Fear has always been a powerful force to me. I’ve always taken careful steps each time I go on an adventure. But roller coasters, they use that fear to increase adrenaline and fun. It presents to me a tradeoff: fun versus the fear of dying and panic attacks. The heights and sudden drops mush my stomach and leave me feeling terrified. To add to the terror, the intense speed feels like my face is going to rip off, and my body feels disconnected.
This fear of rollercoasters has always been in me, ever since I watched a documentary about the 2015 Smiler crash. The Smiler had a human failure involved, as an extra cart was added without the operator knowing this information. During testing, the cart got stuck and was now at the bottom of a loop. As the ride restarted, the now new cart was slammed into and had injured 16 people. 5 of those people had their legs obliterated. This was too much information for my head to handle, and I promptly repressed it until I saw a roller coaster.
What if a piece of track fails to accelerate me through the loop and what if I get stuck in a cart? Still, I gathered up the courage to go on my first high speed roller coaster, The Joker. The incline left an uneasy feeling in me as the cracking sound felt off. I went through loops, screaming all the way through until the exit. I was not ready for more roller coasters after this experience. The cart stopped suddenly before we reached the exit gate. I was stuck in my own nightmare on my very first coaster. Anxiety pummeled my head as I thought constantly of the factors that may or may not decrease my survival. We couldn’t get out, and the unforgiving sun burned me alive. 15 minutes passed and no progress was made as the ride employees tried to restart the ride and bring us to the safety of the ground. The tears slowly came down as my feeble 7-year-old brain could not comprehend that there were multiple safety features designed to help us. The sound of the familiar cracking noise was brought to my ears as we were moving forward. We were going to leave the cart after 25 minutes of my personal hell. But the cart continued as the ride had to restart and thus made us go through the coaster again.
Now that I’m older, I can understand the process of every single roller coaster safety mechanism, and I do feel safer. But this does not stop the trauma of being stuck on a roller coaster for 25 minutes. The uneasy feeling of being stuck again triggers me every time I see a coaster. But simple problems can be solved with simple solutions. I just must force myself to go on a roller coaster repeatedly until I get over the fear.
My new best friend was now Flight Deck as I forced myself to cope. The twists and loops came through as the high incline shot me down into more loops increasing my velocity. The terror and the feeling of your face being pushed back feels insane. The idea of neck break is no longer an idea as you feel your neck going bang against the side bars. As I reached the 17th re-ride, I could finally understand the fun of riding coasters.
The feeling of adrenaline surging through your veins as the twists and turns provoked fear. The use of fear promotes the feeling of survival. When you feel like you’re about to die, more energy is released into you. The you and the mind becomes sharper. The rushing of the wind feels like a cool feeling of a bath. Everything links together to create the perfect moment. I cannot explain the joy of a roller coaster but if I had something to say, I’d say go try it out.
This fear of rollercoasters has always been in me, ever since I watched a documentary about the 2015 Smiler crash. The Smiler had a human failure involved, as an extra cart was added without the operator knowing this information. During testing, the cart got stuck and was now at the bottom of a loop. As the ride restarted, the now new cart was slammed into and had injured 16 people. 5 of those people had their legs obliterated. This was too much information for my head to handle, and I promptly repressed it until I saw a roller coaster.
What if a piece of track fails to accelerate me through the loop and what if I get stuck in a cart? Still, I gathered up the courage to go on my first high speed roller coaster, The Joker. The incline left an uneasy feeling in me as the cracking sound felt off. I went through loops, screaming all the way through until the exit. I was not ready for more roller coasters after this experience. The cart stopped suddenly before we reached the exit gate. I was stuck in my own nightmare on my very first coaster. Anxiety pummeled my head as I thought constantly of the factors that may or may not decrease my survival. We couldn’t get out, and the unforgiving sun burned me alive. 15 minutes passed and no progress was made as the ride employees tried to restart the ride and bring us to the safety of the ground. The tears slowly came down as my feeble 7-year-old brain could not comprehend that there were multiple safety features designed to help us. The sound of the familiar cracking noise was brought to my ears as we were moving forward. We were going to leave the cart after 25 minutes of my personal hell. But the cart continued as the ride had to restart and thus made us go through the coaster again.
Now that I’m older, I can understand the process of every single roller coaster safety mechanism, and I do feel safer. But this does not stop the trauma of being stuck on a roller coaster for 25 minutes. The uneasy feeling of being stuck again triggers me every time I see a coaster. But simple problems can be solved with simple solutions. I just must force myself to go on a roller coaster repeatedly until I get over the fear.
My new best friend was now Flight Deck as I forced myself to cope. The twists and loops came through as the high incline shot me down into more loops increasing my velocity. The terror and the feeling of your face being pushed back feels insane. The idea of neck break is no longer an idea as you feel your neck going bang against the side bars. As I reached the 17th re-ride, I could finally understand the fun of riding coasters.
The feeling of adrenaline surging through your veins as the twists and turns provoked fear. The use of fear promotes the feeling of survival. When you feel like you’re about to die, more energy is released into you. The you and the mind becomes sharper. The rushing of the wind feels like a cool feeling of a bath. Everything links together to create the perfect moment. I cannot explain the joy of a roller coaster but if I had something to say, I’d say go try it out.
