When I was in grammar school I went to Riverside Park (now a Six Flags Amusement Park). The adult who organized the trip told the older kids not to force the younger children to partake of any rides they did not want to. My older brother, Matt, was one of the chaperones and what he heard was, “Make your little brother go on every ride until he’s so sick he throws up.”
That trip to Riverside Park was my introduction to roller coasters. Matt and one of his high school buddies coerced me into riding the Mickey Mouse, a coaster of dubious origins. He and his evil crony made certain I knew two little kids had perished on the ride when a car overturned and plummeted to the ground, crushing the children. In hindsight, I’m fairly certain they were just trying to scare me … they succeeded.
Understandably, as an adult, I avoided roller coasters. I rationalized my decision by reasoning that roller coasters were dangerous. And you know what? Turns out … I was right. There is evidence that frequent riding of roller coasters causes a host of health issues. People with heart disease run the risk of having a cardiovascular event. According to a 2000 article on the Science Daily website, roller coaster rides may trigger blood clots on the brain. Lastly, in April 2010, Popular Mechanics reported that a rider suffered from barotraumas, major bruising of his ear canal and ear drum as the result of a jaunt on a on roller coaster.
I didn’t ride another roller coaster until 1999 when my family and I vacationed in Orlando and Disney World. We’ve been back several times and I discovered I like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain®, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith, Expedition Everest™ and my favorite, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™.
But, I’m told by my children that those rides are tame. I need to ride a “real” roller coaster like the Bizarro at Six Flags. No thanks. There are two reasons I find the Disney rides appealing. They are at Disney, which automatically makes them safer (leave me my fantasies), and when you ride them you are enclosed in steel; your legs aren’t flopping in the breeze as you zoom around a track willy nilly.
There’s a coaster on the drawing board that I’m certain my kids would enjoy and I can guarantee you will never get me to ride – the zero gravity roller coaster. BRC Imagination Arts is developing a zero gravity roller coaster, dubbed by some as a vomit coaster. The idea is to allow the average person to experience zero gravity for about eight seconds. Its inspiration is a NASA C-9 aircraft, the Vomit Comet, so named because many first timers lose their lunch on their initial dive. The Vomit Comet executes steep dives which allow passengers to experience zero gravity for 23 – 30 seconds. Not gonna happen!
I know where I stand regarding this forthcoming zero gravity coaster. Is anyone interested in a controlled freefall? Why?
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