Rollercoasters

[Noodle Lizard]

Went to California in '92, enjoyed all the rides at Disneyland and Magic Mountain.  On the loops it seemed like there was no sensation of being upside down, just suddenly going faster and downwards for a bit then back on the level.

A lot of older looping coasters are a bit like that, yeah. With newer coasters you get more focus on "hang time" rather than just plowing through them (this is probably the best example of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiSXfNVXSNc), but straight-up loops are actually becoming less and less common in favor of dive loops, corkscrews, zero-G rolls and other inversions. I personally find the G-forces and the sensation of being pushed into your seat on some vertical loops to be quite uncomfortable (especially this absolute headache of a coaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EzPiH0tYSs), much prefer other inversions.

It's strange that "it goes upside down" is still a mark of how intense a coaster is when inversions tend to be less scary than other common parts of a ride, such as drops or tight banked turns. A simple wooden coaster with no inversions is always going to feel wilder than a smooth steel coaster with 7 or more.

[touchingcloth]

Get yerself some straps! Most parks will let you take them on.

Also have you considered just killing yourself?

[Better Midlands]

I went to Walibi World a couple of times (maybe once when it was Six Flags).

My kids used to go to the Halloween Fright Night every year which they said was amazing.

[The Mollusk]

I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with lots of coasters (my nearest park is Six Flags Magic Mountain, which has more coasters than any other park in the world), and I'm slowly working my way up through their ranks. I still haven't quite built up the nerve for X2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WTD0Hc9anw or Tatsu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gaxEXazvKk but I've done everything else.

I've been to Magic Mountain! It was an incredible day, about 25 degrees and sunny and very minimal queues for the whole day. I went on every coaster, including X2 which I did twice. That thing is a fucking trip and a half, actually not as scary as some of the big monster coasters as it's more focused on the multidimensional experience than any sort of massive drop intended to shit you up. A marvellous feat of engineering right there.

The scariest ride there - and one of the scariest things I've ever put myself through - was the Drop of Doom, a 400ft high drop tower. The ascent was absolutely bloody terrifying and felt like it was never going to stop, and the vast expanse of open land surrounding the theme park gives a gut-churning perspective of how high up you are. My mate was nervously chattering and laughing all the way up but I completely froze up and couldn't say a word.

Funnily enough the drop is the least scary part of the ride, since in my head I think the logic was that I don't care if there's a malfunction going down and we smash into the ground, I just want this experience to be over. It was fucking GREAT and I'd love to do it again!

[Jerzy Bondov]

Love coasters though I don't have many under my belt due to overcoming my fear quite late on. I went on Saw at Thorpe Park the first year it opened and I loved it, but people I've spoken to since say it's quite rough and unpleasant to ride. That spinning thing that tries to chop your head, come on, that rules. When my kids are older I'm getting back on the rollercoasters big time. Shame about the maiming because Smiler looks brilliant.

[touchingcloth]

The scariest rollercoaster I've been on was Corkscrew at Alton Towers, because that old thing creaked and buffeted to the point where my ears were getting battered against the restraints the whole way through the ride and I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole thing had collapsed. Most rides feel safe even if they've been designed to be huge and fast, so it was quite the thrill to be on a ride which felt genuinely unsafe.

[Dex Sawash]

I loved coasters when I was a young man but went on some in my 30s after a long break and it just felt sort of wrong and unpleasant.

[Chollis]

The scariest rollercoaster I've been on was Corkscrew at Alton Towers, because that old thing creaked and buffeted to the point where my ears were getting battered against the restraints the whole way through the ride and I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole thing had collapsed. Most rides feel safe even if they've been designed to be huge and fast, so it was quite the thrill to be on a ride which felt genuinely unsafe.

yeah, felt like you'd get brain damage riding on Corkscrew a few times

[Catalogue Trousers]

AH WANT T' GO ON THE MAD MOUSE AH WANT A CUPPA TEA

[Steven88]

The scariest rollercoaster I've been on was Corkscrew at Alton Towers, because that old thing creaked and buffeted to the point where my ears were getting battered against the restraints the whole way through the ride and I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole thing had collapsed. Most rides feel safe even if they've been designed to be huge and fast, so it was quite the thrill to be on a ride which felt genuinely unsafe.

I was grateful not to die every time I went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach as a kid, The Big Dipper, The Mouse and The Grand National all felt pretty dangerous. One of the times The Grand National didn't stop in time at the station and had to go for another lap.

[Noodle Lizard]

I've been to Magic Mountain! It was an incredible day, about 25 degrees and sunny and very minimal queues for the whole day. I went on every coaster, including X2 which I did twice. That thing is a fucking trip and a half, actually not as scary as some of the big monster coasters as it's more focused on the multidimensional experience than any sort of massive drop intended to shit you up. A marvellous feat of engineering right there.

The scariest ride there - and one of the scariest things I've ever put myself through - was the Drop of Doom, a 400ft high drop tower. The ascent was absolutely bloody terrifying and felt like it was never going to stop, and the vast expanse of open land surrounding the theme park gives a gut-churning perspective of how high up you are. My mate was nervously chattering and laughing all the way up but I completely froze up and couldn't say a word.

Funnily enough the drop is the least scary part of the ride, since in my head I think the logic was that I don't care if there's a malfunction going down and we smash into the ground, I just want this experience to be over. It was fucking GREAT and I'd love to do it again!

That's great! When did you go? They've made some pretty big changes over the past five or six years (new additions, things coming and going etc.) I only went for the first time this year.

I'm no closer to getting on drop towers like Drop of Doom. I hate heights and I'm not particularly interested in what they do (although this one at Busch Gardens Tampa has an especially terrifying twist that really shouldn't be allowed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLme3aC7ZMA). As you say, it'd be the prolonged climb that shits me up the most - especially since it shares a structure with the Superman ride, which seems to shake it every time it blasts off. The drop itself would probably feel like a relief.

I know I probably could survive X2 and Tatsu just fine now, but I almost want to keep them verboten for the time being. I feel like once I can handle X2, I won't be afraid of any coasters anymore, which'd be a shame since I've spent 30 or so years being terrified of all of them up until now. X2 is an amazing design, though, you're right. Coincidentally, it was designed by Alan Schilke, who now does all of RMCs designs (those innovative wood/steel hybrids I was blathering on about). The guy's as close to a genius as you can get in this field, and seems lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYdUTEOR_yE

[hamfist]

In my early twenties I did some Camp 'Merica and we took our intrepid kiddies out for the day to Dorney Park in PA, which is half water-park and half theme park.

There was a bit during the afternoon where every single kid wanted to ride a certain rollercoaster with me, so I was pretty much strapped into this one ride all afternoon while a different kid sat alongside me.

I had my first frozen yoghurt that day and believe I saw New Kids On The Block near the bottom of the descent trajectory of their fame, "rocking" Dorney Park.

[Catalogue of ills]

Rita at Alton Towers! One of the strangest themes for a ride - the premise seems to be that you have to escape someone called Rita post-haste? A Mike Leigh rollercoaster.

They have the Wicker Man wooden coaster there now too, which looks wonderful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5vSjdmyq2g

(this is my favourite launch coaster I've been on, by the way - feels like you're hanging upside down in that loop for ages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaHCyahkiAY)

I never went on coasters as a kid, not really my thing, but having a teenage son has meant I have now found myself on some. I went on Wicker Man earlier this year - it's good but you get rattled around a lot which seems to be standard for wooden coasters. The theme is well done.

Today we were in Blackpool (a shithole) and went on Icon - I much prefer these smoother loop-based rides; less about soiling yourself to the merriment and derision of 14 year olds who haven't yet learned fear, and more about the feeling of flying about. Didn't go on The Big One though, even the teenager baulked at that fucker, and that was before I read that a train got stuck at the top earlier this year.

[Noodle Lizard]

I never went on coasters as a kid, not really my thing, but having a teenage son has meant I have now found myself on some. I went on Wicker Man earlier this year - it's good but you get rattled around a lot which seems to be standard for wooden coasters. The theme is well done.

I've actually not been on all that many straight-up wooden coasters, but yeah, they're meant to have a bit of a "bite" to them. Unfortunately, they also age quite poorly and rides seem to be variable depending on weather and other conditions. Now that RMC are out there, we probably won't see very many more being built, but GCI (who made Wicker Man) are still a great company who not only produce wooden coasters of their own but also re-track and refurbish existing ones that have gone a bit rotten. And yes, the idea that there's a Wicker Man themed coaster at all is worth celebrating. Makes me proud to be English

Today we were in Blackpool (a shithole) and went on Icon - I much prefer these smoother loop-based rides; less about soiling yourself to the merriment and derision of 14 year olds who haven't yet learned fear, and more about the feeling of flying about. Didn't go on The Big One though, even the teenager baulked at that fucker, and that was before I read that a train got stuck at the top earlier this year.

Icon's supposed to be great! I'd love to go on that. That's a Mack Rides construction, so you'd probably also appreciate Gerstlauer coasters like The Smiler at Alton Towers or Saw: The Ride at Thorpe Park (although, as has been mentioned, the latter's apparently become a bit rough).

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I was terrified at the mere thought of them when I was little. Later on though, I discovered that I actually like a bit of an adrenaline rush. I'd go on them all the time, if only the theme parks weren't all far away and blinking expensive (not that I'd want to go on a cheap rollercoaster).

The most recent one I've been on was several years ago at Legoland. As you might expect, it was a relatively sedate experience.

[Noodle Lizard]

If you can make it to Alton Towers, that's a park that most "thoosies" consider a destination (not sure how pricey it is, mind). Nemesis, Oblivion, The Smiler and The Wicker Man are all considered top of their respective types, and Air/Galactica is just supposed to be pure nice.

The only B&M inverts I've been on are Batman clones in California and Texas, but Nemesis is meant to be significantly more intense and impressive. I remember being 7 or 8 and looking at the bloody waterfall theming and being absolutely petrified. Reckon I could handle it now though.

Nemesis: Inferno (the Thorpe Park sequel), on the other hand, is meant to be shit and disappointing. There's that weird episode of The Inbetweeners where Will (the specky one) is supposed to be something of a coaster thoosie, and yet his excitement about N: Inferno is completely at odds with the overwhelming community consensus: that it's shite.

[DrGreggles]

If you can make it to Alton Towers, that's a park that most "thoosies" consider a destination (not sure how pricey it is, mind). Nemesis, Oblivion, The Smiler and The Wicker Man are all considered top of their respective types, and Air/Galactica is just supposed to be pure nice.

Thirteen too, especially the first time.

[Gurke and Hare]

Is Oblivion really considered that special? It only does one thing, and while it's a pretty spectacular thing it's not really unusual any more is it?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

If you can make it to Alton Towers, that's a park that most "thoosies" consider a destination (not sure how pricey it is, mind).

I think that's the farthest one from me. Somewhat regrettably, I went there a few times as a kid - the school my mum worked at did an annual visit and the teachers got to bring their own kids for free - but I was still in my timid phase and never took full advantage of the opportunity.

Every so often, I think that I could just go to a theme park by myself. I make my own work hours, so why not take a day off, travel to one (on a schoolday, when it won't be too full) and ride the rails to my heart's content? Then I remember that a good part of the fun is being there with friends and that, more importantly, I'm too lazy. Also this (NSFW: bad language).

I've been bungee jumping, which was great fun. It cost 60-odd quid, though (not even including the cost of getting to the site) and you only get to jump once.

There's that weird episode of The Inbetweeners where Will (the specky one) is supposed to be something of a coaster thoosie, and yet his excitement about N: Inferno is completely at odds with the overwhelming community consensus: that it's shite.

The practicalities of location shooting, I guess. I doubt anyone making the show cared that much about earning thoosie cred.

[Catalogue of ills]

Icon's supposed to be great! I'd love to go on that. That's a Mack Rides construction, so you'd probably also appreciate Gerstlauer coasters like The Smiler at Alton Towers or Saw: The Ride at Thorpe Park (although, as has been mentioned, the latter's apparently become a bit rough).

Yes, Icon is very good. I like the way it weaves through the other rides and it feels very pleasurable. And you're right, I probably would go on the Smiler now - lots of loops and inversions are fun to me, whereas long straight drops terrify me.

[Noodle Lizard]

Is Oblivion really considered that special? It only does one thing, and while it's a pretty spectacular thing it's not really unusual any more is it?

It was the first coaster of its type, and I think it had the steepest drop at the time as well. Compared to the subsequent dive coasters it doesn't look like much - not very tall, not particularly fast, does nothing else after the drop - but it's the OG. I think now people appreciate it for the theming more than anything else, and the drop into the misty hole (steady) still looks very cool.

Yes, Icon is very good. I like the way it weaves through the other rides and it feels very pleasurable. And you're right, I probably would go on the Smiler now - lots of loops and inversions are fun to me, whereas long straight drops terrify me.

Luckily you're not going to get any particularly long drops at Alton Towers (or Thorpe Park) because of their height restrictions. Their rides can't be higher than the treeline. Oblivion sort of got around this by building into the ground, but even that's not an especially big drop. Then again, if you don't like drops, there's no point in riding Oblivion because that's all it is.

Thirteen too, especially the first time.

Thirteen is kind of weird. I haven't been on it myself, but you couldn't avoid all the advertising making it out to be some sort of intense psychological horror thrill-ride. What it actually ended up being is a pretty tame family coaster, even with the drop-track section. It was made by Intamin, who basically doubled down on some of those elements for the new Hagrid's Motorbike Ride at Universal Orlando, which does look fairly tits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMtR5_TinqE

[Jerzy Bondov]

Thorpe Park does have a pretty big drop on Stealth. I like that one because you sit there in the station thinking "there is no way I will be going up there, that's way too high" and then before you know it there you are

[Noodle Lizard]

Thorpe Park does have a pretty big drop on Stealth. I like that one because you sit there in the station thinking "there is no way I will be going up there, that's way too high" and then before you know it there you are

Oh yeah, I didn't consider Stealth. Fair enough. I've still not been on a coaster of that type, and to be honest watching videos of Kingda Ka (which I think is the tallest) gives me pure anxiety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVrYHZlUjZE



State of that.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Kingda Ka is something like twice the height of Stealth. Absolutely mental

[Gurke and Hare]

Kingda Ka is something like twice the height of Stealth. Absolutely mental

Blimey. The first time I went to Thorpe Park we were watching Stealth before going on it and one of my friends was saying "Why do they all scream straight away? There's no need for that." She screamed straight away.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Crunched the numbers because I love coaster stats.

Stealth is unfeasibly high and scary looking, at 205 ft tall. It accelerates from 0 to 80 mph in 1.9 seconds. I'm no coaster junkie but to me, queuing up and sitting in the station, it feels like that sort of acceleration will be fatal. Obviously it's actually fine but it is fast as fuck.

Kingda Ka is the tallest rollercoaster in the world. It's 465 ft tall, more than twice as tall as Stealth. It goes from 0 to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds, and if you do the maths that averages out as being a greater rate of acceleration than Stealth, despite taking longer to reach its top speed. Terrifying.

By the way Stealth is actually only the second tallest coaster in the UK - The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is 8 feet taller. The third tallest is The Odyssey at Fantasy Island, which is a comparatively pathetic 167 ft tall, but was originally planned to be 265 ft, which would have made it the tallest inverted coaster in the world. Planning objections put an end to its ambitions. I dunno, it's cool to break records and be tall, but it doesn't necessarily make for the best rides.

[Noodle Lizard]

In my experience, height doesn't matter too much in and of itself. Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain is 235ft tall (with a 255ft drop that goes underground) and it completely dwarfs Twisted Colossus right next door to it. However, the drops (and overall experience) on Twisted Colossus are significantly more intense. Goliath's a big softie, really.

As far as launches go, Do-dodonpa in Japan isn't the fastest in the world (111 mph in 1.6 seconds), but it's notoriously the most intense, so much so that I think it's indefinitely closed because people were getting injured by it. I've also seen some people claim that Kingda Ka's smaller older brother, Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, is somehow more intense. That's also closed at the moment because a bit of it flew off and smashed someone in the queue line.

Wooden coasters are a good example of (generally) modest stats creating a ride that's infinitely more frightening than the Big Steel Ones. It's rare for a woodie to go much over 60mph, but they feel so much more frantic and out-of-control in comparison that it more than makes up for it.

As far as inverts go, the oft-cloned Batman model is comparatively tiny and they've been around for 30 years or so, but they're mad intense compared to the larger models that came later. I believe Nemesis was commissioned based on their power and size.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Just reading about Do-dodonpa, they made it faster and replaced the top hat with a fucking loop!! Then had to close it because it was breaking bones.

[Noodle Lizard]

Just reading about Do-dodonpa, they made it faster and replaced the top hat with a fucking loop!! Then had to close it because it was breaking bones.

The loop's probably less aggressive than the top hat was. I've only been on one top-hat (Full Throttle), but you get absolutely whipped out of your seat coming off of it. I think it was just the launch itself that caused problems (nothing's been confirmed yet, though).

Here's a video of it. It doesn't look like much, but I can certainly imagine how mad it would be considering it accelerates nearly twice as fast as the fastest launch coaster I've been on and then maintains that momentum through a full circuit unlike Stealth/Kingda Ka etc. which basically just send you up and back down again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqPykRYD5Bw

EDIT: Actually, according to this video, they made the launch even faster when they added the loop - so I was wrong! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYDoXLMxkpg

[Psybro]

I wear contact lenses to go on coasters, saves a lot of bother.

I just this year got over a lifelong utter fear of rollercoasters, and now I'm a bit obsessed with them.

This was me in 2008, I went to Alton Towers with mates having loved family coasters and Space Mountain at Florida as a kid, but really scared of big drops and loops. Went straight on Oblivion and was instantly nuts for it.

The US will always have the UK beat hands down because there's more space to build monster ones without residents complaining. I did a cross-country tour in 2010 and managed to get to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Great Adventure, Cedar Point and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. 

I got back to Magic Mountain again in 2015.  Very jealous you live nearby, especially since X2 was down both times for me and I just missed out on Twisted Colossus.. Tatsu is my favourite coaster out of the 70 I've done and the pretzel loop is the best single element of them all.
The scale of the whole thing is insane and blows other flying coasters out of the water. It's not like any other experience.

I managed to get on Kingda Ka three times back to back in an hour on a dead day in 2010.  The adrenaline is incredible because for the few seconds at the top your brain is absolutely convinced you will die. The only RMC I've done was New Texas Giant in 2016, which is relatively tame as it was the first one. Want to do the ones in Holland and Sweden if I can.

I got back to Alton Towers in September and it confirmed that The Smiler and Nemesis are properly world class.  I thought everything was more intense than I remembered, but I don't know if that was lack of practice or that I'm getting too old for this shit. Apparently your inner ear degrades as you age and makes you less durable to inversions. Getting into a relationship derailed my burgeoning enthusiast career, as getting my wife to fly to Bumfuck, Ohio for rides she won't want to go on is probably too big of an ask.

Of your bucket list, I've done Maverick and El Toro and they were both top 5. El Toro in the back row made me grey out, it was fucking rock and roll.