Thing to Do #14: Ride the World’s Biggest Rollercoasters

 After driving for 9 hours on Thursday, Steve, Lydia, Alex and I got up early on Friday to head to Cedar Point.  With it being so late in the season and most kids back in school, we found the park rather empty.  We started the day with the Raptor, which ended up being Alex’s favorite of the entire park.  As it was rather cloudy, we decided it would be best to go ahead and get in line for the Top Thrill Dragster, in case it began to rain. 

You can see the Top Thrill Dragster from miles away as you head to the park but it truly did not dawn on me how high it was until I was standing beneath it.  At 420 feet, it truly is imposing.  Watching each train zoom from 0-120 mph in 4 seconds straight up 90 degrees, only to come right back down 90 degrees and at about the same speed, I began to get scared.

You see, I don’t really like roller coasters.  I mostly ride them to prove to myself that I can do it.  I wouldn’t say that I’m scared while in line usually, but as we climb that first hill, I begin to get irrationally terrified.  It only lasts for the first part of the first hill and then I’m fine.

However, while standing in line for the Top Thrill Dragster, seeing train after train shoot up and come straight back down, the entire ride lasting 17 seconds, I kept saying “I don’t want to go.”  At no point did I actually consider backing out.  Afterall, I drove all the way to Ohio for pretty much this roller coaster.  But then I saw the sign.  Along the line at a couple of different points, there was a sign that said something to this effect: “Sometimes a train may not crest the hill.  Do not be alarmed.  This happens from time to time.  If this happens, the train will come back to its starting point and will be restarted.”

In my mind I was freaking out.  What happened if the train I was in didn’t make it over this hill?  We were going to come racing back down BACKWARDS?!  I told the others that if this occurred with my train, it was a sign from God that I was not meant to ride this coaster, I had given it my best shot, and it wasn’t meant to be.

Of course, we waited in line for the front seats.  You would think that in 17 seconds I wouldn’t have much time to think of anything, but as we shot off and reached the top of the hill, I said aloud so that Alex could hear me “I don’t want to go.”

I survived, as you can tell from the photo above.  You can see the death grip I have on the lap bar and although you may think I am smiling, its really just my face being pushed back by how fast we’re going.  And for as long as I live, the face Alex has as we take off (the left inset) will always make me laugh.  I think he was laughing as we took off but he looks like he’s gone retarded.

We continued on through our day, riding Blue Streak, which is 45 years old, the Corkscrew, Gemini,  and the Magnum (which once upon a time held the tallest record).  We rode the Maverick, which has a 95 degree drop, and that’s the fifth most significant angle of descent. 

However, with very few people in the park causing few long waits, I began to feel sick doing the coasters back to back.  I took a break and then rode Millenium Force, which is the fourth tallest (310 feet), fourth longest, and fifth fastest (92 mph)  in the world, and actually a little bit scarier as you have much longer to think about how high up you are.  However, on it I think I blacked out a bit and decided I really couldn’t go on.  I didn’t do the Mantis, which is a stand up roller coaster, and I’ve done those before.  I also missed the Mean Streak, which is one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters but I was warned that it was quite rough and I REALLY didn’t feel like throwing up.

We made our way toward Cincinnati on Saturday and headed to King’s Island on Sunday.  Being on a weekend, there were a few more people allowing for longer waits and I didn’t get sick.  We rode The Beast, which is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 4 minutes and 50 seconds.  Its so long, you go up another hill just to get enough momentum to continue the roller coaster.  And for a wooden roller coaster, it wasn’t that rough.  We rode Firehawk, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Delirium (which wasn’t a roller coaster but a very cool ride), Invertigo, Flight of Fear (which was completely inside and Alex liked a lot), Flight Deck and and Vortex.  I didn’t ride The Racer, as its just like Rebel Yell at King’s Dominion or Thunder Road at Carowinds and I thought I needed a break in anticipation of maybe getting sick.  We rode the new ride Diamondback twice and it was truly a very enjoyable ride.

 Alex and I with the Son of Beast in the background 

We didn’t get to ride The Son of Beast as I mentioned in an earlier post that it was closed for the remainder of the 2009 season.  In speaking with people in the area, they mentioned that there was talk to dismantle the ride as it injured a whole train of people in 2007 when one of the support beams broke near the end.  The train didn’t derail but it did come to a very sudden stop and was closed the remainder of the 2007 season and all of 2008.  It had opened at the beginning of 2009 but then a woman claimed she got a concussion from the ride (she did go to the hospital and did have a concussion) and it has been closed since.

It was a bit of whirlwind trip, not much of a relaxing vacation with long rides in the car and no sleeping in .

With the way roller coaster records are always changing, I may just have to wait until they build a longer one here in the States to beat out Steel Dragon and one with more inversions to beat out the Colossus.

So what major roller coasters have you ridden?