we got 4 people and 2 huge bears (the other couple also won) in the car on the way home but we managed!
Old Indiana Fun Park where they put you in a giant centerfuge and then dropped the floor. Once the force started making you "stick" to the walls, you could turn yourself upside down. Fun times after a gallon of lemonade when you're 10 years old.
We had the same thing in Pittsburgh! Ours was called the Roto Rooter, and I cannot count the number of people who I saw barf after they got off. Good times.
You have given me two completely different categories - favorite ride and most memorable experience at a park. Most memorable isn't always positive.
Favorite ride is probably the one that someone described a minute ago as their least favorite - "some rollercoaster that went upside down and corkscrewed at Six Flags in Georgia" - If that's the Mind Bender then that's my favorite. I can handle the corkscrew, and the loops. I can't handle backwards or spinning though.
That brings me to my most memorable time at a park. It was Hope Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica. It's gardens, not an amusement park but someone had the audacity to stick a Tilt-A Whirl ride there. I was with a bunch of friends just for a fun day at the gardens. Someone had made a bunch of cheese sandwiches. Much more than we needed, but I was certainly not going to let good food go to waste.
The Titl-A-Whirl is not big, not really fast but it does involve that magical aspect that I can't handle - spinning. After eating more than my fair share of sandwiches I got on it anyway. Luckily, I was sitting on the end of the seat. As we were spinning along, I turned to my friend next to me and said "I think I'm going to throw up". I then turned the other way, leaned away from everyone and proceeded to empty my stomach of countless cheese sandwiches and anything else that might have been in it.
They stopped the ride to get me off and clean up. Three things to the aftermath:
1. My friends said that was the most dignified they had ever seen someone throw up. Gee, thanks for the "compliment?".
2. I gained a new nickname - "McBarf".
3. The others who were on the ride were happy because after getting me off of it they let them ride again and kept it going extra long. Yay - happy for you 😒.
Mcbarf is the kind of nickname that follows you for life. I hope you have at least one jersey with that name on the back. Your story nails exactly why I never do spinny rides. I prefer my food to stay inside me.
Luckily the name didn’t stick around long. Except with one friend, but I haven’t seen him in about 40 years. I believe he’s the one who came up with it. I mean, what are friends for?
Bryan McDermott - the dang Tilt-a-Whirl did me in way back in 1968. I was on it with my first boyfriend, 13 year old Glenn. He made the mistake of sitting on the wrong side of the centrifugal force and ended up wearing my lunch. It was horrifying, but he was a great sport about it. He made sure I was okay and then went to clean up. He didn’t even break up with me!
We’re Disney ppl but childless so I can tell you where good food & drink is more than anything. Tower of Terror is pretty great. And James, I know it’s expensive, but Galaxy’s Edge is unreal. Rise of the Resistance & Millennium Falcon are what dreams are made of.
Going to Galaxy's Edge looks like the vacation of a lifetime. Unfortunately, figuring out how to navigate a trip Disney World seems like a full-time job. I don't think I'm up to it.
Accurate. There’s the $ cost & the opportunity cost. Some would say planning is part of looking forward to it all but even w 2 ppl it’s brutal. TBH we buy the special night tix where they cap attendance - free unlimited popcorn & ice cream & water/soda. That’s the only way regular lines are doable (e.g., not the extra money for the daytime purchase of your spots in line, which takes more money planning & money). Plus nighttime is more magical. You can bring your own food in too but that’s kind of tragic.
My favorite ride is the one where you’re all around the edge of a big round wheel. It spins faster and faster until you’re plastered against the sides, then the bottom drops out!
I can't believe those things are legal. I've heard of them and seen them in movies, but it seems like somebody would be dumb and fall out. And by somebody, I mean me.
I was on one once when I went to Space Camp. It was a training apparatus for experiencing different g-force. I can't remember if it was 3 or 4 Gs. But anyway, that's how I learned I sometimes get vertigo... 🙃
I'm going to spill a Pittsburgh secret. At Kennywood, there's a rollercoaster called the Jack Rabbit. It's a wooden coaster with a huge double dip near the end. It's well-known among Pittsburghers that if you really want a wild ride, you sit in the back seat. You will fly like Superman. I made the mistake of trying this when I was about 10 or 11. Now, as background, the rollercoaster seats have a stationary bar and a belt that is a leather strap that buckles. It's old school. I was so tiny then. I was riding with my mom, who is still very tiny. We hit that double dip, and I flew so far forward, I actually touched the bar of the seat in front of mine. I distinctly remember the belt being around my shins. It was awesome, but looking back, I have no idea how I didn't die. I'd love to say "Oh! It was the 80s! It was a different time!" But no upgrades have been made to this coaster. So, if you're ever in Pittsburgh and want to experience something you won't ever forget, you know where to go.
No, they closed the Phantom's Revenge for a few seasons. They just reopened it as a new coaster. It still doesn't hold a candle to the Steel Phantom though!
I was probably a little younger than Betsy and went with our church to King's Dominian. A couple of my older friends (who were probably in their mid twenties at the time) were being kind and letting me hang out with them, and we went on the pirate ship ride that swings and goes upside down. I was terrified and still have not let them forget over 30 years later lol
I used to love roller coasters.. Growing up, I couldn't get enough of them. Now, I'm a 41 year old mother with an almost 7 year old who gets nauseous on such rides.. Life isn't fair LOL.
My favorite rides are water rides. I don’t care if I get wet because it’s usually 100 degrees outside. Any relief helps. My favorite water ride was Grizzly River Rampage at the old Opryland amusement part in Nashville. Nothing upside or falls from great heights. Just the fear of getting wet.
My least favorite ride was some rollercoaster that went upside down and corkscrewed at Six Flags in Georgia. There wasn’t a floorboard so that added to the terror. So love the possibility of slipping out of your seat and falling to the ground. I ended up tucking head and closed eyes in my husband’s shoulder for the whole ride. I only rode it to prove to myself and children that I could. Thankfully, I won’t have to do it again.
The old wooden rollercoaster called Colossus at Six Flags in Valencia, California was a great ride. I was sad when they turned it into a hybrid of steel and wood.
The original Kings Island was in Cincinnati and it was the successor to Coney Island, which was right on the river. It flooded on a regular basis as you can imagine. When I was a kid, there was massive swimming pool, one of the largest in the world. Mom would drop us off there and we would terrorize the place for the rest of the afternoon. I have fun memories of stomping on ketchup and mustard packets to see how many people we could hit, lol, good times!
Best ride: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot. Fast, smooth, gorgeous screens for movie scenes, and a couple of different sets of dialogue so you don't hear the same thing every time. Definitely worth a short wait to get the front row. Highly recommend!
We love those virtual rides at Universal Studios in the Harry Potter areas where you are moving a little but most of it is virtual reality. They are thrilling and so fun, you feel like you’re flying or playing quidditch, etc., but it’s not so intense liken a roller coaster! I can’t do actual roller coasters anymore so this is fun.
I’ve only been on one rollercoaster. I went to Cedar Point and the wooden coaster nearly stopped my heart. I’m not a fan of heights nor being out of control but the creaking was the literal worst! Psychological torture!
When I was a teenager, about 20 years ago, my family and I visited LA, and our first stop was Disneyland. I can’t recall the name of the ride, but it was a haunted hotel where we rode an elevator that took us up floor by floor, gradually getting faster and scarier. At the end, it would simulate a malfunction and plummet straight to the first floor.
The most memorable part was the photo the ride captured. In the picture, my dad was laughing out loud, my mom was hugging him and crying, and I had a half-smile mixed with fear. Unfortunately, we were too cheap to buy the photo, but the silver lining is that it remains vividly imprinted in my memory to this day.
That's the Tower of Terror. There's also one at Disney World. In our early 20's, my husband and I rode that ride with another couple, friends of ours. My husband and his friend smuggled a jar of Grey Poupon onto the ride. They put on dark sunglasses and then right at the moment of the drop when they take the picture, handed the jar of mustard across the center aisle. That's the picture - two grown men in dark sunglasses with completely neutral expressions handing off a jar of mustard while the rest of the elevator passengers screamed in terror. (If you don't get the Grey Poupon reference or why this was funny, check out this commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNYs6IRdMe0.)
No particular favourite, I mainly enjoy rides that are fast, but the speed allows to keep my eyes open. I don't know if I like water rides, because so far I've never tried them. Haunted houses are great, but I feel more discomfort than fear when something is touching me.
There was no touching in the shed, fortunately. Just some cheesy special effects. You're not missing out on much by never doing water rides. I hate being cold and wet.
As a kid my family would go to Cedar Point on the rare occasions when we could find the extra money. One year, on the highway, our car was bumped by a truck trying to get in our lane. Mom was able to control the car so we ended up in the medium relatively unscathed. The car was a mess but Mom got back onto the highway and we made it there. Looking back I think it’s a defining moment for my mother. She was brave as hell, tough as nails, and wasn’t gonna let her kids down. Me? I don’t know if I could have kept going on like she did that day. I’m my Mom all over so probably.
When I was 5, my dad worked for Disney World. He was in the resorts, not the park. Just before Space Mountain opened to the public, we got to go for a preview. Dad didn’t know anything about the ride and took me on it with him. Back then, kids sat between their parent’s legs. As the car rolled sort of slowly into position, and remember, it was completely dark, I asked, “Daddy, is this going to go any faster?” Dad said he didn’t know. Just then, we swooped down the first hill!! It seemed like we were hurtling through total darkness faster than I’d ever gone before. By the time we got off the ride, I was so terrified I refused to get on another roller coaster until I was 12. And then only because I was forced to. Now, I’m a coaster junkie though!
Well my dog just decided he had been patient long enough and knocked my whole comment out into the universe of Space Mountain- my one time favorite roller coasters! I could deal well with a park with nothing but crazy fast long drop coasters!
Space Mountain was great because of the darkness. Being 5 minutes from Disneyland, I headed there first every time. Many great coasters are in lesser known parks. There was one in particular that was The Best Roller Coaster EVER! (And I have been to MANY parks around the country)
There was a park was in Eastern PA. It was called Kennywood. It had a lot of fun rides for a smaller park. It had rides I enjoyed even being a roller coaster fan above all. Noah’s arc an already great roller coaster, the band I believe was Rabbit something.. no matter but it was a very good one.
The last time I was there they had a roller coaster which I believe is now in China. It was called The Steel Phantom! This monstrosity was TALL and as advertised was the fastest coaster as was allowed. The first part took a LONG time- the climb at the beginning was as close to vertical as possible. It felt like it took forever! It lulled you into a sense of slow motion. It climbed and climbed etc etc - then right at the peak, it went straight down and it was AWESOME!!! It dropped down and around and underneath itself and another ride. It was definitely the fastest coaster I had ever ridden. My oldest son and I rode it and could not stop laughing! As our ride was ending, an announcement was made that a storm was a few miles away & the last ride needed to start immediately- the ones already on the ride who wanted off needed to do so now. We were SO ready to do it again! We started the climb as as we got close to the top we were up high enough to see the lightning in the distance! That was the most thrilling ride ever as we knew what was coming and it was even better!!
Kennywood closed several years ago but the Steel Phantom was long gone. None of the looping, upside down, bottomless or any style coaster was better than the Steel Phantom. It was Amazing!!
Cedar Point about 50 years ago. I’m little and going on my first roller coaster ever: the Blue Streak. I’m riding with my Mom. We go down the first big hill, and I literally start to fly out of the seat. Mom catches me and holds me down the rest of the ride. I have no idea that’s not normal. 😆 I have loved roller coasters ever since!!
OK. several years ago we took our daughter to Disney for the first time. She was four years old at the time but was tall enough to ride the Tower of Terror ride. We decided to take her on the ride and see what happened.....Well, she got a little nervous when we went into the room with the TV showing the Twilight Zone but she carried on. Getting on the ride was no problem either. It's pretty benign looking and there's just a normal seatbelt. Doors closed, she was still fine. Elevator started to rise, still OK.....and then it stopped....all was still good for about another 1/2 second. As soon as it started to fall our daughter opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out because she was too terrified. The picture from that ride is priceless. In retrospect we probably should have waited another year or so to take her on the ride because now she won't go on any rides that have a belt. That same trip she wore multiple princess dresses throughout the park. Each time a cast member would address her as "princess" she would correct them by stating, "I am not a princess, my name is Jocelyn, this is just a costume." and she wasn't nice about it! LOL!! When she was dressed as Tinkerbell she was so annoyed that someone called her "Tinkerbell" that she pointed to her wings and said, "Do these wings look real to you? I'm a human, not a fairy!" We got to the point that we avoided cast members whenever possible to avoid being mortified by her very literal commentary.
Another time at Disney, we were on a family trip and we took my then 8 yr old nephew on Space Mountain without telling him it was a roller coaster that was in the dark. He sat in front of me on the ride and spent the entire ride saying, "I don't like this ride," over and over again. It was pretty hysterical...he still loves me though so he got over it!!
My favorite amusement park ride is the ride home.
That means you survived. And achievement to be sure!
My most memorable park experience was when I was 5, also at King's Island. We were on our way out, and on a whim, my dad wanted to try the ring toss carnival game. It was 5 rings for $1. He threw the first 4 really trying to aim and nothing happened. He gave up on the 5th one and just tossed it and won a 5ft tall teddy bear. Luckily he had some rope in the trunk from moving something else because MY new teddy bear didn't fit in the car. My bear made it back to Louisville as if it had been hunted. He's still in my parents' house because he doesn't fit in my apartment in Los Angeles.
That's awesome! I didn't think anyone ever won those things. Very cool that your dad proved to be the exception to the rule.
Same thing happened to me back in 1967 when I went to the Illinois State Fair with friends after we graduated from h.s.. My buddy did the ring toss and on the last nickel he hit the target and won me that same kind of big tall and chubby teddy bear. I kept it until our 2 kids wore it out and probably finally begrudgingly threw it out in the '90s. I really don't know how we got 4 people and 2 huge bears (the other couple also won) in the car on the way home but we managed!
Old Indiana Fun Park where they put you in a giant centerfuge and then dropped the floor. Once the force started making you "stick" to the walls, you could turn yourself upside down. Fun times after a gallon of lemonade when you're 10 years old.
You must have an iron stomach. I would throw up everything I'd ever eaten. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to walk straight again.
We had the same thing in Pittsburgh! Ours was called the Roto Rooter, and I cannot count the number of people who I saw barf after they got off. Good times.
Ours wax the oaken bucket. Looked like that on the outside!
You have given me two completely different categories - favorite ride and most memorable experience at a park. Most memorable isn't always positive.
Favorite ride is probably the one that someone described a minute ago as their least favorite - "some rollercoaster that went upside down and corkscrewed at Six Flags in Georgia" - If that's the Mind Bender then that's my favorite. I can handle the corkscrew, and the loops. I can't handle backwards or spinning though.
That brings me to my most memorable time at a park. It was Hope Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica. It's gardens, not an amusement park but someone had the audacity to stick a Tilt-A Whirl ride there. I was with a bunch of friends just for a fun day at the gardens. Someone had made a bunch of cheese sandwiches. Much more than we needed, but I was certainly not going to let good food go to waste.
The Titl-A-Whirl is not big, not really fast but it does involve that magical aspect that I can't handle - spinning. After eating more than my fair share of sandwiches I got on it anyway. Luckily, I was sitting on the end of the seat. As we were spinning along, I turned to my friend next to me and said "I think I'm going to throw up". I then turned the other way, leaned away from everyone and proceeded to empty my stomach of countless cheese sandwiches and anything else that might have been in it.
They stopped the ride to get me off and clean up. Three things to the aftermath:
1. My friends said that was the most dignified they had ever seen someone throw up. Gee, thanks for the "compliment?".
2. I gained a new nickname - "McBarf".
3. The others who were on the ride were happy because after getting me off of it they let them ride again and kept it going extra long. Yay - happy for you 😒.
Mcbarf is the kind of nickname that follows you for life. I hope you have at least one jersey with that name on the back. Your story nails exactly why I never do spinny rides. I prefer my food to stay inside me.
Luckily the name didn’t stick around long. Except with one friend, but I haven’t seen him in about 40 years. I believe he’s the one who came up with it. I mean, what are friends for?
Spinny rides are the worst!
I was the Barf Queen in my college dorm. Mcbarf sounds better!!
Bryan McDermott - the dang Tilt-a-Whirl did me in way back in 1968. I was on it with my first boyfriend, 13 year old Glenn. He made the mistake of sitting on the wrong side of the centrifugal force and ended up wearing my lunch. It was horrifying, but he was a great sport about it. He made sure I was okay and then went to clean up. He didn’t even break up with me!
What a thoughtful 13-year-old was young Glenn!
He was a peach!
We’re Disney ppl but childless so I can tell you where good food & drink is more than anything. Tower of Terror is pretty great. And James, I know it’s expensive, but Galaxy’s Edge is unreal. Rise of the Resistance & Millennium Falcon are what dreams are made of.
Going to Galaxy's Edge looks like the vacation of a lifetime. Unfortunately, figuring out how to navigate a trip Disney World seems like a full-time job. I don't think I'm up to it.
Accurate. There’s the $ cost & the opportunity cost. Some would say planning is part of looking forward to it all but even w 2 ppl it’s brutal. TBH we buy the special night tix where they cap attendance - free unlimited popcorn & ice cream & water/soda. That’s the only way regular lines are doable (e.g., not the extra money for the daytime purchase of your spots in line, which takes more money planning & money). Plus nighttime is more magical. You can bring your own food in too but that’s kind of tragic.
My favorite ride is the one where you’re all around the edge of a big round wheel. It spins faster and faster until you’re plastered against the sides, then the bottom drops out!
I can't believe those things are legal. I've heard of them and seen them in movies, but it seems like somebody would be dumb and fall out. And by somebody, I mean me.
It’s a solid wall with a floor that drops. You’re plastered against the wall!
Love that type of ride!
I was on one once when I went to Space Camp. It was a training apparatus for experiencing different g-force. I can't remember if it was 3 or 4 Gs. But anyway, that's how I learned I sometimes get vertigo... 🙃
I'm going to spill a Pittsburgh secret. At Kennywood, there's a rollercoaster called the Jack Rabbit. It's a wooden coaster with a huge double dip near the end. It's well-known among Pittsburghers that if you really want a wild ride, you sit in the back seat. You will fly like Superman. I made the mistake of trying this when I was about 10 or 11. Now, as background, the rollercoaster seats have a stationary bar and a belt that is a leather strap that buckles. It's old school. I was so tiny then. I was riding with my mom, who is still very tiny. We hit that double dip, and I flew so far forward, I actually touched the bar of the seat in front of mine. I distinctly remember the belt being around my shins. It was awesome, but looking back, I have no idea how I didn't die. I'd love to say "Oh! It was the 80s! It was a different time!" But no upgrades have been made to this coaster. So, if you're ever in Pittsburgh and want to experience something you won't ever forget, you know where to go.
I loved Kennywood
The Steel Phantom!!!! I wrote about Kennywood in my story!! Loved that park!
Kennywood is gone now…. It had the Jackrabbit but for a couple of years The Steel Phantom was even better!
It's not, though? Kennywood is still very much open. I was there this weekend. My favorite coaster there is the Thunderbolt. What a classic!
That is great news!! I’m in Arizona and had read that it was closing a few years ago! That is great to hear! Thanks!!
No, they closed the Phantom's Revenge for a few seasons. They just reopened it as a new coaster. It still doesn't hold a candle to the Steel Phantom though!
Nothing can!! Steel Phantom was SO HIGH UP!! It felt like an eternity to reach the top - then drop all that way down!? Best coaster ever!!
I was probably a little younger than Betsy and went with our church to King's Dominian. A couple of my older friends (who were probably in their mid twenties at the time) were being kind and letting me hang out with them, and we went on the pirate ship ride that swings and goes upside down. I was terrified and still have not let them forget over 30 years later lol
I used to love roller coasters.. Growing up, I couldn't get enough of them. Now, I'm a 41 year old mother with an almost 7 year old who gets nauseous on such rides.. Life isn't fair LOL.
My favorite rides are water rides. I don’t care if I get wet because it’s usually 100 degrees outside. Any relief helps. My favorite water ride was Grizzly River Rampage at the old Opryland amusement part in Nashville. Nothing upside or falls from great heights. Just the fear of getting wet.
My least favorite ride was some rollercoaster that went upside down and corkscrewed at Six Flags in Georgia. There wasn’t a floorboard so that added to the terror. So love the possibility of slipping out of your seat and falling to the ground. I ended up tucking head and closed eyes in my husband’s shoulder for the whole ride. I only rode it to prove to myself and children that I could. Thankfully, I won’t have to do it again.
Opryland was a great park!
My favorite is an old wooden rollercoaster in Vancouver, Canada. The whole thing shook and I always wondered how safe it was.
The old wooden rollercoaster called Colossus at Six Flags in Valencia, California was a great ride. I was sad when they turned it into a hybrid of steel and wood.
You could ride it backwards if you wanted!
The sound alone made it great!
The original Kings Island was in Cincinnati and it was the successor to Coney Island, which was right on the river. It flooded on a regular basis as you can imagine. When I was a kid, there was massive swimming pool, one of the largest in the world. Mom would drop us off there and we would terrorize the place for the rest of the afternoon. I have fun memories of stomping on ketchup and mustard packets to see how many people we could hit, lol, good times!
Best ride: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot. Fast, smooth, gorgeous screens for movie scenes, and a couple of different sets of dialogue so you don't hear the same thing every time. Definitely worth a short wait to get the front row. Highly recommend!
Amusement Park
noun
A place to go to pay for the right to pay more inside for overpriced food, drinks, and assorted crap.
Growing up in the '80's it was The Beast at King's Island. Now it's Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance at Disney world.
We love those virtual rides at Universal Studios in the Harry Potter areas where you are moving a little but most of it is virtual reality. They are thrilling and so fun, you feel like you’re flying or playing quidditch, etc., but it’s not so intense liken a roller coaster! I can’t do actual roller coasters anymore so this is fun.
I’ve only been on one rollercoaster. I went to Cedar Point and the wooden coaster nearly stopped my heart. I’m not a fan of heights nor being out of control but the creaking was the literal worst! Psychological torture!
When I was a teenager, about 20 years ago, my family and I visited LA, and our first stop was Disneyland. I can’t recall the name of the ride, but it was a haunted hotel where we rode an elevator that took us up floor by floor, gradually getting faster and scarier. At the end, it would simulate a malfunction and plummet straight to the first floor.
The most memorable part was the photo the ride captured. In the picture, my dad was laughing out loud, my mom was hugging him and crying, and I had a half-smile mixed with fear. Unfortunately, we were too cheap to buy the photo, but the silver lining is that it remains vividly imprinted in my memory to this day.
Nobody can take that mental picture away from you! Sounds like you're the perfect mix of your mom and your dad.
That's the Tower of Terror. There's also one at Disney World. In our early 20's, my husband and I rode that ride with another couple, friends of ours. My husband and his friend smuggled a jar of Grey Poupon onto the ride. They put on dark sunglasses and then right at the moment of the drop when they take the picture, handed the jar of mustard across the center aisle. That's the picture - two grown men in dark sunglasses with completely neutral expressions handing off a jar of mustard while the rest of the elevator passengers screamed in terror. (If you don't get the Grey Poupon reference or why this was funny, check out this commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNYs6IRdMe0.)
I want to see that picture!
Now I wanna try Grey Poupon 😂
Omg lol
That was Tower of Terror. The ride still exists, but it is themed to Guardians of the Galaxy now.
No particular favourite, I mainly enjoy rides that are fast, but the speed allows to keep my eyes open. I don't know if I like water rides, because so far I've never tried them. Haunted houses are great, but I feel more discomfort than fear when something is touching me.
There was no touching in the shed, fortunately. Just some cheesy special effects. You're not missing out on much by never doing water rides. I hate being cold and wet.
As a kid my family would go to Cedar Point on the rare occasions when we could find the extra money. One year, on the highway, our car was bumped by a truck trying to get in our lane. Mom was able to control the car so we ended up in the medium relatively unscathed. The car was a mess but Mom got back onto the highway and we made it there. Looking back I think it’s a defining moment for my mother. She was brave as hell, tough as nails, and wasn’t gonna let her kids down. Me? I don’t know if I could have kept going on like she did that day. I’m my Mom all over so probably.
When I was 5, my dad worked for Disney World. He was in the resorts, not the park. Just before Space Mountain opened to the public, we got to go for a preview. Dad didn’t know anything about the ride and took me on it with him. Back then, kids sat between their parent’s legs. As the car rolled sort of slowly into position, and remember, it was completely dark, I asked, “Daddy, is this going to go any faster?” Dad said he didn’t know. Just then, we swooped down the first hill!! It seemed like we were hurtling through total darkness faster than I’d ever gone before. By the time we got off the ride, I was so terrified I refused to get on another roller coaster until I was 12. And then only because I was forced to. Now, I’m a coaster junkie though!
Well my dog just decided he had been patient long enough and knocked my whole comment out into the universe of Space Mountain- my one time favorite roller coasters! I could deal well with a park with nothing but crazy fast long drop coasters!
Space Mountain was great because of the darkness. Being 5 minutes from Disneyland, I headed there first every time. Many great coasters are in lesser known parks. There was one in particular that was The Best Roller Coaster EVER! (And I have been to MANY parks around the country)
There was a park was in Eastern PA. It was called Kennywood. It had a lot of fun rides for a smaller park. It had rides I enjoyed even being a roller coaster fan above all. Noah’s arc an already great roller coaster, the band I believe was Rabbit something.. no matter but it was a very good one.
The last time I was there they had a roller coaster which I believe is now in China. It was called The Steel Phantom! This monstrosity was TALL and as advertised was the fastest coaster as was allowed. The first part took a LONG time- the climb at the beginning was as close to vertical as possible. It felt like it took forever! It lulled you into a sense of slow motion. It climbed and climbed etc etc - then right at the peak, it went straight down and it was AWESOME!!! It dropped down and around and underneath itself and another ride. It was definitely the fastest coaster I had ever ridden. My oldest son and I rode it and could not stop laughing! As our ride was ending, an announcement was made that a storm was a few miles away & the last ride needed to start immediately- the ones already on the ride who wanted off needed to do so now. We were SO ready to do it again! We started the climb as as we got close to the top we were up high enough to see the lightning in the distance! That was the most thrilling ride ever as we knew what was coming and it was even better!!
Kennywood closed several years ago but the Steel Phantom was long gone. None of the looping, upside down, bottomless or any style coaster was better than the Steel Phantom. It was Amazing!!
Cedar Point about 50 years ago. I’m little and going on my first roller coaster ever: the Blue Streak. I’m riding with my Mom. We go down the first big hill, and I literally start to fly out of the seat. Mom catches me and holds me down the rest of the ride. I have no idea that’s not normal. 😆 I have loved roller coasters ever since!!
OK. several years ago we took our daughter to Disney for the first time. She was four years old at the time but was tall enough to ride the Tower of Terror ride. We decided to take her on the ride and see what happened.....Well, she got a little nervous when we went into the room with the TV showing the Twilight Zone but she carried on. Getting on the ride was no problem either. It's pretty benign looking and there's just a normal seatbelt. Doors closed, she was still fine. Elevator started to rise, still OK.....and then it stopped....all was still good for about another 1/2 second. As soon as it started to fall our daughter opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out because she was too terrified. The picture from that ride is priceless. In retrospect we probably should have waited another year or so to take her on the ride because now she won't go on any rides that have a belt. That same trip she wore multiple princess dresses throughout the park. Each time a cast member would address her as "princess" she would correct them by stating, "I am not a princess, my name is Jocelyn, this is just a costume." and she wasn't nice about it! LOL!! When she was dressed as Tinkerbell she was so annoyed that someone called her "Tinkerbell" that she pointed to her wings and said, "Do these wings look real to you? I'm a human, not a fairy!" We got to the point that we avoided cast members whenever possible to avoid being mortified by her very literal commentary.
Another time at Disney, we were on a family trip and we took my then 8 yr old nephew on Space Mountain without telling him it was a roller coaster that was in the dark. He sat in front of me on the ride and spent the entire ride saying, "I don't like this ride," over and over again. It was pretty hysterical...he still loves me though so he got over it!!