Thoughts on the Roll
Jul. 16th, 2009 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windemereAlmost literally, but mostly figuratively, as it were. I'm not really an amusement park type of girl, but I've been to Wonderland and I enjoy a good day out with good friends. And I do, occasionally, enjoy a good whirlwind rollercoaster ride.
I should rethink the definition of 'whirlwind' clearly.
Oblivion
Aptly named, really. Someone (likely Jon) decided this would be a good 'first time' for Van who had never been on a rollercoaster before. I have no idea what he was thinking, but it didn't put her off, so hey. Oblivion, for the 80% of my f-list who doesn't know, is a very simple and very short ride (15 sec. total). It takes you up, it drops you down, it turns a corner and it stops. Yeah well, 'simple' has always been an ambiguous word.
You get in sitting upright. Good, I like these kinds. They strap you down; I'm all for that, I feel marginally safer that way. They take you up and up about 30 ft and a sharp incline at a really slow speed. Fantastic so far. Then you turn a corner so the car is facing the opposite direction from what you started. And then you come to the brink. And then the car tilts forwards so that you are facing down. And down. And down. And DOWN, into a small, dark hole covered in mist about 50 ft below you. At the point in time your brain has registered this fact and gone 'FUCK'...you drop at the speed of falling out of an airplane down into darkness, promptly twist left and then up and then left and then up again. And then stop. Because the ride is over. T-15 seconds. I counted!
Afterwards I decided I deserved a very large hot dog.
Rita
Having eaten lunch, we decided that instead of fast tracking we should just wait in line for food to digest. Stellar idea! Best one all day! The ques at Alton Towers are minimum an hour for the rollercoasters, though less for other attractions. So we stood in line for over an hour and second guessed ourselves quite a few times, but unlike Oblivion, there is no way to change your mind on Rita. You get in line, you go. Have fun! Rita (I have no idea how it got it's name) is a speed coaster. It does the usual twists and turns, but it does them at 100m/hr. You sit down, upright again, and strap in. Then you shunt forward to the starting gate. Above you are a line of red lights and a line of green. The red ones count down 1-6 while a voice kindly reminds you to keep your head back against the seat or suffer the consequences. Then there is only red lights. At this point in time you decide you'd very much like to get off now, thanks very much. They turn green. Your next thought is 'frak, this is what 100m/hr feels like without a car', followed by 'oh god' and then another 'oh god' and then a jerking stop. And then the ride is over. T-20 seconds. And then you realise you don't remember how to walk properly and your entire body hurts from being clenched so tightly in the seat to try to off-set the G-force and then maybe you'd like to go try something a bit more tame for a round or five.
Hex
Apparently this is one of those 'experiences' that people who have been are not allowed to warn you about or it takes all the fun out of it. I wish someone had taken the fun out of it. This is exactly the type of 'tame' ride that makes me sick. The whole thing is a mind game. A not very scary one, but they try to feed you a story about a curse and a hidden cellar in the castle, etc. etc. etc. The mind game is the actual 'ride'. Except it's not really a ride because it doesn't go anywhere. Your first hint something is going to go badly wrong is when you sit down in the room and they lock a bar very tightly across your legs. Except you've been asked to leave your bags under the seat, so something doesn't mesh. That's pretty much the ride, right here. Something doesn't mesh. Because the next 2-3 minutes (honestly, I didn't count this time, I was concentrating on not throwing up) your body tells you one thing and your head tells you another and the only way to reconcile the two is to close your eyes and pray. Which I did. And it helps. You know the feeling when you drink too much and then go home to sleep and lie down and close your eyes and the world...moves? It's that. It's not a nice feeling.
And then there was the water rapids, which I have not been on for ages, but loved because we didn't get wet. And the gondola over the valley, which are always fun. And watching other people crazy enough to ride Nemesis. And missing the old wood coaster at Wonderland.
I'm still tired this morning.
I should rethink the definition of 'whirlwind' clearly.
Oblivion
Aptly named, really. Someone (likely Jon) decided this would be a good 'first time' for Van who had never been on a rollercoaster before. I have no idea what he was thinking, but it didn't put her off, so hey. Oblivion, for the 80% of my f-list who doesn't know, is a very simple and very short ride (15 sec. total). It takes you up, it drops you down, it turns a corner and it stops. Yeah well, 'simple' has always been an ambiguous word.
You get in sitting upright. Good, I like these kinds. They strap you down; I'm all for that, I feel marginally safer that way. They take you up and up about 30 ft and a sharp incline at a really slow speed. Fantastic so far. Then you turn a corner so the car is facing the opposite direction from what you started. And then you come to the brink. And then the car tilts forwards so that you are facing down. And down. And down. And DOWN, into a small, dark hole covered in mist about 50 ft below you. At the point in time your brain has registered this fact and gone 'FUCK'...you drop at the speed of falling out of an airplane down into darkness, promptly twist left and then up and then left and then up again. And then stop. Because the ride is over. T-15 seconds. I counted!
Afterwards I decided I deserved a very large hot dog.
Rita
Having eaten lunch, we decided that instead of fast tracking we should just wait in line for food to digest. Stellar idea! Best one all day! The ques at Alton Towers are minimum an hour for the rollercoasters, though less for other attractions. So we stood in line for over an hour and second guessed ourselves quite a few times, but unlike Oblivion, there is no way to change your mind on Rita. You get in line, you go. Have fun! Rita (I have no idea how it got it's name) is a speed coaster. It does the usual twists and turns, but it does them at 100m/hr. You sit down, upright again, and strap in. Then you shunt forward to the starting gate. Above you are a line of red lights and a line of green. The red ones count down 1-6 while a voice kindly reminds you to keep your head back against the seat or suffer the consequences. Then there is only red lights. At this point in time you decide you'd very much like to get off now, thanks very much. They turn green. Your next thought is 'frak, this is what 100m/hr feels like without a car', followed by 'oh god' and then another 'oh god' and then a jerking stop. And then the ride is over. T-20 seconds. And then you realise you don't remember how to walk properly and your entire body hurts from being clenched so tightly in the seat to try to off-set the G-force and then maybe you'd like to go try something a bit more tame for a round or five.
Hex
Apparently this is one of those 'experiences' that people who have been are not allowed to warn you about or it takes all the fun out of it. I wish someone had taken the fun out of it. This is exactly the type of 'tame' ride that makes me sick. The whole thing is a mind game. A not very scary one, but they try to feed you a story about a curse and a hidden cellar in the castle, etc. etc. etc. The mind game is the actual 'ride'. Except it's not really a ride because it doesn't go anywhere. Your first hint something is going to go badly wrong is when you sit down in the room and they lock a bar very tightly across your legs. Except you've been asked to leave your bags under the seat, so something doesn't mesh. That's pretty much the ride, right here. Something doesn't mesh. Because the next 2-3 minutes (honestly, I didn't count this time, I was concentrating on not throwing up) your body tells you one thing and your head tells you another and the only way to reconcile the two is to close your eyes and pray. Which I did. And it helps. You know the feeling when you drink too much and then go home to sleep and lie down and close your eyes and the world...moves? It's that. It's not a nice feeling.
And then there was the water rapids, which I have not been on for ages, but loved because we didn't get wet. And the gondola over the valley, which are always fun. And watching other people crazy enough to ride Nemesis. And missing the old wood coaster at Wonderland.
I'm still tired this morning.
