Attention, roller coaster and thrill ride people

I'd ride it.

 

The scariest part of the ride is the initial, zero-to-120-in-four-seconds takeoff. My 11-year-son and I rode in the front car, and we resembled Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd on the gravity machine in "Spies Like Us." Everything happens so fast, you don't feel it until it's over.

Now, if you want a ride where you really feel something, try Millennium Force. Here is a front-row POV, which is the view my son and I had when we rode it:

It tops out at 93 mph, has an initial 310-foot drop, and has two others hills at 169 feet and 182 feet. The ride is smooth as a baby's bottom. Unlike the old Corkscrew, which rocks so hard (as in, back and forth) you have to visit a chiropractor when it's over. A few wooden coasters I've been on -- Mean Streak at Cedar Point and Rattler at Fiesta Texas -- have adjusted their tracks to stop the violent shaking, which isn't proving so popular anymore.

By the way, TTD is not the tallest or fastest anymore. Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure added a few extra feet and a few extra MPH a couple years ago:

From the looks of this, I prefer TTD because of the whole aesthetics and theme of the ride, and that TTD puts you at almost a full stop at the peak before you go flying straight down. By the way, TTD started off with big "tires" on the back to make the cars look like a drag strip, but my son tells me Cedar Point had to scotch that after one of the tires flew off and rolled into Lake Erie during a test run.

 

This poor kid.

 

I would've rode it, except it was shut down on my only visit to Cedar Point.

I rode a masterpiece called Griffin at Busch Gardens, Va. this summer. 200 feet straight down, 90-degree drop. Plus they hang you on the edge for about 5 seconds, for dramatic effect. Also a great coaster there called Apollo's Chariot, which is just an out-and-back, but the train has no side walls, which enhances the ride.

But yeah, I'd ride Top Thrill in less time than it takes to get to the top.

 

That was it?

Weaksauce.

 

I cannot express how much I hate that video.

 

SCAD diving is where it's at.

 

That video wakes up the strangling fat kid in all of us.

I've seen video of Kingda-Ka stalling at the apex and slipping backward to the start point. Now, THAT's entertainment.

Also, for my money, riding the Cyclone backward at Coney Island in 1980 was the scariest ride I'll ever be on.

 

I hadn't seen it until today.


As for wild rides, I'll ride any coaster you put in front of me. I'm even planning to jump out of a plane soon. But above all, I think all ferris wheels should burn in hell.

 

I saw that on a Travel Channel special on extreme rides. That part in Wisconsin Dells has that free fall, as well as bungee jumps and stuff. The owner, as he was interviewed, sounded like a born sadist.

Oh, one difference, too, between Kingda Ka and TTD is that on Kingda Ka, you have a full harness over your front side, while on TTD you just have a lap bar. AIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Half the fun of Cedar Point is that it tries to put you in as least of a restraint as safety codes will allow.

Back to extreme rides, here is compendium of the Big Shot (big hand job in the sky), Insanity (spinning ride) and X-Scream (teeter totter) on top of the Stratosphere. Not for the weak of stomach, or those with even the smallest fear of heights. The X-Scream video doesn't quite do it justice, because if you're on the front end, you stop off of the track and stare 900 feet down to the ground.

 

Those up-and-down coasters are a complete rip-off. You wait in line and get 10-second ride?

Cedar Point's newest attraction "BYH Blast: Eight seconds of fear and the horrible memories to match"

 

Roller coasters scare the everloving hell out of me. On every level. I might could handle the kiddie coasters.